Sunday 17 December 2017 11:26, UK
Tottenham tried a new way to stop Manchester City but their emphatic 4-1 defeat to Pep Guardiola's Premier League leaders shows why all hope is now lost for the chasing pack, writes Adam Bate.
"We think we can go there and match them," said midfielder Harry Winks in the build-up to Tottenham's trip to the Etihad Stadium. "We will go into the game the way we go into every game - positive and on the front foot. We will try to out-possess them and outplay them."
There was a further fillip for Spurs beforehand when David Silva, Manchester City's outstanding player of recent weeks, was absent from the home side's squad for personal reasons. The door was ajar. And then it was slammed shut. Beaten 4-1. Bested like the 15 teams before them.
Mauricio Pochettino's side did at least do it their own way. Identified by Pep Guardiola as one of the few teams who "want to play football" against them in the Premier League, Spurs were aggressive out of possession and tried to keep hold of the ball when they had it.
It did not work.
In the first 45 minutes, the possession stats had it 53.7 per cent to 46.3 per cent in City's favour - 249 passes to 219. But this was an illusion of near parity. What was most revealing about the visitors' possession was the identity of those players who were able to play.
The five men who had the most touches of the ball for Tottenham in the first half were the back four and the goalkeeper. Jan Vertonghen topped that list with 44 touches. But the big difference was that the man with 44 touches for City was called Kevin De Bruyne.
While Silva had come to the fore of late, De Bruyne has been the star of the season so far and showed that he did not require his partner in torment to take control of the big games. He was the scorer of the crucial second goal and the prompter of so much more.
Ilkay Gundogan came in for Silva and duly headed in the opener. Leroy Sane set up that goal and then repeated the trick by providing the first of two for Raheem Sterling. Gabriel Jesus, a second-half substitute for Sergio Aguero, hit the post with a penalty while City were only two up but it never looked like being costly.
These names are a reminder that City have amazing individuals, but then Tottenham boast plenty of them too. Man for man they could be a match for much of this City side. Not in terms of wage bill or transfer fees, of course, but in terms of reputation and talent, the gulf should not be quite this vast.
For example, Spurs fans would not be in a hurry to swap their back four for that of the runaway leaders. It is not so long ago that Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen were rated as highly as any attacking midfielders in the Premier League. Harry Kane is Harry Kane.
The difference was not just down to quality but organisation. The sort of organisation that undermined Tottenham from the set-piece for Gundogan's goal. The sort of organisation that meant Kane could not get into the game. Only one team could play through the press.
While Ederson's extraordinary passing ability could get his side up the field, Spurs were seldom able to do the same because of City's endeavour. Guardiola spoke afterwards of his players being humble in their willingness to work hard and De Bruyne typified this trait.
The brilliant Belgian ran further than anyone else on the pitch - 12.09 kilometres - while nobody made more high-intensity sprints. Talent and effort. It is an unstoppable combination and the evidence is growing that City can cope with anything thrown at them.
They have come up with the late breakthroughs to beat Bournemouth, Huddersfield, Southampton and West Ham. They have gone to the reigning champions and won. They have beaten their nearest and closest rivals on their own patch. Spurs tried to give them a game instead but came up well short.
So while the fog descended upon the Etihad Stadium during the game, it's the curtain that is falling on the hopes of Manchester City's would-be challengers. Guardiola knows that there will be a slip-up at some point - this winning run will not extend all the way through to May.
But it will not need to and nor is it obvious that it will stop soon. Bournemouth are the next visitors to the Etihad Stadium and then it is a trip to Newcastle to take on a team that's lost eight of their last nine. After that, it's Crystal Palace and out-of-form Watford.
By that point, there is the prospect of City being able to lose five of the remaining 16 games and still breaking the Premier League points record set by Jose Mourinho's 2004/05 Chelsea team. The talk of repeating the feat of Arsenal's Invincibles will become more than a murmur too.
All of which shows that it is increasingly obvious that the only teams that City are in any kind of contest with now are the ones from history. None of the current crop can stop them. None of the current crop can compete. Think you can go there and match them? Think again.
