On Sunday in North London, Tottenham Hotspur prevented Manchester City from taking advantage of Arsenal’s defeat at Everton the previous day to close the gap at the top of the Premier League table thanks to a record 15th-minute goal by Harry Kane. while strengthening their position in the race for getting into the top four.
Amazing Kane
It was the England captain’s 267th goal in a Spurs shirt, making him the club’s top scorer in all competitions, as well as the player with 200 Premier League goals in the fewest appearances in English top flight history. Head coach Antonio Conte, who was unable to lead the team for this game as he is recovering from gallbladder surgery, called his attacker after the match to congratulate him on this historic moment.
It must have been an amazing feeling for Kane hitting the net so early in the game to break this record against none other than a club that had dominated the English game for quite some time and then back into the final whistle when he was the winner. The fact that it also made Spurs archrivals happy is of absolutely no importance in such circumstances.
267 goals have been scored in 416 appearances in all competitions for the club, while 200 Premier League goals have come in at 304. This is a fantastic record and although the 29-year-old may still feel unfulfilled as he hasn’t won a major tournament. To date, there has not been a player as important to the team for a very long time, perhaps since Steven Gerrard took over at Liverpool and achieved shocking Champions League glory in 2005.
There was a time when Kane wanted to leave the Spurs for City back in the summer of 2021, but now he probably feels grateful that the club was determined not to let that happen at any cost.
Haaland in the shade
Of course, it shouldn’t be forgotten that Erling Haaland still has 25 goals in just 20 Premier League games, making him poised to shatter the league record in a season of 38 games, in his very first season in English football, at the age of 22. Even Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo did not have such numbers at this age.
But in the course of this match, all those things in which Kane surpasses the young Norwegian came to the fore. City are almost always the best team on the field, regardless of the name of the opposition or the competition, but this was one of those rare times when they weren’t, and that’s when Haaland becomes practically useless.
Poacher, finisher, full of speed and power, strong in the air, Haaland is the perfect scorer, definitely more than Kane. But Kane is obviously much more than that.
Very capable of getting into deeper positions to retrieve the ball and draw in his teammates, Kane has some pretty impressive playing skills, something Haaland clearly lacks at this stage of his career. Haaland is not one of those players who take the competition by the scruff of the neck and win it for his team.
Kane is.
Pep’s mistake?
Manchester City won the Premier League title last season by beating Liverpool by one point. Merseysiders are now in a deep crisis, they are sitting in the middle of the table, and City have problems too. Not so serious, but there are still problems.
Conceding an early goal through a defensive error, failing to force the fight with enough determination to turn the tide, losing fights in midfield and missing a few chances when they do appear are words that quite accurately describe Liverpool’s form. , but they also describe the way City played in north London on Sunday, and manager Pep Guardiola wouldn’t be happy about that.
Speaking of Guardiola, the Catalan tactician bears most of the blame for how his team has fared.
Many were surprised when the starting XI was announced. First, the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan, Ruben Diaz and Aymeric Laporte were left on the bench, while John Stones was injured. Guardiola opted for a 4-2-4 formation, with Nathan Ake starting alongside Manuel Akanji in central defence, young Rico Lewis on the left flank, and Rodri and Bernardo Silva being tasked with controlling the midfield. . Julian Alvarez joined Haaland in front, Jack Grealish to their left and Riyad Mahrez to their right.
Kyle Walker, playing to the right of the back four, was perhaps the only thing that felt right, aside from Ederson Moraes in goal.
Spurs also had two central midfielders on the field, but Dejan Kulusevski and Son Heung-min, whose main role was to support Kane in attack, were far more effective at penetrating deeper, assisting Pierre-Émile Hojbjerg and Rodrigo Bentacour, than Grealish and Mahrez were on the pitch. . Other side. City’s full-backs were constantly held back by the relentless efforts of Emerson Royal and Ivan Perisic, Tottenham’s full-backs.
The whole equation meant one thing – Bernardo Silva and Rodri were pinned down in the middle, powerless to do anything with the huge space they had to cover from the ball, and constantly pressed from all sides when they were on it. This, in turn, resulted in City not being able to control the game in the way they usually do and, most importantly, failing to give Haaland any chance throughout the match.
In fact, the Premier League’s top scorer never touched the ball in the opponent’s penalty area at all.
Guardiola waited almost an hour to send de Bruyne. Gundogan was called out with just six of the 90 minutes remaining on the clock. By that time, the rest of the team was clearly tired and very upset. Conte wasn’t in the stadium, but his mantra was still remarkable as the Spurs players took every opportunity to waste time and tease their opponents.
In the end, Christian Romero sacrificed himself by eliminating Grealish already on a warning, and referee Andy Madeley was in no mood to forgive. It didn’t matter as assistant coach Christian Stellini called Kuluszewski back and sent Davinson Sanchez to take Romero’s place in the back row.
Consequences
The three points won in this match brought the Spurs closer to the top four, and their tally of 39 is just one behind Newcastle in fourth place, although they played a game more than the Magpies. Having put in the hard work against City, Kane and his teammates need to keep the momentum going when they face Leicester City at the King Power Stadium on Saturday.
Meanwhile, it was a big missed opportunity for the City. Arsenal have been extremely relentless in their pursuit of the finish line and their defeats will not happen often. The gap between them is still five points in favor of the Gunners, but Manchester United have also begun to get close to the leading duo. With the same number of games played, they are only three points behind City, who will face Aston Villa at the Etihad at the end of the week.