Tottenham Hotspur faithful are definitely on cloud nine after Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola delivered a huge compliment on the north London club. The 45-year old claims that Spurs are the only team to have overpowered them this campaign.
Under his watch, the Manchester club have already tasted five defeats in the Premier League and were hammered 4-0 by Guardiola’s former club Barcelona in the Champions League group stage in October. In their last league outing, City were tactically shut down by Everton at Goodison Park as they were once again on the receiving end of a 4-0 scoreline.
“At White Hart Lane Tottenham were much better,” Guardiola said, as stated by the Evening Standard. “In the other games I don’t feel that feeling that the opponents were much better.
“In football, like in basketball, like in tennis, you have to put the ball inside the net. In the balance of how you create, how you concede, they punish us.”
Mauricio Pochettino’s men beat the Citizens 2-0 at White Hart Lane in October. Back then, Manchester City were immediately labelled as title favourites as they won the first six matches with no signs of slowing down. Flashing forward to the present day, Spurs have robbed away the flattering tagline from the Manchester club as they are cruising with similar six wins on the spin.
Guardiola’s tactics are struggling to get across the team and they currently sit outside the top four. They are well-equipped with attacking weapons but it’s pretty evident that malaise in defence has been derailing their form. Between the sticks, Claudio Bravo looks to be a far cry from former goal guardian Joe Hart and the wobbly and ageing backline is prone to errors. His summer recruits have yet to hit the ground running too. Therefore, despite his optimistic talks, it’s tough to sweep the club’s hard time under the rug.
Coming in awash with glories and fame, Guardiola is one of those managers who always has endless ideas up the sleeves to turn things around but at his current club, the required tools are not at his disposal. Until today, cynics are playing down his previous achievements as he was gifted with squads that were blessed with world-class talents. His current grade in the Premier League is definitely favouring their statement.
In a desperate need of a lift, squaring off Tottenham Hotspur next at the Etihad Stadium is clearly doing no favour. If elbowing pass an inconsistent Everton was a tough task, a nightmare is nowhere near the back-seat as Spurs are making goal scoring look easy and have only conceded 14 goals so far this term.
Manchester City are 10 points adrift of table-toppers Chelsea and further dropping points will not only pile extra pressure on the City caretaker but could see Manchester United snatching the fifth spot if they wrestle down Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium. While Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool will be hoping that the points are shared.
