Manchester City vs. Tottenham Hotspur: 6 Things We Learned
Manchester City welcomed Tottenham Hotspur to the Etihad with City's title hopes perhaps hanging in the balance.
That seems a ridiculous thing to say about a late November Premier League match. The season extends into the following May, after all. Plenty of time to make up lost ground, right?
Not really.
Arsenal won the day before. So did Chelsea. Liverpool earned a late draw away to Everton and Manchester United would follow City's match with a likely result over Cardiff City.
Anything fewer than three points for City against Spurs would be a real problem.
Credit the Sky Blues, then, for taking control of the match before most fans had even sat down after the last strains of "Blue Moon" had finished pulsing from the Etihad sound system.
City led after 13 seconds and never trailed en route to a convincing and much-needed victory over Tottenham Hotspur.
Here are six things we learned from Manchester City 6-0 Tottenham Hotspur.
U8 Tactics Can Work at the Premier League Level
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Managing my son's U8 football team this season, I employed tactics that candidly should never work at the Premier League level.
Chief among them was attacking aggressively from the opening touch of the ball.
If our side took the opening touch, we ran a set play trying to create a breakaway from three passes. If their side took the opening touch, we jumped them and tried to counter quickly.
Why? Because these kids were seven years old. Half of them were barely paying attention as the match began, lazily waiting for the ball to come to them and certainly not ready to make a play under pressure.
This worked an astonishing amount of the time, and our undefeated record was due in large part to the number of times we led 1-0 inside of a minute.
But that sort of thing could never happen to top flight professionals, could it? Ask Andre Villas-Boas.
Manchester City opportunistically seized on a sleepy start from Tottenham Hotspur, and once Hugo Lloris' mis-hit clearance found Sergio Aguero's boot, the goal ultimately scored by Jesus Navas seemed an inevitability.
Of course, that goal ended up being just an appetizer for the six-course meal City made of Spurs in this mismatch.
Hugo Lloris Is a Slow Learner
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Tottenham Hotspur keeper Hugo Lloris had a horrible day for Spurs. Manchester City scored six times, and Lloris was hung out to dry by his teammates on more than half of the goals.
But you could make a compelling case that Lloris lost the match for Spurs more than his teammates did.
Lloris was strictly at fault for each of City's first two goals. His misplayed clearance in the first 10 seconds of the match ended up behind him off Jesus Navas' boot a few ticks later.
Then, with Spurs in the main dominating play for the half hour following the stunning opening goal, Lloris again made an error in distribution from the back line that City pounced on. Moments later, Sergio Aguero and Alvaro Negredo were bearing down on Lloris' goal with the ball and time to work with it.
You know how that story ends.
City never looked back after the second goal, and Spurs seemed utterly deflated.
Surely City watched how Spurs reacted to Lloris' errors and recognized their opponents' despondence. Deposed City keeper Joe Hart, after all, lost his job due to similar negligence.
Jesus Navas Is Making a Case for More Playing Time
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Prior to his performance against Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City winger Jesus Navas had struggled mightily to find his way into the City XI.
City midfield magician David Silva is still unavailable. The creativity and the play-making had to come from somewhere.
So City boss Manuel Pellegrini gave Navas a start against Spurs. Good choice.
Navas announced his presence with flair and clarity. His opportunistic strike 13 seconds in put City ahead before Spurs knew what hit them.
Credit Navas for being in the right place to score that goal in the first place. He made a prescient run to convert the fat rebound Lloris gave up from Sergio Aguero's strike.
Then Navas put Aguero's first goal on a tee for him.
Navas' second goal came in second half stoppage time with the match already well in hand for his side. But it was still an important goal in that it showed how dangerous Navas' speed makes him, and how a moment of inattention from an opposing defender can turn Navas loose alone.
The Premier League as a whole cannot be happy seeing Navas get untracked for City. The Sky Blues have so many weapons to begin with. Having Navas in this sort of form is almost unfair.
Sergio Aguero Is the Best Striker in the Premier League
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Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero's brace against Tottenham Hotspur vaulted him into the Premier League lead for goals scored.
With each passing match, it looks more and more like Aguero is the class of the league at the striker position.
You will hear arguments for Liverpool's Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge or Arsenal's Olivier Giroud. Maybe Manchester United fans will stubbornly insist that Robin van Persie holds the title belt until someone takes it away.
Whatever. City would not trade Aguero for any of those players straight up, nor should they.
And the way Aguero and Alvaro Negredo (who also scored against Tottenham Hotspur) are playing together, City reserve strikers Edin Dzeko and Stevan Jovetic might consider investing in comfortable seat cushions.
Tottenham Hotspur May as Well Have Had Ted Lasso Managing Them
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Tottenham Hotspur manager Andre Villas-Boas did nothing to earn his salary as Spurs manager against Manchester City.
Spurs conceded the first City goal in 13 seconds, and the goal was not a freak product of a rogue gust or some other inexplicable phenomenon.
It was a systemic breakdown of Spurs' midfield, defenders and keeper that permitted Jesus Navas to open the scoring so quickly.
Spurs were then competitive for about 30 minutes, but never seriously threatened to score. After that, City pumped home two more in quick succession. The 3-0 lead the Citizens took to the changing room was more than sufficient.
Villas-Boas' side should have come out for the second half ready to run through fire to make a match of it. Instead, Spurs unequivocally laid down, conceding twice more in the first 10 minutes of the second half.
NBC Sports Network's well-executed Premier League spoof featuring Jason Sudeikis as Spurs' fictional new manager, Ted Lasso, was understood to be satire.
But Villas-Boas' Spurs looked absolutely uncoached against City. Sudeikis in the Lasso get-up could not have done much worse.
Manchester City's Home Form Is Not to Be Believed
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Manchester City's form at home is utterly ridiculous right now.
On the heels of City's loss to Sunderland, City manager Manuel Pellegrini was asked about the way his charges wear out the netting at the Etihad. As reported by ESPNFC.com:
"City boss Manuel Pellegrini noted his side's productive sequence at home in the Premier League, where they have scored three, five and seven goals in their past three matches.
In his programme notes, the Chilean observed: "I am pretty sure we will not be able to continue that particular numerical sequence."
"
Well, it was not for lack of trying. City got stuck on an even number against Spurs, all right. They scored only six.
City are 6-0-0 at home. They have scored 26 goals at the Etihad and conceded only twice. Those are video game numbers.
City's Premier League title chances will thus almost certainly come down to whether they can break the ongoing whammy they have working against them on the road.
If City figure out how to take some of their rampaging aggression with them when they travel, the rest of the Premier League will be in for a rough ride.
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