Tottenham Re-Establish Their Title Credentials with Impressive Win over Man City

WHITE HART LANE, London — Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino made his way into the post-match press conference area wearing a different top to the sweater-shirt combination he had on earlier.

The thought crossed the mind if jubilant dressing-room celebrations for his side's impressive 2-0 win over Pep Guardiola's Manchester City had required the change of clothing. The more casual training top might have signified a soaking like ex-boss Harry Redknapp received in 2010 after his side beat the same opponents to secure Champions League qualification.

A more likely explanation was presented when he motioned about the heat in the room—after a tense afternoon spent urging and cajoling his team from the sidelines, he probably just needed to freshen up. Pochettino will hope such pragmatic, less-fanciful thinking will extend to discussion of Tottenham re-establishing their title credentials, too.

If the north Londoners can continue producing the kind of performance that left them as the Premier League's only unbeaten side, just a point shy of their table-topping defeated foes, he may have to prepare for the opposite.

Two days earlier, Pochettino had been keen not to put any more pressure on his team than was required. The questions about the significance of first-place Man City meeting second-place Tottenham were understood, but he was not about to declare it a decider barely two months into the season.

"My feeling is it’s a very important game for us and for them," he told a packed pre-match press conference. "But, it's only a game. I think we are in the beginning of the season."

"I think it will be a very tough game, very important game for both teams, but is very early to start to speak about this as a very important game to prove something or not."

While also acknowledging closing the gap on City would be helpful in an unmentioned (by him) title challenge, it was just a generally good display and resulting three points he wanted. Manchester City, Stoke City, Leicester City; the opponent did not matter.

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"Be sure my speech if we will win will be the same if we don't get the three points. The most important thing is to be solid, is to show that we believe in the way that we play."

Discussions of the match with Man City were gradually re-framed via the subject of Spurs' place in the grander picture of English football.

Could Spurs, a club without a league championship since the 1960-61 season, compete with clubs such as the Sky Blues, whose trophy cabinets were filled with such successes more recently?

"Long-term yes—maybe we are a little bit in behind them now in the project. But I think that our expectation is long-term to compete with all of the big clubs like City, United and Liverpool, and different clubs."

Pochettino's words here and in other discussions of the club often see ambition clash with his desire to play down expectations.

At the same time he was expressing hope for parity, he was also reiterating the patience needed to get there.

"I think to build a new stadium and unbelievable training ground like we have is to set all the principles to be a big, big club," the Argentinian stated. "Our spirit and our ambition is to be one of the bigger clubs in the world, but for that you need time and a normal process."

Pochettino raised some good points about the greater challenge he had putting together a team following his appointment compared to the new Man City boss Guardiola (albeit they are "challenges" a Bournemouth or a Burnley would roll their eyes at). The £33.6 million his club spent that summer on five players was less than what Man City spent individually on Leroy Sane or John Stones, their overall spending exceeding £100 million—fees via Transfermarkt.co.uk.

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Yet the reality of his team is, thanks to the mostly excellent job he has done up until now, Spurs are already looking the real deal. At White Hart Lane on Sunday, they looked less a work in progress and more like a side set to show last season's battle with Leicester City for honours was no one-and-done.

After his side's defeat, the former Barcelona man Guardiola was full of praise for his old Espanyol rival Pochettino's team. Interestingly, he struck a similar tone playing down expectations for his own players at this stage in their own project, while expressing surprise their opponents had not been talked up amid the pre-season hype over his and other appointments at big clubs.

"It was last season; they were there last season," Guardiola said when asked whether Spurs could compete at the top again.

"The same trainer; new players—in two, three years my team will be better. So in that sense it is normal, so of course there are many, many teams that can achieve that and Tottenham is one of them."

From the first minute, Spurs played like they believed so, too. They attacked immediately with Kyle Walker and Moussa Sissoko pushing the visitors back on the right flank, before Christian Eriksen and Heung-Min Son combined to send the latter into the box, the angle a little too wide for the subsequent shot.

Praise for their relentlessness and aggression is commonly heard on their best days.

Guardiola highlighted it as something City prepared for, and they matched them in pressing initially with Hugo Lloris as pressured as Claudio Bravo. But by the end of a pulsating, end-to-end contest, the scoreline was in Spurs' favour, the Catalan conceding their hosts' engagement of them at different points of the pitch had told more effectively.

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"They were a step in front of us today so we can just say congratulations Tottenham, because when the opponent is better you just have to accept it and learn from that."

Spurs deserved their wins over Manchester City last season, but in the first one especially—the 4-1 home victory—there was an understandable tentativeness facing a side who had dominated them in preceding campaigns. They attacked, but they did so picking their moments more carefully.

Here Pochettino set his team out to try dominate, pushing Dele Alli forward rather than stationing him in central midfield alongside Victor Wanyama in the absence of Mousa Dembele (a role he played in that aforementioned 2015-16 win). Eriksen took up similar positions, Erik Lamela and Sissoko were the nominal wide-men, and Son was loosely defined front man of a formation perhaps closest to a 4-1-4-1.

The positive approach paid off as Spurs opened the scoring within 10 minutes, Aleksandar Kolarov converting Danny Rose's cross into his own net. Thereafter, it did not always work and was sometimes turned against them, but the balance Pochettino strives for was seen with a strong, responsible defensive effort making sure they were not punished.

Man City broke through at times, with Sergio Aguero typically dangerous with and without the ball. But if they beat Wanyama or Eriksen, Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen were there. And if they bypassed the defenders, Lloris was on hand to deny them, recording a series of point-blank saves.

Alli's calmly taken goal late in the first half was a deserved reward, and it was unfortunate for Spurs they could not get the comfort of a three-goal lead via Lamela's missed post-interval penalty. But with Son, Sissoko and others continuing to drive City back, and the layered defence stopping City eventually, the nervier moments did not come via any abandonment of their game plan.

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"Very happy, very pleased, the performance was nearly perfect," Pochettino commented after. "Playing a great team like Manchester City you need to do a fantastic job, for that I am very proud for the performance and the job the players showed today."

Looking ahead, he could not help but again strike those simultaneously tuneful and jarring notes. Optimist and pragmatist harmonising once again.

"It's too early in the season to start to talk about aims but it's important to be consistent. And if we can play like this, like we play today, why not to be consistent in the whole season?"

"I know it's a big effort, but that is the way that we work and want to play, I think today was a good example that we want to follow and build our project."

Quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.

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