City 1 Spurs 2: It Continues!

By: Sam | November 9th, 2008

Manchester City 1 Tottenham 2
Robinho 16′ , Bent 29′ , Bent 64′
City Of Manchester Stadium (41,000)

First of all, this was a great match to watch. Daryl predicted an exciting draw, and he was close, but in the end Harry’s powers have kept up their prolific string of results. Spurs came into this one knowing City were as unpredictable as a Monty Python sketch, also knowing they had to keep an eye on Robinho and Wright-Phillips. Three red cards later, we’re on twelve points and out of the red zone. Also, hats off to Ledley King, who marked his 250th appearance for us with the win today.

‘Arry started a smart eleven, strong in all sectors. Corluka, meeting his former club for the first time, Woody, King and Assou-Ekotto started across the back, with Tom Huddlestone holding the midfield (and doing a fine job of it). Jenas was more defensive than usual as well, meaning Zokora found himself in a more attacking situation than usual. Bentley was all over the place as usual, and Modric supported Bent up front.

The key to the win was our dominance in possession. There was quite a fright at the end of the match, when the Citizens had pretty much total control in the last twenty minutes despite being down two men for most of that spell, but otherwise, we were very effective, smart in passing, mounting crisp counter-attacks and whipping in many crosses. Like I said, Zokora often found himself darting up and didn’t lose the ball nearly as often as we’re used to seeing. Bentley also was very keen on bringing the ball up and making things happen. Modric, playing behind Bent, was explosive, displaying once again the vision that Spurs scouted him for. He almost scored a couple of times, too. And Bent? Can you say “right place at the right time”? He’s simply got a fantastic feel for the game, that’s all.

Defensively, we were still blessed to see Gomes make a few iffy decisions, but he did make some crucial saves, especially on a Dunne header and an Ireland volley, both in the second half. Woodgate and King were great in the air, I found, and were otherwise very useful and worked hard to contain Benjani and all the others in their area. Assou-Ekotto, who got sent off for a second yellow in the last few minutes, was not that convincing, making some questionable decisions and giving the ball away quite easily at times. Corluka, on the other hand, was rock solid, keeping his composure under pressure and being all over his flank.

The first goal of the match was all about Robinho, who started the move, dished off the pass to Vassell, and was all alone (!) in the middle of the area to bury the rebound despite Woodgate’s presence on the line. Poor Richard Dunne, who scored a brutal own goal last week, was at fault on the equalizer, totally misjudging a Modric long ball and leaving for Bent, who still had to run onto it, transition onto his left, and strike past the onrushing Joe Hart. The winner, much prettier, came to be through a great long ball again, this time from Tom Huddlestone, expertly chested down by Jenas at the top of the arc and slid over to Bent, who slapped it in off the far post from a tough angle.

Of course, Mike Dean’s decisions played a vital part in the game. I think everyone agrees Gelson Fernandes’ sending-off was extremely harsh. Dunne’s, however, was fairly blatant, being the last defender. Same goes for Assou-Ekotto, whose dumb time-wasting yellow in the first half came back to haunt him when he recieved a second for a nasty challenge on Zabaleta.

Regardless, it’s a big relief to finally be out of the relegation trio, but there’s no time to be too proud of ourselves, we’ve got a tough test coming up in midweek when we welcome Liverpool to the Lane again in the Carling Cup. Take it easy, yiddos. COME ON YOU SPURS!