Tottenham Hotspur took a trip to the Etihad Stadium to face Manchester City in their second game of the Premier League season. Having gotten off to an important 3-0 win over Burnley at the N17, it was important for Thomas Frank’s men to continue the good work against Pep Guardiola’s side.
Although Man City might have come into the game with reputation on their side and considered favourites, recent history has almost always favoured the North London side. It is safe to say that Thomas Frank’s men lived up to the reputation and played one of the games of their lives.
The first-half started off in very interesting fashion, with Spurs’ intense press catching Man City off-guard. Frank set his team up to now allow Pep’s men to play out from the back and it directly resulted in a turnover that led to Spurs’ second goal of the night.
The scoreline on the night ended 2-0 in the London club’s favour. Spurs attacked and defended brilliantly and have started off their Premier League season by scoring 5 goals and not conceding a single on in return. With all this in mind, here are three talking points for Spurs after their massive win over Man City.
1. Joao Palhinha is back & how!:
The Premier League has well and truly missed Joao Palhinha and he already looks like a massive signing from a Spurs perspective. The Portuguese international ran the show against a well-drilled Manchester City, playing like a man possessed.
Palhinha has always been a player whose physicality seems best suited to play in the Premier League. In hindsight, he should have stayed in England and turned down the move to Bayern Munich but it is never too late for a course correction.
Against Man City, Palhinha did not leave a single blade of grass uncovered on the pitch. He was everywhere, winning duels for fun, stopping counter-attacks at source, controlling the tempo of the game and also managed to score the all important second goal.
It is a performance that would instantly endeared Joao Palhinha to the Spurs fans. Although he is only on loan, such performances would urge the club to make this signing permanent at the end of the summer but let’s not get ahead of ourselves and let’s enjoy the player’s performances in the upcoming season.
2. Tottenham have an Kante regen in their ranks
Former Chelsea star N’Golo Kante was considered one of the most likeable players the Premier League has ever seen. He was particularly famous for his non-stop running throughout the 90 minutes.
The Frenchman played football like he had two lungs in him. He had no idea of what tiredness meant and it looks like Tottenham have found a Kante regen in their squad in the form of Pape Matar Sarr.
The Senegalese international is quickly establishing himself as a key part of Thomas Frank’s project. Sarr has so much energy on the pitch, it feels physically impossible to be able to stop him over the course of 90 minutes.
He was anywhere and everywhere against Man City. It was his excellent pressing that helped Spurs win the ball back for their second goal and there is no doubt that Frank would have loved what the youngster had to offer.
3. The Cristian Romero – VDV partnership
Tottenham’s game against Man City yet again reiterated the fact that there aren’t many better centre-back partnerships in the world than Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven, when fit.
The duo have started the season in brilliant fashion. Against Man City, both players were defensively superior and held the opposition attacker’s at a yard’s length. The prize? They managed to walk away with a clean sheet against their name.
The best thing about this central defensive duo is how well they both complement each other. Their strengths are a perfect correlation to the other’s weaknesses and this makes them a complete unit, as a whole.
A lot of Tottenham’s success this season directly depends on the duo staying fit and being able to play all the big games. Thomas Frank would be keen to find a way to keep them healthy and let’s wait and see how they develop through the course of the campaign.
