Manchester City dedicated an involuntary tribute to Rodi Hernández. The Madrid native presented the Ballon d’Or to his fans at the Etihad, this Saturday before his teammates received Tottenham. Injured for the season, Rodri watched the game from the stands and his absence in midfield was thunderous every time City broke in half. Without Walker in full physical condition and without Dias in the middle of the defense, the local team was exposed to the void left by the best player in the world from last season. Gündogan, his replacement due to the loss of Kovacic, another injured player, accused the year of vacation he spent in Barcelona. With Kulusevski, with Madison, with Son, Tottehnamh mercilessly invaded the property of the current Premier champion. The field had no gates.
0
Ederson, Kyle Walker, Josko Gvardiol, John Stones (Nathan Aké, min. 45), Manuel Akanji, Rico Lewis (Jack Grealish, min. 73), Ilkay Gündogan, Bernardo Silva, Savinho (Kevin De Bruyne, min. 73), Phil Foden and Erling Haaland
4
Guglielmo Vicario, Ben Davies, Pedro Porro, Destiny Udogie (Djed Spence, min. 89), Radu Dragusin, James Maddison (Timo Werner, min. 88), Yves Bissouma, Pape Sarr (Lucas Bergvall, min. 89), Son Heung -Min (Brennan Johnson, min. 62), Dominic Solanke and Dejan Kulusevski
Goals
0-1 min. 12: James Maddison. 0-2 min. 19: James Maddison. 0-3 min. 51: Pedro Porro. 0-4 min. 92: Brennan Johnson
Referee John Brooks
yellow cards
Yves Bissouma (min. 0), Rico Lewis (min. 54), Bernardo Silva (min. 77), Pape Sarr (min. 79), De Bruyne (min. 79), Manuel Akanji (min. 91)
More than two years had passed since City’s last defeat at their stadium: 1-2 against Brentford. This time, Rodri saw it from the stands. The first chance was for City: Haaland one-on-one with Vicario, he shot wide. The second was also from Haaland, and Vicario cleared it with his foot. City produced up to ten shots in the first half. He didn’t convert any. Vicario would make more stops throughout the night. City paid for it, which plays without a net. Gvardiol is the example of the kind of defense without a brand vocation that suffocates the Manchester team. The Croatian is a common species. Very valuable for articulating attacking plays but dangerous if there is no teammate at his side to remind him of his duties. Gvardiol gave too many advantages to Kulusevski and the Swede enabled Madison. The English interior took advantage of the inconsistency of Walker and Stones in marking. At 13 minutes Tottenham led 0-1. It started to rain in Manchester. In every way. Ten minutes later, Gvardiol gave the ball to Madison a few meters from the area and English made it 0-2. Porro made it 0-3 in the second half and Johnson, in stoppage time, made it 0-4.
It was Manchester City’s fifth consecutive defeat, considering Premier, League Cup and Champions League. Never in his entire career did Guardiola experience anything like this. The sporting crisis is accentuated by injuries and comes hand in hand with a legal conflict with the Premier League that threatens the club with administrative relegation if the accusers prove that it failed to comply with the rules ofl fair play financial. In the middle of the storm, last week Guardiola announced that he was renewing for two more seasons, until June 2027. The presence of the Spanish coach, who assures that he will accompany the team if they are relegated, aims to give strength to an institution that is facing moments of difficulty after become the reference club in England with four consecutive Premiers and one Champions League.
City remains second in the standings, one point behind Chelsea. If Liverpool wins in Southampton this Sunday they will be leaders with an eight-point difference.
