Man City indoors and José Mourinho has already got in some early body blows in via today’s presser, pointing out that his players return to the Premier League having been more exposed to the Interlull grind than Pep Guardiola’s boys. Raheem Sterling in particular missed England’s last game with a “calf injury” which may well be miraculously cured come tomorrow teatime.
City have already been bustled through into pole position to lift the title, yet they currently sit in 10th with a goal difference of +1. Tottenham are in 2nd spot, with a goal difference of +10. Tomorrow, Spurs are about @3/1 and City are a @5/6 in places. So what’s the deal with that?
As far as Saturday’s game goes, the devil as ever lies in the detail. Here in this Infogol graphic, we can that City concede fewer goals on the road, achieve more clean sheets as well as win more corners than Spurs.
What we have in this one table is the stuff of nightmares for fans that like to opine about being entertained during games; opposed to those of us who prefer to walk away having actually won a match. Here we have the nuts are bolts that reveal our failings, failings that are immensely correctable, but nevertheless see us enjoying an 8 place league advantage, yet incapable of commanding a short price at the bookmakers.
There seems to be an ever increasing drum being beaten and a fascination that for Spurs to win a trophy we need to win ugly and entertainment can be thrown out the window. Is this because our most recent cup wins came under Boring George Graham and Comatose Ramos? I seem to remember we won ugly plenty of times under Poch, it wasn’t all drubbings of Everton and slick movement, but ultimately we failed to add to Bungy George’s and Juande’s trophy haul. Our First XI was as good as any for a long time under Poch, but our bench was awful, that ultimately this was our downfall. Then, Walker moved on and Levy papered over cracks by not signing anyone for 3 windows. The rest is history. Levy simply deserves the ire, not Poch.
I am not ashamed to say I do want to be entertained by Spurs, definitely not going to feel inferior by suggesting it. I am not naive to think every match has to be played with a gung ho attitude though, like little Ossie’s philosophy in the 90s. Fergie used to bore teams to death in European and the big EPL away games but Old Trafford was a different story. The mantra of not losing was so important. Klopp changed from full throttle and all out attack to a slightly more reserved playing style at Liverpool. Jose has always erred on the side of caution. They all entertained though with differing styles of football. These 3 managers were backed by their chairmen and then they succeeded. Their teams had and have an abundance of talent that takes care of business in defence, midfield and attack, but it comes at a cost. That leads to the entertainment. Seeing high quality players do things well is entertaining. Watching Kane, in the most tedious of games is still a joy to watch. Can’t say the same for Sissoko! Do we, seriously, have enough quality to entertain to the levels of Chelsea, City or Liverpool? Maybe not, but that doesn’t mean we can’t beat them. City are beatable tomorrow, we beat them with a far worse team last season (I felt they battered us by the way) but we came through. They should be favourites though, 7 games gives us no right to lay claim on the title just yet. I just don’t think we have the personnel yet to win the league, too many weak links that cause too many errors, but a top 4 and a Cup is more than possible. 3 big games coming up. COYS
Bring it on! been a painfully long wait to watch the team I love.
Coys
Spurs to win. City are crap at the back. Yes they will have a lot of the ball but if we stay resolut I can see us having a lot of joy with Son, Kane and Bale on thr break. I’m looking forward to Spurs throwing down a marker tomorrow.
*may be the special edition IPA talking #COYS
Got this down as a Desmond 2-2…