Hoodoo? Tottenham do
There's just something about the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium that sends shivers down the spine of Manchester City.
Pep Guardiola's men have been up there among the top scorers in English football in recent years yet they have somehow not scored a single goal inside a stadium that is now almost four-years-old.
Even Erling Haaland, who has plundered goals galore since arriving in Manchester was unable to muster a single shot in Sunday's match and some stats suggest he did not even touch the ball once in Spurs' penalty area.
READ MORE: Tottenham player ratings vs Man City: Kane hits record goal with Emerson and Hojbjerg superb
This was one of Tottenham's best performances of the campaign and it finally came in both halves of the game as they overcame a top six team for the first time this season. Yes, they gave up possession to their visitors, with 36% to City's 64% but that did not tell the tale of a match in which Spurs had 12 shots on goal and should have scored more.
Their opponents had 15 shots but they were mostly harmless efforts. It was Ederson who was tested more on the night than Hugo Lloris, with the Frenchman having only a couple of comfortable early catches to make.
Spurs played like a team with experience, a team who knew how to handle big games as they earned free-kicks in key moments and disrupted Guardiola's team so much that the City boss used the word 'interruptions' far more than any other term in his post-match press conference.
Then there was Harry Kane making history with the record goal that decided the game. All of it came amid a backdrop that had one big missing piece - Antonio Conte.
The 53-year-old watched the game from his home in Italy as he continues his recovery after the surgery to remove his gall bladder. The decision was finally made on Saturday night that he would not return for the game, safe in the knowledge that his team was in good hands.
The aces in Conte's pack are Cristian Stellini and Ryan Mason. Stellini has won all five games when he has been called upon to step in for the suspended or now ill Conte and he knows his compatriot's playbook almost to the letter.
Conte likes to keep some finer details to himself but he shared the specifics of what he wanted against City over the phone with his staff on the morning of the game after pouring over the daily training videos sent to him.
Alongside Stellini, Mason is not only respected by the players after his well-received caretaker stint in 2021 at only 29-year-old, but also well regarded by the more experienced Italian coaching staff, who all recognise his potential as a future manager.
Stellini was a ball of energy on the touchline, shouting and protesting everything, seemingly trying to replicate Conte's madcap displays in order to bridge the gap for the players on the pitch.
It worked and the team gave him everything in response.
"I'm so glad and so happy to have this possibility to train all the week, a special team, special players and great men so I have to say thanks to everyone but not only say thanks to the players but all the staff who work around the players because everyone push themselves in another level to try to cover the gap left by Antonio. We knew very well we had to so thanks to everyone," said Stellini afterwards.
"We spoke with Antonio in the dressing room. Immediately when we arrived Antonio was on the phone and he say he was really happy. He gave compliments to everyone and especially to Harry for the record he achieved. It was amazing, he was really happy and he gave them the day off tomorrow. They enjoy a lot this moment.
"I think it is one of the best performances of the season. In a difficult game, in a difficult moment, I think players take responsibility in this type of situation and they play and they train very well. With this responsibility they do their best for 90 minutes. This is the only difference we had today compared to the last match we played against Manchester City."
Harry Kane slaps down his critics
There was something satisfying about watching Harry Kane going through all of the emotions after his landmark winning goal.
On the pitch, he seemed to have tears welling up in his eyes as he spoke to the fans after the whistle and watched a video from Jimmy Greaves' son Danny telling him that the late, great Spurs and England striker had once told him that he hoped Kane would be the one who would one day take his mantle at the club. It took 53 years for Greaves' record to eventually be broken, Kane netting his 267th goal in his 416th match for the club.
Kane was mobbed by his team-mates halfway through his interview, after they had all watched on with clear affection and delight for their star man. He only pulled away eventually to ensure he could hear the video message from Danny Greaves before speaking to the crowd again.
Then afterwards we saw feisty Kane on social media with posts mocking those old chants from rivals fans that he was simply a 'one season wonder'.
More than a decade after his first Spurs goal as an 18-year-old against Shamrock Rovers and the striker has now amassed 267 for the club and 200 in the Premier League, reaching that target in just 304 games, faster than anyone else and only Wayne Rooney (208) and Alan Shearer (260) have netted more.
To put it into context, Kane has scored more Premier League goals than Barnsley, Swindon, Huddersfield and Cardiff combined.
So the sight of the England captain on TikTok mimicking a tiny violin to music with the caption 'one season wonder' was so unlike Kane, it made it all the funnier.
Conte asked to speak to Kane on the phone in the dressing room after the game, telling him 'you make me proud'. The Italian has developed a close bond with the striker, who now has 17 Premier League goals in 22 matches this season.
There's clearly enough of a familiarity between the two for Kane to cheekily ask on the call "We'll see you Wednesday?" as Son chanted "two days off" in the background.
This was always going to be a game in which people would compare Kane and the Premier League's newest goal machine Haaland.
The Norwegian has had a blistering start to life in England, with 25 league goals to his name already and he's a phenomenal talent.
However, this match gave further weight to the suggestion that Harry Kane can do everything Erling Haaland can do, but Erling Haaland can't do everything that Harry Kane can.
One could of course argue that the City man has more pace than his Spurs counterpart but there's so much more to Kane's game that the incredible 22-year-old may well add to his as the seasons pass.
Everything goes through Kane and his ability to hold up the ball and become a playmaker, sweeping the play down either flank in a deeper role before sprinting up the pitch to become a finisher and combined, it puts him in a special category of attacker. He also gets back to defend like an auxiliary sweeper or centre-back at times when he knows the team needs his help.
Kane is like Haaland and De Bruyne rolled into one and he'll only truly be appreciated by opposition fans after he's hung up his boots because quite simply, right now he riles up too many of them with his goals.
Kane is appreciated though by every Tottenham fan and it was fitting that he scored his record-breaking goal at home in front of 61,747 supporters. His goal on Sunday was not his cleanest, struck into the ground, but he said afterwards that he knew he just had to take it early and hit it away from Ederson, using the keeper's momentum against him.
The screens around the ground in the aftermath proclaimed his achievement with a ready made image and the words 'Harry Kane - Tottenham Hotspur All-Time Record Goalscorer'.
It was a goal that meant everything and there was a moment when you could see he had to catch himself as his name reverberated around the stadium to stop the tears from streaming out. The World Cup brought a tough an undeserved end for Kane, but at Tottenham he knows just how much he is loved.
"It is quite surreal. Just a magical feeling to do it here, in front of the home fans and to win the game, it was everything I dreamed about. I have spoken about doing it over the last couple of weeks and I wanted to do it at this special place and in front of these amazing fans," he told them during his on-pitch interview.
"I have been here since I was 11 -years-old, a lot of hard work, sacrifice and dedication. I remember my first Premier League start against Sunderland at White Hart Lane on a Monday night and it wasn't in my thought to reach this target or 200 Premier League goals.
"Just a surreal moment and hard to take it all in now. I am sure when I am a bit older and looking back on my career, it will be something I look back on extremely proud of. To do it in front of my family and friends was incredible."
He added: "It was in back of my mind and I am desperate to score in every game but especially this game. It is just an overwhelming feeling of adrenaline and I was so desperate to see it out at the end, so desperate to win and get the three points so we could have this moment together so I couldn't ask for more.
"I just want to say thank you to all the fans here and fans back home who supported me throughout my whole career. Thank you to my wife Kate, all my kids and family and friends, my team-mates here, my past team-mates and coaches who helped me get to this moment in my career. I am really grateful. We still have a lot to play for this year, keep the support going and let's see where it takes us."
Guardiola was reminded of his "Harry Kane team" comments of the past and he joked that he could not go there again.
"I'm not going to say the Harry Kane team otherwise Pochettino will be grumpy and upset with me and I don't want it. On behalf of Manchester City, I can say congratulations for this incredible milestone. He is an exceptional player," he said.
It was notable that Kane's team-mates had stuck around to watch his post-match interview on the pitch with Paul Coyte. They knew this was no run of the mill interview and they wanted to be a part of his special moment before mobbing him.
"He's made history, it's an incredible achievement and we wouldn't miss it. 267 goals, he's not done bad has he?" said Ben Davies after the game.
"He keeps surprising us. I feel like I've probably done this interview so many times. It's incredible and it couldn't happen to a better person. He works his socks off every day and it's no coincidence that he's achieved what he has."
"Harry Kane is football. In his DNA, you can smell every time he can show the best football you can see," added Stellini. "To compare one player like Harry Kane to the top in the history, you have to wait until the end of his career but we want to enjoy every day to see him like we do normally.
"Into the pitch, out of the pitch, during the training, when he speaks to the players, when he speaks to the managers, he shows football. You can understand this in every moment. He is amazing to enjoy and to work with a player like Harry."
Harry Kane is a remarkable player and he's the best player Spurs have ever had. Nobody has brought everything together in the package he provides.
Tottenham Hotspur are lucky to have him and in the months ahead they have to throw everything they can at keeping him at the club. They must make sure he can win the trophies he deserves with them and that he doesn't feel that with this record goal he has now ticked every box he can in N17.
Emerson Royal lays down a challenge
Determination often brings with it rewards and so it did for Emerson Royal on Sunday by the bucket load.
The 24-year-old had no intention of leaving Spurs last month, despite the uncomfortable experience of having a stadium full of fans cheer his exit against Aston Villa on New Year's Day. The Brazilian has never wavered from his belief that he wants and deserves to be a Tottenham Hotspur player.
The abuse online was so bad during that period that he had turn off the ability for those he does not follow on Instagram to reply to his posts.
On Sunday night, he posted the simple message: "This is my team, this is Tottenham."
The replies were unrestricted and they were full of praise and even some apologies, for Emerson had just put in his best performance in a Spurs shirt and he had given everything to the club's cause.
The Brazilian had seen off the challenge of Matt Doherty and Djed Spence, who instead had left the club permanently and on loan respectively on deadline day, but an even greater threat had instead emerged in £40m January signing Pedro Porro.
The 23-year-old Spaniard had only been in the door a few days before he begun struggling with a bug that had affected various members of the Spurs squad across the preceding fortnight. He was able to take his place on the bench, but the likelihood is he would not have started the match anyway without Conte having spent a single training session with him allied to the fact that the more defensive Emerson had often played well against City in the past.
Porro and fellow January signing Arnaut Danjuma were introduced to the crowd before kick-off, Lucas Moura running over after the warm-up to cheekily join in as they applauded the crowd. The Brazilian was not in the squad but he's close to returning and for Conte, it's a cliche but he's been out for so long that he will feel like a new signing among his options.
So with Porro waiting there for his chance and many frustrated Spurs fans believing he should have had it, the pressure was on Emerson because any little mistake would have been magnified ten fold by the groans of the crowd, who would have swiftly called for the new man to take his place.
Yet Emerson played like a man without fear. Rather than bear an acceptance that Porro was his replacement in waiting, he laid down a challenge to the new man that he would have to rip the role out of his hands if he wanted it.
He fought for everything and his running battle with Jack Grealish was one of the highlights of the game. The England man got by him a couple of times but those moments were rare. On the whole Emerson stifled him, culminating in one big tackle in the Spurs box that was so well timed it brought a Tottenham goal kick.
The two men bickered with banter throughout, more like a basketball tussle than a football one. Like Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings, Emerson might well have just declared: "You shall not pass."
In all, Emerson made two tackles, two interceptions and a game-defining six clearances. His duel with Grealish was summed up by the fact that they were the two most fouled men on the pitch, the Spurs man going down five times and the City winger seven times.
Going forward Emerson also had an impact. It's the one main area where Porro is expected to be an upgrade on him but Emerson showed that he can play a part in that area of the pitch, serving up a great cross and the ball on a plate in the second half for Kane, who in a rare wobble in front of goal swung his left leg at it and missed.
This was a night when Emerson showed exactly why Conte was happy enough to let him stick around over Doherty and Spence.
"Emerson was one of the most important [players]," Stellini told football.london. "In the end of the game he had two or three situations and he showed his desire like all the team. It is important to have different players in the same position with different skills and you use the player when you need. Emerson showed today he is a good player.
"I think that in the Arsenal game in October, he didn't deserve a red card and he lose his place in that moment. He lost his place in that moment, a not good red card, it was not a good decision, it create for Emerson a problem and he need time to find that place because for the first six games of the season he was this player."
The Spurs assistant boss added to the BBC: "We have seen him play great games. Against City last season it was similar. Today he was a good player. He has to improve in other situations but today he was perfect."
At 24, Emerson can continue to learn and improve and perhaps the balance that he has with Porro will hand Conte a better contrast when he wants to counter or exploit certain opponents. The Spaniard will bring the attacking threat, while Emerson can be trusted to defend against the best.
After a tough time for the Brazilian, it was a night when he made his point and he received exactly what his efforts had deserved.
The case for the defence
It wasn't just Emerson Royal who had a big answer for his critics on Sunday evening.
One of the main complaints with Tottenham's January transfer window was that they did not upgrade their defence and injuries down the line may yet prove that to be a valid concern, but the current defenders certainly provided a riposte against Manchester City.
Eric Dier and Ben Davies have always had their critics, regardless of the amount of the times they put their body on the line for the team, and Sunday showed just how good Spurs' defence can be as a unit with them in it.
Much was made, not least by Conte, of the poor run of 21 goals conceded in 10 games, but it's notable that around that big group meeting when everybody aired their grievances, Spurs have recorded five clean sheets from their past seven matches in all competitions.
Sunday brought Dier's best performance of the season so far and it was far more in keeping with his consistent displays of the previous campaign.
He was a colossus in the centre of the defence, the main pillar holding it up and when he got his thigh to a powerful Julian Alvarez shot, deflecting it over the goal, he punched the air in celebration. He wasn't to know that it appeared to be heading inches wide but it was about the application, the execution and the result and his team-mates celebrated with him as if he had scored a goal.
On the night, Dier made two blocks, four clearances, four headed clearances, recovered the ball five times and he won three of his five aerial duels. Haaland did not have a sniff at goal because every time the ball came near him, Dier would rush in and deal with it.
He was also aggressive in his movement up the pitch, constantly pushing up to add an extra number to the midfield and occasionally even the attack. In the moments before Hojbjerg had set up the winning goal with his pressing, it had been Dier who had broken up the pitch to urge the team to harass their opponents.
To Dier's left, Davies put in a performance with all the hallmarks of the best displays from the Welshman and he is currently keeping Clement Lenglet out of the side.
Riyad Mahrez, such a destructive force at the Etihad Stadium, was reduced to one real moment of intent, when his powerful shot struck the crossbar. Alongside Davies, while he still had some sloppy moments on the ball, Ivan Perisic was far more disciplined against the City attack than he had been in a poor showing in the reverse game.
"We went through a bit of a patch when it was difficult and we were at a stage when we were having to score goals to come back and win games and that's not where we want to be," Davies told SpursPlay after the game. "We're very happy as a unit to keep that clean sheet and it gives us a good platform.
"I think we had a rude awakening after our last eight games or so when we were going on a bad run and we were conceding a lot of goals. We needed to get better and with a bit of a kick up the arse we were back in a good rhythm and those kind of moments [celebrating Dier's block] show the togetherness we've got.
"It's all of the little things like Emerson with some great headers at the back post. He was excellent and I think that's the spirit and the mindset that we need to have."
He added: "We still know there are things we could improve on. We could have been more clinical today and we could have cut down on more of their chances but overall we're very happy. It was a good performance and we managed the game well.
"When we had to sit in, we were smart and we had to put pressure on the ball and win it back. We did that and were on the front foot. We did it well and were deserving of the win."
Cristian Romero delivered a display that showcased the best and worst of his game. He lunged into an unfortunately trademark reckless lunge just 26 minutes in, this time on Haaland in the City half, that earned him a yellow card. It was so late, Haaland was practically on the team bus heading back to Manchester when it happened.
It was one of those throwback late challenges that brings the nodding response from old pros from a different era of 'he let him know he was there'. In truth it was just a poor tackle and it's too frequent a moment from the Argentinean, who does seem to relish leaving his mark on people.
What makes it all the more frustrating is that Romero showed in the next hour or so all of the good things he can bring, with inch-perfect anticipation, interceptions and midfield-splitting drives up the pitch.
Yet on 87 minutes that needless first challenge came back to haunt him. Grealish knew the challenge was coming and one might argue he left his leg in there to collide with Romero's, but the Argentine can have no complaints. He left his team-mates having to hang on for the remaining eight minutes of the game without him.
After the match Romero posted on Instagram: "Great game from everyone, impressive win. Let's keep it up @spursofficial. Sorry to leave the team down a man, but it's been a long time since I got one."
He added a red card and a smiling emoji at the end of the post. He's right. The yellow cards have been racking up - six in his past six matches if you include the two against City - but he has not been sent off since Conte's first game - that frenetic Conference League tie against Vitesse.
However, Romero can only smile about this red card because Spurs won but he needs to show more discipline if he is to become the world class defender he has all the skills to become and now Tottenham will need to do without him at the King Power Stadium next weekend.
Hojbjerg's dark arts and the run ahead
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg is another Spurs player who has not always been given the easiest ride by the fans but he was the Viking warrior at the centre of the team's best performance of the season.
He made three tackles, two interceptions and two clearances allied with a fine assist for Kane's record-breaking goal. That came as Hojbjerg pressed high up the pitch, winning the ball back, driving on and playing the perfect touch to Kane as he was clattered into.
"I think it was a great performance, for 90 minutes with a great lucidity, with a great mind and thinking about his position and what he had to do on the pitch," said Stellini of the Dane afterwards.
"He worked very well and the ball he gave to Harry was amazing. The best thing was that he used his mind every time in the game to find the right position.
"When you have a player that plays with this mind and thinks when he moves in the game, it's very important."
Most of all, Hojbjerg was an utter pain in the backside for Manchester City and when Guardiola spoke of 'interruptions', well let's just say if 'interruptions' had a name it would be Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.
The Denmark international is a purveyor of the dark arts that the likes of Pochettino, Mourinho and Conte have all pleaded for from a Spurs team that has often been labelled as the nice guys, a soft touch.
The best example came when a City free-kick hit Kane in the wall before glancing off the midfielder. Hojbjerg went down holding his face as if struck by a heavyweight's punch. He would have known the referee had no choice but to halt the game for fear of a head injury.
The Dane often does that, falling to the floor like Willem Dafoe's Sgt Elias in Platoon only to miraculously rise from the ashes moments later. It's the kind of thing that frustrates opponents beyond measure and throws them off their game, and that's exactly why the top teams have players aplenty who do exactly that.
Alongside Hojbjerg, Bentancur took more of a relative back seat but he did show Romero how to be composed and disciplined after a yellow card, the Uruguayan's coming even earlier on 23 minutes. He managed four tackles, two interceptions and three clearances in an excellent display of his own.
This was a game when Spurs reminded everyone that they have a big part to play in this second half of the season.
With Newcastle and Manchester United threatening to pull the top four away and Brighton closing in quickly behind, this was a game that Conte's fifth-placed side simply had to win despite the scale of the performance required in doing exactly that.
They managed to do it and in doing so galvanised a Spurs fanbase that has desperately needed to be pulled back together by something.
Now they sit just three points behind third-placed United and five ahead of Brighton, albeit with two games more played. Even Manchester City, six points ahead, are not entirely safe, particularly with Premier League charges on Monday over numerous breaches of financial rules, which include among their sanctions possible points deductions and worse punishments if those breaches are proved.
This City match also marked the toughest, on paper, of the games that lie ahead for Tottenham. Seven of their next nine Premier League matches come against teams currently in the bottom eight of the table, with the other two fixtures at home against a troubled Chelsea team and Brighton.
That run could generate some real momentum for Conte's side before the end of April brings a triple whammy of potential decisive clashes at Newcastle, at home to Manchester United and then at Liverpool before the season ends with home games against Crystal Palace and Brentford and away days at Aston Villa and finally Leeds.
Interspersed with the fixtures ahead are the Champions League last 16 ties against an AC Milan side that has not won a game since January 4, suffering defeats in five of those seven games in all competitions since as they lie sixth in Serie A.
The FA Cup, with a tie at either Sheffield United or Wrexham on Sunday March 1, also represents a great chance for Spurs to progress in a competition that has been shorn of most of the Premier League sides that started it, with only the two Manchester clubs remaining of the big guns.
There's still so much to play for this season for Tottenham and they will do so with a squad that is the strongest Conte has had since arriving at the club, packed with players that he is happy to turn when needed.
Without a single injury, Sunday's Spurs matchday squad was full to the brim with game changers and the Italian didn't even need to use his two new signings on the bench. There was not even space for Lucas Moura, Pape Matar Sarr, Japhet Tanganga to be part of the squad on the day.
Conte has long spoken about needing to be able to make changes without causing a drop in quality and he is getting closer to a squad that can provide that in most areas.
With games aplenty in the weeks ahead that need will be put to the test but if Spurs can use Sunday's big win as the template going forward then they can write their own script for the rest of the season.
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