Match Day Thread Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City

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Sunday 15th August 4.30pm
Premier League
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium​

The Premier League is back and we're off to a wonderful start against the Champions this weekend.
We've got a new manager, some new players and a bunch of late returnees from international duty.
It's an opportunity for Nuno Espirito Santo to get off to an impressive start, but it's also a very tough test.
Guardiola's side haven't had many changes and they walked the title last season.
Can we beat the odds and cause an upset or will our new coach be on the back foot from the off?

Our visitors have had a relatively quiet summer so far, only spending about £110m in the transfer market.
They'll be looking to improve on last season, where they only won the Premier League and League Cup.
Pretty slack stuff from The Best Manager In The World Ever™, if you ask me.
Not sure how he's going to do that on such a limited budget, though.
Their owners may have to find some new sponsors or start some new companies to become those sponsors.

This fixture was one of City's early blips last time, coming just before they went on a 20 game unbeaten run.
Mourinho had yet to get the team dropping off too much and we took a very early lead.
Ndombele chipped it in behind their defence and Son comfortably beat Ederson after just five minutes.
City had an equaliser chalked off for a clear handball following a VAR check and that took us to the break.
They appeared to be gaining the upper hand, but Lo Celso came off the bench to kill it off and make it 2-0:

The away game came as their form peaked and ours slumped and both were evident.
Kane hit the woodwork from a free-kick early on, but we rarely threatened after that.
The hosts took the lead after Gundogan fouled Hojbjerg in our box and they were awarded a penalty.
The same player made it 2-0 after the break, as his weak shot squirmed past Lloris, just as Rodri's had earlier.
A straight hoof from Ederson allowed the German to make it 3-0, as Sanchez dithered and flopped at it:

Kane, Sessegnon, Romero and Ndombele are doubts, mostly through fitness levels.
Foden and De Bruyne miss out for City, due to injuries picked up on international duty.
Neither side has any suspensions, fairly obviously. It's possible, but pretty unlikely at this stage.

Lineups for each side's last league game:

Spurs: Lloris; Doherty, Sanchez, Alderweireld, Reguilon; Winks, Hojbjerg; Bergwijn, Alli, Son; Kane.
Subs: Hart, Dier, Rodon, John, Bale, Lamela, Moura, Scarlett, Vinicius.

City: Ederson; Walker, Stones, Dias, Zinchenko; Foden, Fernandinho, De Bruyne; Mahrez, Jesus, Sterling.
Subs: Steffen, Ake, Laporte, Mendy, Rodri, Gundogan, Silva, Torres, Aguero.

Ref: Anthony ****ing Taylor. VAR: Stuart Atwell.

TV: Sky Sports.

How would you like to line up for this on?
Would you stick with much of the same lineup from the Arsenal game, tinker a little or change it completely?
Which system and tactics would you use and what are you expecting City to go with?

 

I say we soundproof their dressing room and lock the door and see how long before they go full Donner Party

 

Paul Stewart

 

There's always a smart arse - and he's started early.

 

He wasn't even the first reply!

 

Oi, jump in first like this again and I’ll report you to the mods

 

I nominate rcl for "third mod" .

 

Lol

Had to do a double take this report wasn't written by RCL, the sarcasm was THAT high.

 

I can't lie I'm pretty pessimistic about Sunday's outcome, the best time to face City is probably now but the likely XI that'll start on Sunday will essentially be weaker than how we finished last season - and we were damn awful last season. Gil and Romero may or may not be in the squad, Bale is gone, Kane likely won't play (or start anyway), Toby has gone and despite needing to do so he was the best of a bad bunch of CBs, Lloris hasn't had much of a pre-season so may be rusty in the sticks (I'd personally start Gollini but don't think that'll happen) whilst many of our other players haven't been back for too long or missed a lot of pre-season via injury or being a fat lazy prick. City will obviously have similar issues but ultimately the quality in their squad eclipses ours, as it should when it's cost about a £bn.

Hopefully Nuno can pull a rabbit out of the hat but it's a tough ask in my opinion.

 

Nuno is the difference to last year. I think he'll use a better tactical plan than Mourinho did for most the season. As much as we all criticise, there are good players in our team.

 

I think Mourinho is blamed for a bit too much to be honest. No denying he was a poor appointment and some of his choices were madness but from the final year under Poch to now, we've seen some awful stuff and whilst we've had some player turnover, there's still a lot playing far too much than they should (some shouldn't even still be here). The likes of Dele, Dier and Sanchez are likely to start on Sunday, Bergwijn's form last season was terrible too as was Doherty's, both are likely in contention to start too, albeit they hopefully get a new lease of life but it's hard to be excited about them at this very moment.

I do agree we definitely have some good - great even - players but we also have some absolutely woeful ones and we've been regressing each season for the past four years because of them in my opinion. The bad ones are unfortunately overpowering the good ones.

 

Based on Nuno’s history, I’m not quite sure he will pull some tactical masterclass out.

 

For every Citeh home game tactical triumph etc there were 5+
mundane games where his selection + instilled team mindset
against lesser opponents were utter eff-ups.

The latter is what cost Spurs a CL slot this season.

 

I think the tactics will be better, but more importantly the team has to be better than the sum of the individual players. That was true under Pochettino up until early 2019. Then it all went pear shaped and we've never got it back. City have better players and should still win, but we've beaten them a few times despite that.

 

Wolves beat City home and away in the 19/20 season. equally they lost both matches last season. But not many managers have done a deal league double over City in recent seasons, and equally our record at the new stadium against them is not bad either.

I don't expect us to win but I do think it will be close, we should be up for it several players with points to prove to the new manager and as much as we may have some players that are not up to speed yet that will be the case for both sides, I think a draw is quite likely and if it is a win I don't think that there will be more than 1 goal between the sides.

 

Maybe not, but my yardstick was Mourinho.

 

Nuno has got a great record against City in the PL

he managed to organise Wolves well enough to do a number on them on more than one occasion…let’s see if our players have the game intelligence to carry out the instructions like his Wolves teams did.

I though, won’t hold my breath.

 

Having brainfarts from our defenders practically every game didn’t help either and two of those will likely be starting on Sunday again. Having midfielders incapable of controlling the middle of the park also didn’t help and relying on our striker to be playmaker and goal scorer was also a huge risk.

We were carried by a few individuals last season, somewhat similar to when Bale carried us under AVB, tactics certainly didn’t help but there’s far too many weighing and dragging us down at the moment.

 

Mourinho's tactics certainly screwed up a bunch of our players, though.
He became more and more negative and our performances got worse and worse.
Overplayed some, underplayed others and stuck square pegs in round holes.

Do I expect anything more from NES on the weekend? No, unfortunately.
Our squad doesn't make much sense. The balance is awful.

 

A number of the players many of us bring up as deadweights were players who were underperforming under Pochettino too towards the end though.

Dele, Winks, Dier and Aurier especially had their critics. Sissoko had a great season in 18/19 under Poch but everyone has often been of the opinion he's nothing more than an average squad player - now certainly a deadweight. Then under Jose the likes of Doherty and Bergwijn added to the issues, whilst Sanchez crept into the list due to the brainfarts remaining that we thought he'd iron out with game time.

I do agree that Jose absolutely didn't help matters, especially tactically but I also don't expect most of those players to suddenly look great under Nuno, Bergwijn's the only one who I think can kick on with the right guidance but he really does need to work on his finishing, fluffs far too many chances.