City's home campaign opens with defeat

The Blues spurned a couple of decent opportunities before conceding two late goals in the first period.

From there on, a focused and organised Tottenham rarely looked like conceding in a game Pep Guardiola and his players will want to move quickly on from.

The game in 250 words 

The first-half was one of pure frustration for City,

Up against Thomas Frank’s physical and defensive side, chances were few and far between.

The two best opportunities both fell to Omar Marmoush, who narrowly missed from a tight angle on eight minutes,  and then on 28, Erling Haaland’s excellent driving run ended with a through ball to the Egyptian who had just Vicario to beat, but saw his shot easily saved.

Spurs had offered little in attack before they went ahead on 38 minutes as Richarlison raced down the right and his low cross was converted by Brennan Johnson.

Initially disallowed for offside, VAR overturned the decision, and in added time, James Trafford’s attempted pass was intercepted by Richarlison and Joao Palhinha doubled the visitors’ lead.

City huffed and puffed after the break, looking for a goal that could spark a comeback and get the Etihad rocking, but as time wore on, there was a feeling of inevitability that it wasn’t going to be our day.

Opportunities were few and far between, with Rodri seeing a header from a corner easily saved and Phil Foden denied by a determined defence after good work by Jeremy Doku.

Tottenham’s continued habit of wasting time at goal-kicks and throw-ins went largely unpunished by the referee, further frustrating the City fans and players in what had become an increasingly niggly, scrappy affair.

All in all, it was a bad day at the office for the Blues who will already be looking forward to the next game.

Key takeaways 

Ait Nouri concern

Barely 20 minutes into his home debut, Rayan Ait-Nouri sat down on the turf, his afternoon over.

He’d been hobbling  since a block tackle a few minutes earlier, and despite trying to run it off after treatment,  he was forced off shortly after.

Visibly upset, let’s hope it is nothing more than an impact injury and nothing more.

Rodri and Foden’s return

Two players so vital to Pep Guardiola’s starting XI came off the bench with 20 minutes remaining.

There was little they could do to affect a game where the visitors rarely looked like conceding, with Thomas Frank’s side using their collective defensive focus and physicality to good effect.

But the fact they were on the pitch can only be a positive on a largely forgettable day at the Etihad.

Match highlights 

As a result… 

City’s 11-match unbeaten run in the league is over and after the weekend matches, we are likely to slip back towards midtable in the early Premier League table.

		Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Form
5		Nottingham Forest N Forest	2	1	1	0	4	2	2	4
6		Manchester City Man City	2	1	0	1	4	2	2	3
7		Sunderland Sunderland	2	1	0	1	3	2	1	3

Guardiola’s view 

“The game against them this season was like against Brentford.

“ You have to play in different way. We spoke about that. We missed the simple things.

“The first was effort to run, that was extraordinary. I don’t have doubts.

“Last season, we didn’t achieve. In the pressure, we missed simple things and then we create chances, but it’s happened, it’s football.

“It’s just the second game. Last game v Wolves, everyone said it’s fine and I said it’s jut one game.

“I know how we are working and what the players are doing. Many good things but we have to improve.

“Step by step we will improve and make more connections.”

Match Reaction  

RUBEN DIAS:  “Spurs are a team who can be very dangerous, they started the game very well. We didn’t react the best way in sticking to our game.

“The second goal is unfortunate, it cannot happen. We chased but there was a lot of things to do better.

“Not everything was good in our first game and not everything is bad now so we have to get back to work.”

“It’s frustrating, we want to win even more at home in front of our fans in our first home game. It is what it is, it’s football and we look forward.”

THOMAS FRANK: “Very delighted. Extremely proud of the players. It was an exceptional performance.

“We know it’s always difficult to play against City here at the Etihad. The first 35 minutes, City were on top.

“Then we had a big mentality shift in terms of staying in the game and we scored the goal and changed the momentum.

“Second half we were very good. We were front footed with our mindset. The clean sheet makes me very happy, it’s a big thing we’ve been working on.”

Team sheets 

CITY: Trafford, Lewis, Stones, Dias (C), Ait-Nouri (Ake 22), Nico (Rodri 75), Reijnders, Bobb (Foden 75), Cherki (Doku 54(, Marmoush (Bernardo 54), Haaland

Subs: Ederson, Nunes, O’Reilly, Khusanov

SPURS:  Vicario, Porro, Romero (C), Van de Ven, Spence, Palhinha (Danso 90), Sarr, Bentancur, Kudus (Bergvall 86), Johnson (Odobert 78), Richarlison (Solanke 78)

Subs: Kinsky, Tel, Gray, Vuskovic, Davies

Up next… 

City are next in action next Sunday with a Premier League clash away to Brighton & Hove Albion.

Kick-off at the Amex Stadium is 14:00 (UK) in what should be a fascinating clash on the south coast.