Mauricio Pochettino has lived in Pep Guardiola’s shadow for his entire coaching career, but on Sunday the Tottenham Hotspur manager boldly stepped into the limelight. Running around like crazed demons, Pochettino’s Spurs pressed, harried, and straight up outplayed Guardiola’s previously unbeaten Manchester City on their way to a dominating 2-0 win that was years in the making.
It all started back in 2009 when Pochettino took the reins at Espanyol, the club he captained as a player. It was the Argentinian’s first managerial position and he had a lot to deal with. Not only was the club in steep decline, but they were also set to play against Guardiola’s all-conquering Barcelona. Stacked with the best players in the world, including Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, and Lionel Messi, everyone was sure that Barca would destroy their city rivals. Instead, Pochettino’s men played with extreme intensity, pressed high up the field, and came away with a heroic 0-0 draw.
In the Premier League weekend’s marquee fixture, Pochettino deployed the exact same tactics and came away with a convincing win because for the first time in his career he has a squad that in some areas are better than Guardiola’s. This is especially true on defense where Tottenham center-backs Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen combine with goalkeeper Hugo Lloris to create a triangle of defensive solidity. City’s defense, on the other hand, is an accident waiting to happen, especially when they’re put under pressure — which just happens to be what Tottenham is particularly good at.
Over and over again, City struggled to pass the ball out from the back, got caught in possession by the Spurs’ hard-charging midfield, and then had to chase back as Tottenham countered. And twice, Spurs converted their counter attacks into goals.
First, in the ninth minute, Spurs pressed, won the ball and played it to Danny Rose who curled a cross into City’s box. With nobody around him, City’s left back Aleksandar Kolarov somehow shanked his clearance straight into his own goal. The goal was like blood in the water for Pochettino’s white-clad pack of sharks and in the 37th minute their hard work paid off again. Breaking at pace, Dele Alli’s ricocheted pass fell to Son Heung-min who slipped a beautiful little ball back to the Englishman who had continued his run into City’s box. John Stones and Nicolas Otamendi seemed to stop in their tracks leaving Alli all alone to smoothly slip his shot past a helpless Claudio Bravo.
The scoreline was completely deserved and Guardiola couldn’t figure out how to unlock Pochettino’s well-marshalled defense in the second half even as Tottenham’s energy levels waned. City repeatedly failed to beat Tottenham’s press and even when they broke through their attacks fizzled out due to a lack of ideas. The Sky Blues really missed injured superstar Kevin De Bruyne, a master of converting midfield space into goalscoring chances, and replacing the Belgian’s creativity will be a challenge unlike any other Guardiola has faced in his coaching career.
At both Barcelona and Bayern Munich, Guardiola had squads so deep, and he was playing in leagues so lopsided, that when a star got hurt or lost form he could bring a like-for-like player off the bench and his teams wouldn’t miss a beat. At Manchester City, however, he’s relying on fundamentally flawed backups like Jesus Navas to replace guys like De Bruyne in a league that is more intense and has more parity than any other in Europe.
Last year, Pochettino had to deal with the same problem at Spurs. He failed to find a solution and his razor-thin squad’s title challenge fizzled out in the final few weeks of the season. Sunday’s win shows that the Spurs manager might have finally found an answer to the unique obstacles presented by the Premier League. With star striker Harry Kane injured and defensive midfield destroyer Erik Dier sitting on the bench, Spurs dismantled Manchester City and served notice to the rest of the title challengers.
Tottenham is the real deal. — M.B.
Crystal Palace’s smart summer has them looking rejuvenated
The bottom fell out for Crystal Palace last season. Near the top of the table midseason, Alan Pardew’s side were one of the league’s worst during the second half, only winning two games after the new year.
Even someone as arrogant as Pardew knew his team needed to be reworked, even if that meant selling off its star, winger Yannick Bolasie. Mediocre teams don’t improve when they sell their best players, unless they use the money wisely, something which Palace look to have done. This summer, the club used the $32 million Everton paid for Bolasie, along with $ 23 million they made on other deals, on eight new permanent signings (along with one loanee). And these players haven’t just added depth, instead the signings have addressed specific issues from last year. Christian Benteke, is the true striker the team so desperately needed from January onward. Andros Townsend, looks like an adequate Bolasie replacement, and keeper Steve Mandanda, formerly of Marseille, gives the team an extremely reliable last line of defense.
The new team doesn’t just look good on paper, either. After a slow start that saw them lose their first two matches, the Eagles had won three of their last four, drawing the other, coming into Friday’s match with Everton and Bolasie. The team found itself down one at the half, but rather than come out for the second 45 a desperate mess, something all too common last season, they played it smart, absorbing the Toffees attack and trying to catch them on the counter. Then, in the 50th, Palace got a deserved equalizer from Benteke header and were actually unlucky to not come away winners, as they had a second goal wrongly disallowed before the final whistle. Not an ideal result, but a solid one that team can continue to build on.
No, Palace isn’t a team that is going to challenge for the title, but it is one that has an outside shot at making next year’s Europa League and can spoil things for the division’ elite sides. And for everyone involved, that’s enough. — B.H.
Goal of the Week
It’s been a bad season to be a West Ham fan. The talked up new move to London Stadium has turned into more of a curse than a blessing, and, more importantly, the team, one of the surprises of last year, looks like it’ll be lucky to crack the top half of the table. But the Hammers’ supporters still have Dimitri Payet to root for and his stunning solo goal against Middlesbrough on Saturday, which saw him seemingly run around and past every opposing player, was a reminder of just how exciting that can be.
Blunder of the Week
Manchester United just haven’t been Manchester United since Alex Ferguson left, with the exception of one player: David DeGea. Over the last three seasons the Spaniard has proven to be the league’s best keeper, single-handedly making an unsteady defense look like one of the division’s best. But on Sunday, DeGea’s normally steady hands deserted him late against Stoke when he parried a Glen Johnson shot across the goal instead of out of play. Joe Allen was there to poke it home, earning his side a draw, and ensuring that United stays rooted to sixth place.
Post’s Premier League Rankings
Liverpool showed real pluck to come from behind and win while Arsenal were extremely lucky to get all three points, but Watford and Bournemouth who stole the show in a 2-2 thriller that should be a lesson for all bottom half teams: you don’t have to be boring to avoid the drop.
1. Tottenham (3)
2. Manchester City (1)
3. Liverpool (2)
4. Arsenal (4)
5. Manchester United (5)
6. Everton (6)
7. Chelsea (9)
8. Crystal Palace (7)
9. Southampton (8)
10. Leicester (12)
11. Watford (10)
12. West Brom (11)
13. Bournemouth (13)
14. Burnley (17)
15. Hull City (14)
16. Middlesbrough (16)
17. West Ham (18)
18. Swansea (15)
19. Stoke (19)
20. Sunderland (20)