Son’s brace, VAR madness and more: A tactical run-down of Pochettino’s masterclass against Man City

Man City 4-3 Tottenham Hotspur: Tactical Analysis

A 4-3 victory over Tottenham Hotspur at the Etihad on Wednesday night wasn’t enough for Man City to make it through to the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League as the Lilywhites knocked out Pep Guardiola’s side on away goals rule.

Man City were left with all to do in the second leg at home after Heung-min Son’s solitary strike in the first leg last week had given Spurs a slender advantage.

The home side had a dream start to the night when Raheem Sterling cut inside from the left just 4 minutes into the game to slot the ball past Hugo Lloris, though that was only the start to a dramatic edge-of-the-seat ninety minutes at the Etihad.

A tactical battle between two of the most revered masterminds in English football- Pep Guardiola and Mauricio Pochettino, was anticipated by many but tactics went completely haywire in what turned out to be a completely frantic and insane first half from both the teams.

Son and Sterling scored two apiece within the first 21 minutes while Bernardo Silva also chipped in with a goal, as the stage at the Etihad was set on fire by some unbelievable free-flowing and direct attacking football in the opening stages of the game.

Despite trailing 3-2 at the halfway mark, Spurs held a slight edge over Man City courtesy of the away goals rule.

Although the second 45 minutes didn’t really live up to the hype of the first half, it was during this period that the pendulum swung twice.

First, in the favour of Man City when Sergio Aguero put the Citizens ahead on aggregate for the first time over the course of the two legs and then decisively in favour of Spurs when Fernando Llorente’s goal was deemed valid following a VAR review.

More drama unfolded when Raheem Sterling found the net in the third minute of injury time, much to the ecstasy of the home faithful, but it soon turned to agony once again as the goal was ruled out for offside following a VAR review.

Spurs held on to their slender advantage and managed to overcome a star-studded Man City eleven, more importantly without the services of Harry Kane.

Although it was largely an open game, let us take a look at the few key talking points and subtle tactical tweaks from the dramatic second leg at the Etihad.

1. Sterling’s Brilliance and Trippier’s hiccups

There fateful night at Etihad once again lies testimony to Raheem Sterling’s development into a  world-class attacker as the former Liverpool man took the game by the scruff of the neck in the opening stages and scored two wonderful goals.

The first one was a typical winger’s goal as he cut Trippier into half and beat Lloris with a perfect finish after being played into space by Kevin de Bruyne. Secondly, he showed a tremendous bit of awareness and anticipation at the far post to tap in de Bruyne’s driven cross across the six-yard box, Trippier being the guilty party for Spurs once again.

Sterling looked at the top of his game and worked very well in tandems with Benjamin Mendy, as the winger often drifted inwards to link up with his teammates and allowed the full-back to make overlapping runs.

With all due credit to Sterling and Mendy, Pochettino has every reason to be livid with Kieran Trippier as the English international looked a bit off the pace in a high-octane clash, not for the first time in the season.

2. Laporte’s unexpected errors

Aymeric Laporte has been a standout performer for Pep Guardiola’s side at the back all season and the Frenchman’s level of consistency has earned him a place amongst the elite defenders in the Premier League. However, it all went wrong for the former Bilbao man when City needed him the most.

Vincent Kompany pressed just a little too high and Laporte chose to be too clever in dealing with the attack that led to Son’s first goal. The Frenchman could have simply cleared his lines but he brought about his own demise by some poor decision-making.

That was just the starting of a horrible 90 minutes for the Frenchman and it was his poor touch inside his own half that allowed Lucas Moura and Eriksen to set up Son’s second goal.

It might be a bit over-critical to blame Laporte for Llorente’s goal in the second half but he was totally brushed aside by the Spaniard’s towering frame inside the penalty area, something that is not expected from a defender of his class.

3. Kevin de Bruyne’s impact

The Belgian registered 3 assists on the night, though it would be fair to say that he had a big hand in all of City’s four goals.

He picked out a wonderful pass to set up Sterling’s opener, dragged Danny Rose inside with his movement off the ball to open up the space for City’s second, whipped in a driven cross to assist Sterling for City’s third and ripped apart the Tottenham defence apart with his pace, power and dribbling to lay the decisive pass for Aguero in the second half.

De Bruyne was by far the most influential player from both sides on the night and it was a pity to see him end up on the losing side.

4. Son’s brace and Llorente’s heroics

Son needed to step up in Harry Kane’s absence and he did so to the best of his abilities.

The Korean scored 3 vital goals for Spurs over the course of the two legs and was instrumental in the team’s progress to the last 4. However, the decisive moment in the tie came from a rather unexpected source, with Fernando Llorente scoring the third goal in the second leg.

Llorente had scored in the Round of 16 against Dortmund and the veteran, though not at his prime any longer, has shown that he is more than capable of playing as an understudy to Kane.

5. Spurs lack of squad depth

Spurs were handicapped on the night by the ankle injury to their talismanic striker Harry Kane and things went from bad to worse for the Lilywhites when Moussa Sissoko was forced off towards the end of the first half.

Pochettino started with Wanyama and Sissoko at the base of the midfield but 18-year-old Oliver Skipp was the lone alternative available on the bench. Sissoko has established himself as an integral component of Spurs’ midfield and the Frenchman’s withdrawal saw the introduction of Llorente and prompted a subsequent change in system from the manager.

Indeed, it would have been too risky to expose Skipp in such a crunch encounter and Llorente’s arrival saw Spurs switch to a 4-4-1-1 formation from the original 4-2-3-1. This reduced the intensity of Tottenham’s pressing in the midfield and allowed the Man City attackers more freedom to wreak havoc.

Wanyama looked visibly rusty due to lack of regular minutes this season, while Dele Alli and Eriksen also dropped deeper to cover for Sissoko’s absence. What a bonus it would have been for Spurs to have someone like Mousa Dembele on the bench!

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Spurs’ lack of squad depth was so ridiculous on a dramatic night at the Etihad.