Analysis: Maddison masterclass leaves Man City chasing shadows

Alex Keble analyses Tottenham Hotspur's sensational 4-0 win against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.

An extraordinary performance from Tottenham Hotspur condemned Manchester City to their fifth consecutive defeat in all competitions and spoiled the atmosphere on what was supposed to be a celebratory day at the Etihad.

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The news of Pep Guardiola’s new two-year contract extension was expected to lift spirits, but by full-time Spurs had become just the latest team to show Man City have taken a step backwards in Rodri’s absence.

It was in central midfield that again City fell short. James Maddison ran the show, and although Erling Haaland had enough chances to change the narrative – seven shots in total for an Expected Goals (xG) tally of 2.15 – the visitors thoroughly deserved their win.

“Since the first season Guardiola arrived I’ve not seen them as bad as this,” was Gary Neville’s take on Sky Sports. It’s hard to argue with that assessment.

Here, Alex Keble analyses how Spurs tactically outclassed Man City.

Maddison takes charge in two different phases

Spurs were brave and aggressive in their attempts to pierce through midfield while Man City were passive in typical Rodri-less fashion: that is the broad overview of how and why Spurs dominated this game.

Nobody exemplified the difference between the two sides more than Maddison, who was magnificent on his return to first-team action - in two different phases of play.

First, his runs from deep challenged the City defence and led to the opening goal, a superb cross from Dejan Kulusevski that rewarded Ange Postecoglou’s decision to move the Swede back out to the right and accommodate Maddison centrally.

Maddison revealed to Sky Sports after the game that he’d told Kulusevski to look for him in those moments, knowing that the City midfielders would not know whether to track his “left half-space” runs.

From a City perspective, it’s hard to imagine Rodri letting Maddison go as Ilkay Gundogan did.

Picking Maddison, a player always likely to make those runs, was an attacking risk from Postecoglou that quickly – and persistently - paid off.

After the opener, before which City had raced out of the blocks and put Spurs under pressure, City began to wane in energy and dropped a little deeper.

This is when Maddison took charge in a second way, coming short to dictate the tempo brilliantly.

It was his crisp passing through the lines that pinned Man City; that caused the hesitation that led to City giving the ball away in their own third and Maddison – again running from deep – scoring the second.

Maddison had 64 touches of the ball and made 45 passes, dictating the tempo centrally and in the final third until City were chasing shadows.

City again lose midfield battle and struggle with Guardiola’s system

The main reason Spurs overwhelmed City for the first hour and stormed into a 3-0 lead was a numerical advantage in the middle of the park.

The sharp (and, again, brave) interplay between Yves Bissouma, Pape Sarr, Maddison, and a dropping Dominic Solanke was just too much for Gundogan and Bernardo Silva, two midfielders who lack the defensive clout of a Rodri.

But the difference was also the result of Guardiola’s unusual starting formation.

Rico Lewis began on the right wing in front of Kyle Walker and these two players couldn’t handle Son Heung-min and Destiny Udogie, with Lewis in particular caught between his right-wing responsibilities and the expectation he would slip into central midfield.

Meanwhile Silva and Gundogan pressed sporadically in the middle and, half relying on Lewis, seemed a little unsure of how to play.

But the biggest issue was fielding Phil Foden and Savinho as inside forwards behind Haaland, crowding the middle and leaving Walker and Gvardiol (circled) to hold all the width.

In the first half Walker, with 38 touches, and Gvardiol (39) had the fourth and third-most touches of any player on the pitch, frequently in the final third, frequently unmarked, and frequently harmless.

Guardiola had created a system that meant the only players with space to create were two full-backs.

Worse still, it was this narrow attacking system that led to Spurs’ first goal, when Kulusevski had room to cross because the inverting winger Savinho couldn’t get back in time.

Guardiola’s half-time swap too late

Noticing the above issues, Guardiola made big changes at the break.

Lewis was moved into central midfield, to help shore up the holes that had been appearing and create a more “normal” midfield box, while Savinho was moved into a wide-right position to do more with the space Walker had been finding.

Unfortunately for City, Spurs broke to score a third goal within seven minutes of the second half (thanks, in no small part, to Kulusevski dancing through a Rodri-less midfield) and the new plan fell apart.

The third goal was the signal for Spurs’ change of approach, which meant Guardiola’s tactical switches were counteracting a state of play that no longer existed.

In other words, he reacted too late.

Following the third goal Spurs held 30 per cent possession and had four shots to Man City’s 13: they sat deep, blocked the middle, dug in brilliantly in a compressed 4-5-1 formation, and even countered to add a fourth.

For that, Postecoglou deserves huge credit. His team have been criticised in the past for failing to shut games down and for playing emotionally when calm heads are needed.

That is not what happened here, and again Maddison led by example.

He made two tackles and two blocks in the second period, working tirelessly to help his side keep an unlikely clean sheet.

So, by full-time it wasn’t two phases that Maddison had dominated but three.

He was the standout performer on a perfect night for Spurs, playing in a way that typifies the joyful philosophy behind “Ange-ball”.

“It’s special,” Maddison told Sky Sports after the game. “These are the days you remember. It’s important you enjoy it”.