Match Report & Player Ratings: Manchester City 0-2 Tottenham Hotspur (Premier League) | OneFootball

Manchester City endured a first home match of the season to forget as they saw their promising Premier League start extinguished by a 0-2 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

It was a familiar feeling for Pep Guardiola as his side went into the break two behind despite Spurs only having had two chances, as Brennan Johnson and Joao Palhinha capitalised on defensive mistakes to snatch a lead for the visitors.

If they didn’t deserve to be losing at half-time, City corrected that injustice in the second period with a tepid display which more than warranted the defeat they ended up with, ending their winning start to the Premier League season at one game.

An open start saw both sides narrowly miss out on an opening goal inside ten minutes, with Pedro Porro lashing a half-volley into the side-netting before Omar Marmoush seized on a short back-pass to shoot from a tight angle, seeing his effort roll along the goal-line but ultimately spin out.

Marmoush was the big threat in the early exchanges and forced Guglielmo Vicario into the first save of the match from outside the box, but the Egyptian’s next opening should have resulted in the deadlock being broken, as Erling Haaland’s terrific drive and through-ball put his teammate clean through, but Vicario quickly advanced and spread himself to save.

Tottenham had been beginning to find more joy in beating the City press and launching attacks though, and with their first clear sight of goal they scored, Richarlison being proven onside by VAR and squaring for Brennan Johnson to fire through James Trafford and give his side the lead against the run of play.

The Blues were rattled and nearly conceded a second goal almost instantly, Ruben Dias heading short and needing Trafford to rush out and beat Mohammed Kudus to the ball, but the Englishman was badly at fault when the visitors did soon double their advantage, playing a hospital pass to Nico and only seeing his block on Richarlison fall for Palhinha to lash in.

It had become a horror half for Pep Guardiola’s men, and Haaland miscuing a headed chance from about four yards out on the stroke of the break compounded their misery.

Unfortunately for City, what hadn’t actually been that bad a first-half outside of the goals gave way to the kind of performance which deserved to be two goals down in the second; Richarlison had chances to add further Spurs goals before the hour mark, heading good opportunities over the bar.

City were growing desperate in their search for a goal but it simply wasn’t forthcoming, Bernardo Silva firing a free-kick into a dangerous area and a combination of Dias and the Spurs defender somehow guiding it wide instead of in.

Not even the returns off the bench of Phil Foden and Rodri from injury could spark a comeback for the Blues; the latter actually ha a presentable opportunity with his very first touch of the ball, but couldn’t direct his header from a corner either side of Vicario.

A positive week after Manchester City’s romping opening victory over Wolves has ended with the Blues being brought back down to earth with a bump – there’s still a lot of work to do to get this team back to the levels of the great City teams of yesteryear.

Here’s how we rated the players in Manchester City’s deflating defeat to Tottenham.

Starting XI

James Trafford – 4

Far from the home debut he would have been hoping for. Didn’t provide any of the security he did against Wolves at Molineux, and handed Spurs their second with a very poor pass. Two late saves at least showed a little more of what he can do.

Rico Lewis – 4.5

Rarely found the kind of space he thrived in last week, instead having to contend with a lot of attacking traffic down his side and struggling under heavy pressure on the ball.

John Stones – 6

Slipped in costly fashion to allow Richarlison in behind for the opener. Was City’s strongest defender otherwise though, being called upon to bail out his teammates on a few occasions.

Ruben Dias – 5.5

Grappled with Richarlison, winning more duels than he lost, but couldn’t recover to play the striker onside when he ran clear to set up Spurs’ first.

Rayan Ait-Nouri – 6

Seemed eager to contribute and snap into his defensive duties, although it was maybe this eagerness which led to the injury which forced him off early.

Nico Gonzalez – 6.5

Not at fault for the ease with which Spurs resisted City’s efforts, fighting and passing well in midfield.

Tijjani Reijnders – 5.5

Couldn’t exert the level of influence he had on his Premier League debut, showing heart but not making the best decisions on the rare occasions he found space in the attacking third.

Rayan Cherki – 5

Some promising signs for how influential and dangerous a presence he can be for City this year, but today it just didn’t come off. Withdrawn before the hour after it became clear his creative radar wasn’t quite on it.

Oscar Bobb – 5

Saw plenty of the ball but couldn’t make much of it. Won’t have experienced too much of the type of doubling-up defending he was subject to at the top level.

Erling Haaland – 6

Missed his one sight of goal, but had a rare day of being heavily involved in deeper play and doing good work around the box.

Omar Marmoush – 5.5

City’s biggest threat for the first half-hour, but his fortunes took a downward turn after he passed up some presentable shooting chances. Sacrificed with Cherki.

Substitutes

Nathan Ake – 6

Defended fairly well down his side, although couldn’t match the attacking threat which Ait-Nouri can provide.

Bernardo Silva – 4.5

A really bad substitute display in truth. Expected to provide control in the middle but was rarely capable of even keeping the ball.

Jeremy Doku – 6

Usual story – lots of running at his man, lots of crosses into shins.

Rodri – 5.5

Still some way off his level.

Phil Foden – 5.5

Not great set-piece delivery.