MANCHESTER, England — When does a blip become a crisis? Manchester City’s losing run went from four games to five against Tottenham Hotspur, who won 4-0 at the Etihad Stadium in a blistering display of counter-attacking football.
With players back from injury and doubts about manager Pep Guardiola’s future put to bed with a new contract, the international break was supposed to be something of a reset for City. Instead, Spurs exposed the champions’ defensive vulnerability — thanks in large part to a majestic performance from Dejan Kulusevski — while Erling Haaland had an off day at the other end.
It’s too early to write off Guardiola’s team in a title race that hasn’t even started, but the Catalan coach is now further into uncharted territory.
Never before has he lost five consecutive games as a manager and never before has he lost three straight Premier League games as City boss. They’re not quite the records he’s used to setting.
“When you lose 4-0, there is nothing to say but to congratulate Tottenham,” said Guardiola.
“We are a bit fragile right now, that is obvious. We struggled to score goals and after when they arrived they scored. We are playing a little bit in our thoughts, a little bit of negativity but this is normal.”
At first, everything seemed right in City’s world. The home fans gave Rodri a standing ovation as he showed off his Ballon d’Or for the first time. And as kickoff approached, they began to sing in appreciation of Guardiola, who signed his new two-year deal on Thursday.
For 10 minutes, City were dominant. Haaland had two golden chances to score and it felt like only a matter of time before the Spurs goal would be breached and the floodgates would open. But maybe this isn’t the same team. Maybe it’s unfair to expect them to be with Rodri — the lynchpin in midfield — sat in the stands rather than on the pitch.
With everyone expecting an imminent Spurs collapse, it was performed, instead, by City. There were nearly 15 minutes on the clock before the visitors had control of the ball long enough to think about venturing forward. When they did, it was executed with pace and precision.
Kulusevski might never hit a better pass than the one which James Maddison guided in with a close-range volley to score his first of the night on his 28th birthday. Son Heung-Min forced a fantastic full-stretch save from Ederson and then gave the birthday boy his gift with a clever reverse pass to set up Maddison’s second in seven minutes.
In the pouring Manchester rain, Guardiola took off his coat as if to send a message to his players that it was time to roll up their sleeves.
In January 2023, Spurs went 2-0 up at the Etihad before City roared back to win 4-2. There was no response this time. Pedro Porro scored a third just after half-time and substitute Brennan Johnson added a fourth in injury time to put the exclamation point on a resounding victory. It was City’s first defeat at the Etihad for more than two years and their largest home defeat in the league since losing 5-1 to Arsenal in February 2003.
“You don’t come to a place like this thinking it’s going to be as convincing as it was for us,” said manager Ange Postecoglou, who was without first-choice centre-back pairing Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero.
“City test you in every way. We got to a really strong level today. Credit to the lads because I thought they were outstanding. We knew we’d have to weather the storm which we did. It’s significant because they’ve got an unbelievable record at home.”
For the first time in a long time, Guardiola has issues to solve. Without Rodri and injured understudy Mateo Kovacic, City’s midfield of Ilkay Gündogan, Rico Lewis and Bernardo Silva were trampled into the floor by Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr. Gündogan was particularly poor. He simply couldn’t keep up with the speed of the Spurs’ attacks, although he wasn’t alone in that. Kyle Walker has looked a shadow of himself this season and he won’t want to watch a reply of Timo Werner flying past him to set up the fourth goal.
City have now conceded 14 goals in their last five games and it would have been worse if Ederson had not made three good saves. In six home league games so far this season, City have conceded the first goal in four.
Guardiola will hope that Rúben Dias — who has missed the last five games through injury — can return soon, but there was a further blow when John Stones, starting a Premier League game for the first time in more than a month, was forced off at half-time. City have a chance to break their losing run against Feyenoord in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday. Next up in the league is a daunting trip to Anfield on Sunday.
“It’s a great game to turn it around, to take three points off the team that’s sat above you,” said Walker. “But we can’t go out there and do a performance like that [against Tottenham], because we’re going to get walked over there.”
“We have to break the results because the victories help us to be more positive and confident and we have to do it,” Guardiola added.
“We cannot run away, we have to face it and try to make the next game.”
After a bruising run, Liverpool at Anfield offers the chance to prove the doubters wrong. Or, possibly, cast City further into the mire.
