Pep Guardiola’s perfect start to life in English football has finally come to an end.
After six wins on the bounce, Manchester City will have gone into Sunday’s game against Spurs in confident mood, but were brought back down to earth sharply as they suffered a 2-0 defeat.
The visitors did have their chances, one David Silva shot whizzing agonisingly past the far post and Hugo Lloris making a pair of fine saves to deny Sergio Aguero.
City clearly felt the absence of star man Kevin de Bruyne, as without their Belgian playmaker, they simply couldn’t stretch Spurs’ defence.
Ultimately, though, Guardiola has nailed exactly what went wrong for his side at White Hart Lane.
“Spurs were better, that’s all,” he told Sky Sports.
City must have known the Lilywhites would play such a high pressing game, but they have a lot to work on if they are to keep up with that kind of tempo in future games.
“We couldn’t cope with their press,” he added.
“We wanted to do that and they did it better.”
This isn’t the first slip-up of the first season, even if it is the first occasion they have dropped points in the league.
Wednesday night’s 3-3 draw with Celtic will have left Spurs smelling blood, and now that City’s weaknesses have been exposed, other teams will know that Guardiola’s men can be undone if their opponents start on the front foot.
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