Shedding on the dwelling of a bitter managerial rival to go away your workforce languishing in 12th within the desk was not the perfect means for Pep Guardiola to mark the announcement of his two-year contract extension at Manchester Metropolis.
That was what occurred in London on Saturday as Metropolis have been overwhelmed by a resolute Tottenham workforce which took their probabilities and defended within the compact, well-drilled method that’s the hallmark of any good Jose Mourinho workforce.
Metropolis had extra of the ball – as they at all times are inclined to – however did valuable little with it. They’d a first-half end by Aymeric Laporte dominated out by VAR for a handball by Gabriel Jesus, however other than that regarded toothless towards the ranks of the Spurs protection.
Time and time once more Metropolis got here ahead, however time and time once more it was plodding and predictable.
As all too typically this season, Metropolis lacked spark. Kevin De Bruyne didn’t impose himself and continues to look off form. Up entrance, Metropolis are badly lacking the cool, scientific fringe of the injured Sergio Aguero. Jesus is an in a position understudy, however will not be prepared to hold the load of expectation because the workforce’s primary purveyor of targets.
On the again, Metropolis regarded characteristically straightforward to carve open, notably on the break. Son Heung-min ghosted into area with embarrassing ease for Tottenham’s opening aim, but it surely was the second from Spurs which was a basic case research of Metropolis’s lingering defensive woes.
Accumulating the ball in his personal half, Harry Kane drove ahead at tempo, with choices in entrance of him within the type of Son and Steven Bergwijn. Metropolis had numbers again, however easy runs by Bergwijn and Son throughout the backline prompted havoc, dragging every of Ruben Dias, Laporte and Joao Cancelo out of place, opening up area for the rampaging Giovani Lo Celso to reach on the left flank and slot the ball previous Ederson.
Guardiola had jibed at Mourinho earlier than the sport that the Portuguese have to be a “physician” after his complaints that Raheem Sterling had been rested from the England squad, however this was a surgical masterclass from Mourinho’s males.
Spurs had two makes an attempt heading in the right direction all recreation and scored each. In stark distinction, Pep’s pedestrians have been straightforward to determine in assault and even simpler to select aside in protection. They’d 22 efforts in complete – however solely 5 heading in the right direction. Hugo Lloris was hardly ever examined within the Spurs aim.
Afterwards, Guardiola would complain that Mourinho and Spurs has benefited from the “excellent state of affairs.”
“We concede a aim after 5 minutes, we knew Kane would drop, Bergwijn and Son run in behind, we may have completed higher,” the Spaniard lamented.
But it surely was a really perfect state of affairs of Spurs’ personal making, and one masterminded by the tactical nous of Mourinho.
Simply as Leicester did to spectacular impact of their 5-2 mauling of the boys in sky blue earlier this season, Spurs had uncovered the frailties of Metropolis’s possession-heavy method which so typically leaves them weak on the counter.
Sure, we’re solely eight video games into the season, however with 12 factors from these eight matches that is Metropolis’s lowest tally at this stage of a Premier League marketing campaign for the reason that 2008-09 season. Their return of 10 targets from eight outings is their worst at this stage since 2006-07.
Guardiola would level out with some justification that that is shaping as much as be a “bizarre season” as video games echo on behind closed doorways, and with a quick and livid timetable more likely to place unprecedented pressure on gamers. However everyone seems to be in the identical boat in that respect.
Maybe most concerningly for Guardiola, Metropolis appear shorn of the high-energy method that has characterised his groups since he arrived in England. The stats bear that out: Metropolis are urgent much less intensely with out the ball, with their ‘opposition passes allowed per defensive motion’ (PPDA) dropping markedly thus far this season.
They threat going from Metropolis slickers to Metropolis slackers.
Tottenham, in distinction, are using excessive and are a part of a gaggle of potential usurpers – most notably together with Chelsea and Leicester – which could fancy their probabilities of upsetting the Metropolis-Liverpool duopoly which has reigned supreme in recent times.
Mourinho’s inventory is rising with an initially cautious Spurs devoted, whereas the scrutiny will solely intensify on managerial rival Guardiola after the sort of tepid efficiency Metropolis produced within the capital on Saturday.
Guardiola, 49, is already into his fifth season at Metropolis – unfamiliar territory for a person whose longest tenure to date has been the 4 campaigns he led at Barcelona. His new contract extension, introduced final week, will take him to seven years – an nearly inconceivable size of time for a supervisor who famously pours a lot power into his work that it leaves him teetering on the point of burnout.
When Guardiola took the Metropolis job again in that summer time of 2016, he was strolling right into a set-up tailor made for him. Barcelona ally Txiki Begiristain was already director of soccer, and the membership was itching for the sort of method that Guardiola would provide.
Guardiola has robust allies elsewhere on the membership, and he cited his conversations with Metropolis chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak as a key cause in signing his contract extension. The pair are mentioned to take pleasure in a private friendship in addition to an expert relationship.
The timing of the contract extension announcement additionally is sensible, with presidential elections looming at former membership Barcelona, Guardiola probably wished to say his dedication to Metropolis to keep away from being dragged into hypothesis that he may return to the Nou Camp.
After his shaky first season, Guardiola has undoubtedly rewarded his Metropolis pay masters spectacularly. The membership’s back-to-back Premier League titles in 2018 and 2019 have been received on the idea of a few of the most free-flowing, free-scoring soccer that the English high flight had ever seen.
However the agency feeling now could be that the cycle is over. Metropolis have been miles of the tempo behind Liverpool final season, and the early indicators are worrying this season.
In Europe, Guardiola’s match stories within the enterprise finish of the Champions League have grow to be a rap sheet. Final season Metropolis shone towards Actual Madrid within the final 16 earlier than coming undone when Guardiola accentuated the strengths of a supposedly inferior Lyon workforce within the final eight by making tactical tweaks which blew up in his face. ‘Too intelligent for his personal good’ was the chorus thrown within the Spaniard’s path.
The hazard now for Metropolis is that they’ve grow to be flat and all too predictable. what you’re getting with them – they’ll have a number of the ball, however in the event you defend deep and preserve your backline bunched and strong, they received’t have the ingenuity or the power to play by way of you as they as soon as did.
Guardiola’s backers will argue that personnel is the issue, that key gamers are off form and that Metropolis are lacking the spark of long-time stalwart David Silva.
There may be some reality in that. Aguero and his targets can be a giant miss for any workforce, and his return to full health cannot come quickly sufficient; elsewhere, the likes of Bernardo Silva have been a far cry from their greatest. This can be a rebuilding challenge for Guardiola as he remodels his defence and provides extra recreation time to the likes of Jesus and Phil Foden, the inheritor obvious to Silva.
However defeats such because the one at Spurs on Saturday point out a failure of system, not simply personnel. Spurs have been properly arrange and knew precisely the place Metropolis’s weaknesses lie; there was no signal of a Plan B from the guests.
Returning to Guardiola’s outdated nemesis Mourinho, a barb which the Portuguese has typically slyly thrown out is that you’re not “a great supervisor” until you’ve got been sacked in some unspecified time in the future. Guardiola is but to style that ignominy in his glittering teaching profession, at all times leaving groups on his personal phrases.
But when Manchester Metropolis are more and more flat and more and more discovered by their opposition, as they have been towards Mourinho’s Spurs, then this may very well be an extended season for them – and one other two years below Guardiola may not be the alluring prospect it as soon as was.
By Liam Tyler
