4 hours ago
7
At the end of a wild occasion, this the definition of the game of two halves, it was difficult to state the case for Manchester City’s Premier League title-winning aspirations with any confidence. The manner of their second-half capitulation saw to that. If they were impressive before the interval, they were so brittle thereafter, blown off course after Tottenham stirred. Pep Guardiola was beside himself with frustration on the touchline.
The City manager has now seen his team drop seven points since the turn of the year with goals they have conceded in the second half of matches. After a fourth draw in six league matches, a run that has included the defeat by Manchester United, City find themselves six points behind the leaders, Arsenal.
Yet it told only a part of the story because this was Spurs’ day. Above all, it was one for Xavi Simons and Dominic Solanke. Maybe even the under-fire manager Thomas Frank, too, who made smart in-game adjustments. Simons was the driving force behind the Spurs comeback, Solanke the goalscoring hero. The team had been booed off at half-time. Of course, they were. And yet they refused to bow to what had felt like the inevitable. In the process, they gave Arsenal’s title challenge a boost. Is this allowed?
Rayan Cherki and Antoine Semenyo had scored for City. It was always likely that the latter would do so, having been pursued by Spurs in January before opting for City. Spurs’ revival was stunning. After Solanke had scored for 2-1 – a controversial goal, with City wanting a foul by him on Marc Guéhi – the scene was set for one of the goals of the season.
It was Conor Gallagher who won the ball before crossing. Which was when Solanke diverted the ball up and over Gianluigi Donnarumma with the outside of his trailing boot. Call it a scorpion kick. And, really, just a moment of instinctive brilliance because Solanke had next to no time to make the calculations.
City’s perfect start was overtaken. Ditto their dominance of the first half. It had been plain at the outset that Radu Dragusin, on his first Spurs start for 371 days, was ring-rusty. The alarm bells sounded for Spurs when Cherki ran at him in the 11th minute. Cherki dropped his shoulder and bought a yard of space too easily before wrapping a low finish into the far corner, the ball nicking off Dragusin on the way in. The move had been sparked when Bernardo Silva robbed Yves Bissouma. Frank hurled an environmentally friendly water carton to the ground in disgust.
Frank had persisted with his 3-4- 2-1 system despite Kevin Danso and Djed Spence having been added to the list of unavailable defenders. The manager was without 11 injured players in total. He had the defensive midfielder, João Palhinha, and Dragusin either side of Cristian Romero at the back. Archie Gray, another midfielder, filled in at right wing-back.
There were times during the first half when it felt ominous for Spurs. The home fans were the usual mixture of emotions; they were angsty whenever Guglielmo Vicario tried to start moves with short passes. There were ironic cheers on 35 minutes when he played a decent one. City encountered minimal resistance on their way to their second goal and, after that, the countdown was on to the half-time boos. How loud would they be? Very.
Dragusin hacked a loose clearance straight at Rodri, who moved it forward to Silva and, when he went to ground to scoop it left for Semenyo, the Spurs defence had been shredded. Semenyo was never going to miss.
City might have had more in the first half. Erling Haaland lobbed wastefully over after Rodri had sent a high ball in behind Cristian Romero. Cherki was denied by a Vicario wonder-save after ghosting around Romero and watching Dragusin fly past him in an all-or-nothing block, which turned out to be very much the latter.
Frank changed things for the second half after Romero had failed to emerge for it; the Spurs captain succumbed to illness. On came Pape Sarr at right midfield in a 4-4-2, Frank matching up Guardiola’s formation, going man for man. The transformation was extraordinary. Simons had been an isolated bright spot in the first period; a snap-shot in defiance. His influence would grow exponentially. Solanke was relentless in front of the watching England manager, Thomas Tuchel.
Destiny Udogie drew a fine save out of Donnarumma and then the home team caught a break. Solanke held up a pass from Simons before holding off Abdukodir Khusanov and making the room to shoot. Guéhi, chasing back, got his foot in between Solanke and the ball. At which point, Solanke kicked through the City defender, sending it off his boot – in part – and past Donnarumma. It looked like a foul and yet the goal stood. It was the latest refereeing decision to perplex Guardiola, who would be booked shortly afterwards for something he said.
City’s collapse was remarkable. Spurs pushed, throwing caution to the wind. It was a golden period for Frank and what a goal it was from Solanke for the equaliser. The home crowd enjoyed themselves, roaring their team on and another goal for them would not have been a surprise. Simons teed up the substitute Wilson Odobert, who hammered goalwards. Donnarumma saved with his legs. Simons also extended the goalkeeper with a deflected effort.
Back came City. Tijjani Reijnders, on as a substitute, twice went close. In between times, Haaland scooped high. At the other end, Simons almost got a low cross to work for Odobert. It was breathless stuff. Spurs could revel in the point.
