Football writer Alex Keble analyses Tottenham Hotspur's 2-0 win at Manchester City as they maintained their perfect start under Thomas Frank, with two wins from their opening two matches.
If there were any Thomas Frank disbelievers remaining before today’s match, there certainly aren’t any left now.
Tottenham Hotspur’s 2-0 victory over Manchester City was a masterclass in tactical preparation and flexibility; in the benefits of hiring a head coach who doesn’t cling to utopian ideals of how the sport should be played.
Not that Spurs were any less entertaining, any less impressive, than Ange Postecoglou’s side at their very best.
Spurs supporters are used to good results in this fixture - Spurs have won 10 of their 24 games against Pep Guardiola’s Man City in all competitions - but not like this, not with a brilliant high press, a dominating central midfield, and a masterplan that went far beyond the usual smash-and-grab nature of Spurs wins on this ground.
As for Man City, a little over 12 hours after Chelsea recovered from an indifferent opening performance to announce their arrival in the title race, Guardiola’s side took a step in the opposite direction.
We should avoid sweeping conclusions in these early weeks of the campaign. But the disjointedness of the Man City team told us Guardiola has a lot of work ahead; told us that his dramatic revamp will inevitably come with bumps along the road.
Spurs announce their re-arrival as Palhinha and Sarr dominate City
All the talk last weekend was of Man City’s return to the top after their 4-0 victory against Wolverhampton Wanderers, so much so that we perhaps overlooked the significance of Spurs’ own thumping win against Burnley.
Because with a well-deserved victory here - not just going toe-to-toe with City but looking considerably more coherent and robust – it is Spurs who emerge as the ones to watch.
Joao Palhinha put in a scarcely believable midfield performance, one of those rare 90 minutes in which a player seemed to win every ball, make every block and run the game from start to finish. The midfielder won more duels and made more tackles, with eight and four respectively, than any other Spurs player.
Pape Matar Sarr, too, had boundless energy from the front of midfield, leading the high press that caught Man City repeatedly, which eventually led to the James Trafford mistake for the second goal.
“The big, big thing is how we press from a goal kick,” Frank told TNT Sports after the game. “That’s also linked to the high pressure, and as you see we go man-to-man, and that’s big for us.”
It looks as if, already, Frank has got Spurs playing exactly how he wants them to: aggressive, compact and fluent in possession, which is precisely the mixture we saw at Brentford.
Everyone pulling in the same direction and fearlessly taking on Man City on their own turf: Frank could not have got off to a better start.
Talk of Man City’s recovery might have been premature
Guardiola’s turn towards more direct and urgent football was characterised by the addition of Tijjani Reijnders (who was the standout player at Wolves) and Rayan Cherki, the kind of line-breaking runners who mark a change in approach from City’s slower possession.
Today’s defeat might leave Guardiola wondering he changed too much too quickly.
That was certainly true here, where Cherki too often gave away possession rather than recycle it and Reijnders made too many runs ahead of the ball. This combined to make City stretched and light in midfield, hence why Palhinha and Sarr overpowered them.
As their average positions show, Reijnders (LAM) actually played even higher than the maverick playmaker Cherki (RAM).
It was this imbalance in the middle, and poor possession from City, that caused the first tremors, leading to a shaky defence that was caught out for Spurs' second goal.
The first goal was a long ball forward from Pedro Porro, flicked on to set Richarlison in behind. Here we see the best of Frank’s hybrid football (passing carefully out from the back, but also happily going long to beat the high line) and the worst of Guardiola’s revamp.
Man City have been pushing much higher these last two games, jumping into an offside trap in a hugely risky way. It worked against Wolves. It did not work today.
As for Frank, everything he did turned to gold.
He becomes only the third manager ever to win away at a Guardiola team with two different clubs, following his victory with Brentford in November 2022. The other two were Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte.
Frank will hope to do better than both of those former Spurs managers. We can state with confidence he is, at least, a very different kind of manager, nowhere near as negative in big games like this - and able to win playing brave, powerful football.
Spurs are dextrous, flexible and bold. It’s early days, but the first signs are very encouraging.