:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/27691821/465778705.0.jpg)
Tottenham Hotspur are chasing fourth place again, and their goal differential is now once again negative. They were outplayed by Manchester City from the start of Wednesday's game, recovered nicely, looked to be in decent shape heading into halftime, then crumbled spectacularly after the half. A red card and a penalty turned the game heavily in City's favor, eventually leading to a 5-1 stomping.
Spurs went 1-0 down after 15 minutes and managed to stay alive throughout the first half, but were very lucky to not be three goals down in the opening half hour. Sergio Aguero struck the post in the 4th minute, but got his revenge in the 15th minute, finishing off a great through ball from David Silva. Five minutes later, he was denied on Hugo Lloris, who brilliantly palmed a way a point-blank header.
There was a moment of controversy in the 36th minute when Michael Dawson appeared to score on a free kick by Christian Eriksen, but his goal was ruled out for offside. That came as part of a nice flurry at the end of the half for Spurs, but they couldn't turn their decent spell into an equalizer.
Just before the half, City had to make a change, bringing off Aguero for Stevan Jovetic due to an injury. Spurs had to make a similar switch at halftime, putting on Etienne Capoue for Mousa Dembele, who appeared to pick up a knock.
The game was effectively ended in the 49th minute when Danny Rose was shown a straight red card for a foul on Edin Dzeko in the box, denying him a clear goal-scoring opportunity. Yaya Toure converted from the spot, and from there, the rout was on. It only took Dzeko two more minutes to score City's third.
Capoue pulled one goal back for Spurs in the 59th minute after the ball fell nicely for him on a corner, but it was a mere consolation. City scored twice more after that, with Jovetic and Kompany completing the rout.
Notes:
- This wasn't about tactics, individual errors, bad player selection, anything like that. City were up for this game and we weren't. They have better players than us and might have won by two goals even if we were really good. I have no reason to criticize Tim Sherwood whatsoever.
- Danny Rose deserved his penalty and red card. He got the ball, yes, but he pulled Dzeko's shoulder before going in, then went in from behind and got lots of the man after getting a tiny touch on the ball. It was a good call and a bad decision by Rose to go in like that.
- We've dropped a lot of points this season because we decided to depend very heavily on Danny Rose. We're now put into a bad spot where we don't have a real left back again. I'm curious to learn about the thought process that led to a team with Champions League aspirations leaning so heavily on Danny Rose. His red card was dumb, but it's not his fault he's a league average left back who was going to be asked to start 50 games for a team that wants to finish top four.
