What Happened That Manchester City Suffered Brutality At Tottenhand's Hands at Etihad?

 

After the international break, what went wrong with Manchester City, and their dire run of results in defense of the Premier League title. It was humbling how City were thrashed by Tottenham at Etihad Stadium, with James Maddison contributing a brace towards the 4-0 victory campaign. 

City's start to the game went from bad to worse as James Maddison scored twice in just 20 minutes into the game and Solanke Dominic forced a brilliant save from Ederson after receiving a precise defence-splitting pass. It definitely was the best save of this match so far! 

But the half-time was flutes for the Spurs starting with a good crossing Kulusevski that found Solanke to set up Pedro Porro to smashed home the ball for the third and the fourth was a no brainer pass cross from Timo Werner, cutting cross the face of the goal through to Brennan Johnson to tap into the empty net. 

It was a captivating game for the Spurs as against the demoralised City, who made some attempt to fight back with Kevin de Bruyne trying to make something out of the reel, but Erling Haalan on this day, finsihed the game without finding the back of the net. 

Quite unlike City and unfamiliar kind of loss from the reigning champions. However, until now, they have lost previous four games in a row. Amidst this situation, the manager Pep Guardiola just extended his contract for two more season with the club. Thus, what really went wrong in City?

Overview

Though, earlier into the game,  the Spurs barely could cause a scare until Kulusevski pulled a stunning cross-cutting lob that revamped the Spurs and the rest was a story. It was not the kind of game that City would like to remember. 

Solanke and Kulusevski played significant roles in the game, and the Spurs are such that if allowed to play their energetic and pacy game, there is so much their opponents can do in such games. They took the game to City and made most of it. 

Performance and Injury Spells 

The key factor in their malaise has been an injury list, that is particularly weighty in the context of Guardiola's preferring small senior squad size, with Mateo Kovacic suffering an injury blow during Croatia's draw with Portugal that kept him out and for a month. This, therefore, is less than ideal while Rodri and Oscar Bobb remain sidelined over injuries. 

As Jeremy Doku is likewise out, John Stones and Manuel Akanji return from previously injury-hit defence, while Phil Foden started after sitting out England duty. Jack Grealish, Kevin De Bruyne and Nathan Ake played from substitutes.

Likewise, Tottenham were without two key defenders. Micky van de Ven who is on the mend from the hamstring issue he suffered during the Carabao Cup win over City. Cristian Romero withdrew from Argentina's 1-0 win over Peru and was assessed.

The attacking picture being much rosier for Postecoglou, even without Wilson Odobert. Bear in mind that, Richarlison is out due to hamstring injuries and Rodrigo Bentancur is also out for seven game ban for racist mark made about team-mate Son Heung-min.