They didn’t train, they just spoke about their grief
City defence wins day after Mahrez fires an early goal
Ever so quietly, Manchester City have become rather good at defending. You may not have noticed. Not many have. everyone is so focused on their aesthetic qualities, the wonderful front play, that this new resilience is rather passing under the radar.
Yet it is there, all right. This was a sixth consecutive Premier League clean sheet, equalling their previous best run in 2015. To achieve it, they had to repel Tottenham, who were chasing an equaliser for 84 minutes, plus added time. Tottenham are a good team, with good forwards. Protecting a single goal advantage against them, away from home, is not easy.
Yet City survived. They maintained an unbeaten run that has lasted 16 matches in this competition, with just six goals conceded in that time. Indeed, they have only surrendered one of the last 53 games in which they have taken the lead — against Manchester United last April. That match messed up a great many of City’s consecutive sequences, and perhaps as a reaction they have tightened up. One player, centre half Aymeric Laporte, is yet to finish on a losing side in a league game since making his debut on January 31.
Of course, they needed to ride their luck last night. erik Lamela missed a fabulous chance after 80 minutes, when set up by the returning Dele Alli. He was in yards of space but blasted over although in his defence the ball did bobble on a difficult surface.
Then there was Kyle Walker’s misplaced steer in the final minute that eluded ederson in goal but went wide for a corner. What an embarrassment that would have been. These were tense moments for City but it would have been different had City not squandered an excellent chance to go two clear after 64 minutes when Bernardo Silva fed David Silva in the area. Somehow, he stumbled and missed his kick, the ball falling to raheem Sterling, whose shot was blocked on the line.
Yet the title is rarely won with cigars lit, waving to the crowd, and certainly not in October and if this was City grinding one out then it was no less impressive for that. Had riyad Mahrez not missed a late penalty they would have won 1-0 at Liverpool, too, so it was fitting that the same man got the winner here — and particularly fitting on this of all days.
With football still reeling from the tragedy at Leicester it was timely that a player who was part of the success that vichai Srivaddhanaprabha brought to the city should be the match-winner here.
Maybe Mahrez is no longer Leicester’s favourite son after the troublesome manner of his departure, but here was a reminder of that remarkable year in english football history. When he scored he pointed to the sky in acknowledgement of the man who changed his professional life and said as much afterwards. He described Srivaddhanaprabha as like a father to him, and possessing a big heart. He said he had trouble sleeping but that it was always his intention to play. The Boss, he said, would have wanted that. As a lover of many sports, not just football, no doubt he would.
Much was made of the NFLbattered pitch but it was the empty Wembley seats that first caught the eye. Almost the entire top tier clear, and not due to safety- imposed crowd limits, either. It seems the locals are tiring of their nomadic existence, or maybe simply the uncertainty that surrounds them. either way it was unfortunate because this was a decent game played in what were, by modern standards, trying conditions. That caveat regarding the
modern game needs to be applied, mind you, because to any player familiar with pre-Premier League standard surfaces, complaints about this one will have been met with guffaws. It was dreadful compared to what we are used to now but the Baseball Ground circa 1972 it was not.
There were some very visible pitch markings left over from the NFL but did it affect the play? Well, City certainly seemed to go a little longer than usual from the start, but not much.
It helps that goalkeeper Ederson is famed for the length and precision of his kicking. It was his direct approach that wrong- footed Tottenham early and led to City taking the lead after six minutes. That, and some woeful defending from Kieran Trippier.
He has been exceptional for Tottenham and England these last 12 months but this was an off night — certainly an off minute. To begin with, he won the header from Ederson’s kick, but misdirected it back towards goal, falling short of his goalkeeper Hugo Lloris and setting up a problematic foot race with Sterling. Trippier lost that and was then skinned by Sterling again when he took up a recovering position. Now close to the byline, Sterling cut the ball back expertly into the path of Mahrez, whose finish was smart and clinical.
A minute later and City could have been two up, Sergio Aguero firing into the side-netting before Lloris saved well from Mahrez. Yet as they failed to take advantage of their superiority, they remained vulnerable to mistakes, and Tottenham should have cashed in.
After eight minutes, Sterling attempted a careless, blind backheel in the centre circle which set Tottenham up on the counterattack, Kane trying his luck from range but firing over. Soon after Benjamin Mendy let the ball slide under his boot, allowing Moussa Sissoko to speed away but the final ball wasted a good chance.
In the 34th minute, Lamela set Kane through with a smart pass but his first touch was lousy and Ederson was able to save at his feet. To his credit, he chose not to give the pitch a dirty look, or maybe Tottenham’s players are under orders given their recent troubles with accommodation.