Reality check for Spurs in first leg of Manchester double but fairytale still alive in second
by Steve Clare, Wembley Stadium
If Spurs learned anything from tonight, it was just how much ground they have to make up to challenge for the title next season.
Tonight at a beautifully packed Wembley, they were well beaten by a Mancunian Queen Bee which itself had been stung. City bounced back from a poor week with relish and determination and Spurs, perhaps with an eye on the FA Cup semi final, were no match for them.
The home side were not bad. They were just not good enough and to be honest, few sides in England would have fared any better.
Gabriel Jesus opened the scoring from a Vincent Kompany long ball in the twenty-second minute, and Spurs will be unhappy that they lost such a basic goal to a team capable of so much more refined efforts.
Three minutes later Ilkay Gundogan doubled the lead from the penalty spot after Hugo Lloris committed a possible red card foul also possibly outside the penalty box. Referee Jonathan Moss though had a good view and less doubt. It looked like easy street for city down Empire Way but this modern Spurs side have more fight in them than their historic critics claim of their predecessors.
Christian Eriksen was alert and took advantage of a fortunate deflection to nudge in the comeback goal before the interval to set up a pulsating second half. He was first to get to a through ball, but it was blocked only to cannon back onto the Dane’s leg and into the net.
Any hope Spurs had of prolonging City’s bad week ended in the 72nd minute when Raheem Sterling added the third after pouncing on a Lloris save which the Frenchman should have really palmed away from goal, rather than directly outward.
Tuesday’s game at Brighton now looks like a colossal irritant for manager Mauricio Pochettino especially as the Seagulls’ 3-2 loss at Crystal Palace means he is somewhat obliged to try and win the game to be fair to those other clubs around Brighton trying to avoid relegation. Had Brighton won and been closer to safety, there would have been less scrutiny on the Argentinians’s likely line up on the south coast.
Therafter they welcome the red side of Manchester to Wembley in the FA Cup semi final with the obvious prize of a place in the showpiece final at stake. Both sides have little else to salvage from a season where they have lagged some distance behind City and neither Pochetinno or Jose Mourinho will withhold any artillery.
To some extent, there was a suggestion that Spurs held a little back tonight. Firstly, they had less to play for and just perhaps, Harry Kane did not want to show Belgium skipper Vincent Kompany all his tricks before they meet in the World Cup on June 28 in Kaliningrad, a mere 75 days away. Tonight, Kompany won that battle resoundingly but English hearts will hope that is not to be repeated on the international stage.
Tottenham’s Wembley season can still end with a fairytale
Tottenham also held back Korean star Heung-Min Son until the end and looked a better side after he came on. Today was just not their day, but it won’t be their last and the opportunity is still there for a fairytale end to their memorable Wembley season.
City end bad week with a masterclass at Wembley
Goals: Gabriel Jesus 22’, Ilkay Gundogan (penalty) 25’, Raheem Sterling 71’
Referee: Jonathan Moss
Assistants: Simon Bennett and Andy Halliday
Fourth official: Stuart Attwell
Attendance: 80,811
