There are many similarities between the footballing philosophies of Pep Guardiola and Mauricio Pochettino, and for the second time this season, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur contested a fast-paced, exciting game based around pressing and high defensive lines. Whereas Tottenham ran out 2-0 winners in October, however, City failed to translate their superiority here into three points.
Guardiola has often played a 4-2-3-1 in recent weeks but on Saturday used a 4-3-3 – and an extremely attack-minded 4-3-3 at that. Leroy Sané, Sergio Agüero and Raheem Sterling played high up the pitch, pressing Tottenham’s centre-backs, while David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne returned to the deeper roles they played at the start of the campaign, with Yaya Touré deployed on his own in the holding role. This might have been disastrous – Touré’s tactical discipline has rightly been questioned in recent years – but Silva and De Bruyne demonstrated wonderful skill and composure in possession to ease past Tottenham’s midfield press, and put City in charge.
Related: Pep Guardiola blames bad finishing and not referee for draw with Tottenham
Continue reading...