How Manchester City took control of the title race

With this result at Tottenham, Manchester City moved within one victory of becoming the first club to claim four English top-flight titles in succession. At the same time, the home side’s defeat ended their fading hopes of claiming Champions League football, in Ange Postecoglou’s first season in charge. Nonetheless, the home fans seemed almost as happy as the travelling support, given City’s win took the destination of the title out of Arsenal’s hands.

Tottenham came into the game in dire form, with four defeats in their last five games. They were, however, unbeaten in all four previous league meetings against City at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. In fact, they hadn’t conceded a goal against Pep Guardiola’s side in those fixtures. So it was a great relief for a somewhat subdued City, when Erling Haaland broke the deadlock in the second half, converting a Kevin De Bruyne cross. 

It didn’t exactly calm their nerves, though, which were exacerbated by the 69th minute departure of De Bruyne and Ederson with injuries. That proved to be a turning point, but not one that any watching Arsenal fans would have hoped for. City’s back-up goalkeeper Stefan Ortega came on and made two crucial saves – not least when Son Heung-min burst through, one-on-one, in the 85th minute.

Soon after, Jérémy Doku – on as a substitute for De Bruyne – was brought down by Pedro Porro in the Spurs’ box. Haaland made no mistake from the spot, scoring his 27th league goal of the season to put City two points clear of Arsenal, and extend his lead in the Golden Boot race to six goals.

How the managers saw it

“I don’t think they dominated us at any point,” said Postecoglou. “Probably towards the end we opened up a bit to try to equalise, but up until the first goal we were well in the game, and in some areas I thought we were dominant. Ultimately, if you want to win those games, you’ve got to take the big moments. You’ve got to be disciplined and it’s fair to say it’s one of the areas we have let ourselves down in all year.”

Pep Guardiola, meanwhile, reflected on Ortega’s pivotal save from Son: “Do you know how many times Son punished us in the last seven or eight years? “I said: ‘No, not again.’ But Stefan made an incredible save. He has this talent. In one-on-ones, he is one of the best keepers I’ve ever seen in my life. It’s the German culture, stand-up, don’t go down.”

Below, our UEFA-licensed coaches explain how Guardiola and Postecoglou’s tactics shaped the game…

Central midfield numbers

Both sides placed significant numbers in central midfield when attacking, with Spurs often playing without anyone in the central-forward position. From the 4-3-3, Pape Matar Sarr defended as the highest central player for Spurs, but dropped back into central midfield when attacking, working alongside James Maddison, Rodrigo Bentancur and Pierre-Emile Højbjerg (below). Son and Brennan Johnson held the width as wingers, hoping to get at City’s full-backs, with their own full-backs supporting inside, as Spurs had lengthy spells of possession from the start.

Trying to break City’s 4-4-2 defensive shape, Højbjerg then dropped between the two Spurs centre-backs, helping overload against City’s out-of-possession front line of Haaland and De Bruyne (below). Sarr continued to drop deep, but also repositioned into a wider space to receive, away from the central congestion. With Son and Johnson still holding the width, right-back Porro moved inside, sometimes ending up in a central-forward role. At first, he narrowed and dragged Phil Foden along with him, giving easier access to Johnson – sometimes via Sarr – as Spurs’ right-side probed the most in the first half.

City had a similar idea with creating central-midfield overloads, but executed it with slight differences. Right-winger Bernardo Silva narrowed and dropped, taking Son inside, where the Spurs player lost awareness of Kyle Walker. As De Bruyne snuck forwards, left-back Micky van de Ven narrowed to remain closer to the rest of Spurs’ back line, freeing space for Walker to advance. Foden worked off this movement, committing inside from the left, once number 10 De Bruyne had moved across from the initial 4-2-3-1 shape. City had their best moments of the first half when they found Walker in-behind Postecoglou’s usual high back-line.

As the first-half progressed, Silva continued to narrow, working with Rodri and Mateo Kovacic to become a central trio (below). De Bruyne and Foden played as two advanced number 10s between the lines, supporting the central Haaland, luring Van de Ven and Radu Dragusin inwards. This allowed Josko Gvardiol to advance in a similar manner to Walker, with City using their full-backs to progress into the final third.

City’s connection between their high full-backs and players in the penalty area, however, was missing in the first half. Guardiola tweaked this slightly in the second period, placing Silva wider when in the final third. De Bruyne and Haaland duly combined to put them ahead, after Silva had played a through pass.

City’s high press

Manchester City’s 4-4-2 mid-block converted into a player-oriented press when they jumped on to Spurs’ deeper build up. Each City player stuck with their direct opponent when the home team attempted patterns and rotations. Indeed, one of City’s back line regularly committed well into Spurs’ half, to track dropping opponents (Rúben Dias committing forward for City in the example below). De Bruyne had licence to leave his man and jump the goalkeeper when appropriate, which Spurs tried to benefit from via Dragusin driving into midfield. As De Bruyne recovered and his closest teammates narrowed, Tottenham then entered City’s pressing trap, often in the inside-channel (below). City were then able to regain and create their most dangerous attempts of the first half.

City’s pressing strategy continued into the second half, as Spurs attempted to build from the back. De Bruyne’s pressing on to the goalkeeper was often well-timed and directed, forcing the ball away from Dragusin, who more often than not remained Spurs’ free-player. Despite Porro trying to take Foden away so that a higher player could drop in and receive, City remained fully committed to their press. Manuel Akanji, in particular, was extremely aggressive with his advancing from centre-back (below). City created further chances from their press in the second half, but once they took the lead were content to sit off and defend via a controlled mid-block.

City were far from their imperious best, but the result was all-important. Speaking afterwards, Guardiola explained that his players were responding to the situation, particularly in the first half: “They were playing for the consequences of the result. When you play football thinking about the consequences, you are going to lose the Premier League, you cannot perform at your best level, but they are human beings so I can understand the pressure is there.”

The pressure will be there again in their final league game, against West Ham at the Etihad Stadium, but few will doubt they can handle it. City have now won 18 and drawn four of their last 22 Premier League games. In 15 games against West Ham as City manager, Guardiola has won 13 and drawn two, winning all seven at home. And for the sixth time in seven seasons, his defending champions will go into the final-game top of the league – which they have won on each of those previous occasions. There is nothing to suggest they won’t finish the job this time, too.

To learn more from professional coaches at The Coaches’ Voice, visit CV Academy