Losing 3-2 at home to Tottenham, City's unshakable league lead has shrunk.
The 21-6 goal ratio seems to indicate that the Blue Moons have a huge advantage, but if you notice the absolute scoring opportunity to give Spurs a 4-2 lead, you may better appreciate the progress of this game.
Kane perfectly illustrates the value of a core in the offensive and defensive conversion, and his role in this victory is much more than just two goals.
01. Tactical game: Spurs based on defense and other counterattacks, Kane into the perfect forward
a Spurs 541 retreat: Emerson's offensive efficiency on the counter-attack was not good enough
Conte's tactical thinking in this game is very clear, from the beginning of the game is based on defense. The team retreated at 541 and then used Kane to instigate a counterattack for the front.
Manchester City's Canselo is nominally a left-back, but in fact he is more advanced, which also gives Spurs the opportunity to hit the far-end space on the right.
Tottenham's defense even Kane returned to the 30m zone, of course his main job is not to participate in the defense, but to wait for the opportunity to counterattack.
At the same time, in the position of the two wings, Kulusevsky's retreat strength is very large, and he also uses his physical advantage to frequently participate in the confrontation of the defensive end.
Emerson, as a right-wingback, has the most tactical value on the defensive end of this system (explained in detail in the second paragraph below), but there are indeed major shortcomings on the offensive end.
This time Kane got the ball deflected, giving a position that Canselo couldn't cover, and Emerson pushed forward and sent a slightly larger cross. Sesseignon can actually handle it better, but his skills are significantly inferior to Reguilon's, kicking the ball straight out of the bottom line.
Looking at this wave of attacks, it is still the defensive zone of Tottenham Hotspur to play Canselo in the offensive and defensive conversion, and Gundogan is definitely not up to a high level now, so Emerson is rushing all the way.
Unfortunately, the last long-range shot hit a little higher. Emerson's assist stats in La Liga are good, but this is related to the tandem of the ribs in front of La Liga. Coming to the Premier League as a right winger requires more autonomous offensive launching capabilities, and Emerson is clearly not up to par.
b. Kane's pass: Becoming a nightmare for City
Kane's biggest value in the past few years has been the attribute of a front waist, which can withdraw from the midfield to complete beautiful passes and transfers, instigate counterattacks and speed up, and then score in the box.
He has not done a good job in the anti-blocking box this season, and has been questioned for a while, but in this game, Kane has completely released his characteristics.
It is clear from the GIF that this foot gave Son Heung-min a very beautiful pass, but unfortunately the latter failed to receive the ball and missed an opportunity to penetrate The Manchester City's high defence.
The goal that broke the deadlock can be said to be a concentrated manifestation of Kane's personal ability and Manchester City's defensive problems on the left.
Díaz tried to create an offside but failed, and Kane's pass to Son was just right.
Penetrating Manchester City in this way is not the first time, and I believe it will not be the last. But Kane's pass is crucial, and there's no doubt about it.
Kulusevsky followed up at the right back post, receiving a pass from Son Heung-min and scoring the goal in mid-air, scoring his first goal since coming to Tottenham.
02. Tottenham's defence has weaknesses: City failed to really hit
a. Tottenham's defensive problem: the weak side is too poorly placed
City's possession rate in this game is a staggering 71%, and even has a 21-6 shooting advantage. However, Manchester City's shooting on target is 4-5 behind, and the absolute scoring opportunity is even more disadvantageous 2-4.
I have to say that Manchester City has an advantage in the air, but the quality of the attack is actually not high. In terms of attacking strategy, Manchester City did not grasp the clear defensive weakness of Tottenham Hotspur.
What Spurs fear most, their biggest problem on the defensive end is secondary movement and control of the second drop point. So if Manchester City has someone to attack with the ball on the side, once the ball is split, the Tottenham defence moves sideways and makes up for it very poorly.
This time Sterling's strong rush to the right side of Tottenham could not be rushed, but once the ball was split, Spurs' co-defenders were very problematic. Hoybel was too slow, so Gundogan's shot was a great threat, but unfortunately the hit popped up on the goalpost.
How City's first equaliser goal came from, still coming from the right side of the pressure Onttenham. It was actually a simple cross, and the problem was that Tottenham's protection and defense of the second point were too poor.
So Gundogan finally scored an empty goal in an unguarded state to equalize the score.
b. Emerson's value to the Tottenham defence: it should not be underestimated
Brazilian right-back Emerson has qualities that his teammates don't have under the current defence of Tottenham. He has a strong sense of continuous movement and make-up on the defensive end, which can make up for the shortcomings of some parts of the team. So although he doesn't meet the requirements on the offensive end, he is still an indispensable presence on tortilla's defensive end.
Emerson won 4 of 5 1-on-1 confrontations, contributed 1 steal, 1 blocked shot and 4 clearances, and it was precisely Emerson's consecutive key defenses that allowed Spurs to survive the team's most difficult time period.
As can be seen from the position in the picture below, Spurs' defensive end is poorly selected because of the poor selection of left center-back Ben Davis, and it will often go out once the left side is pressed, so that the three center-backs will lean forward at the same time.
At the same time, the right side is a bit unprotected from midfield, and Emerson often needs 1-2.
It is clear from the GIF that if City want to cross, it is almost impossible for left wing-back Sesseignon to want to limit. Then the problem of torttenham Hotspur's back point emptiness has become a big loophole.
This time it was Emerson who moved quickly, just in time to block Sterling's shot and let Spurs escape.
Looking at this wave of defense, Sesseignon was scored by someone after being scored. Foden's cross to the back post, Tottenham is still huge space.
Fortunately, Emerson quickly stuck to Sterling to prevent his opponent from making a shot, and then when Canselo followed up the post-point vacancy, Emerson completed the key tackle to block.
After City equalised in the first half, The Spurs defence was in a deep crisis. Emerson blocked the back point twice in a row, allowing the team to survive the most difficult time period.
However, Tottenham's problem is still unresolved, because Ben Davis's position, as well as the lateral ability of the entire center-back line and the back, are weak, so the problem of the back point is always there.
In this wave of defense, Emerson first broke the first point of the header, so that The Two Men city could not get the ball. However, City soon played a second attack, Emerson had to come out to defend, and this time it was Romero who moved sideways to make up for it.
However, Emerson was then kicked over when he took the ball, suffered a slight injury, and was replaced immediately after that, which also laid the groundwork for the team to concede another ball.
Manchester City actually found this flaw in Tottenham, so they just started to play the right back post. This time, the right-wing defender Doherty, who came off the bench, did not have much to do, and Romero had to move sideways to block Bessie's cross at the first time after the header cleared the first point.
Is it accidental that the ball hits the hand? When mistakes accumulate, conceding goals is also an inevitable result.
03. Tactical winner-loser: Manchester City's defensive holes, Spurs firmly grasped
Can't go back: Kulu becomes the winner
City are in an absolute position in terms of possession and number of shots on goal, but as mentioned above, Spurs are 4-2 in absolute scoring opportunities. Even with the expected number of goals scored after accumulating shots on goal, City's 2.3-1.6 advantage is not obvious (considering that the number of shots on goal is 21-6).
However, Tottenham's attack was very targeted, and they let Kulusevsky go to the right outside line to become the winner.
In the second half, kulousevsky cut a cross after the attack, Kane got the ball and the shot could kill the game (if the goal was valid at that time, it was 3-1!). ）
However, because Kulusevsky was in an offside position when he took the ball, the goal was ruled invalid. Guardiola did not pay attention to this, but Conte insisted on this style of play and waited until victory.
Kulusevsky contributed 1 goal and 1 assist in this game, he not only retreated actively on the defensive end, but also pulled away several times on the offensive end to the right side to take the ball and then adduction, forming a fatal blow.
b. Tottenham counter-attack: opened from 2 full-back defences at City
Tottenham's counter-attacking ideas are clear, mainly looking for The Defensive Zone of Cancelo. This time Emerson sent a straight pass to Kane, who attracted the defense to shift to the far end Son Heung-min (in fact, passing the near end Kulusevsky is also good).
Kane then stepped forward and back, City had no one to follow, and finally Son Heung-min assisted the latter to score on goal (there was a similar opportunity, Son Heung-min passed Kane's single knife, which the latter did not grasp).
The key to conceding the ball is that Canselo needs 1 and 2 defenses (Kane and Kulusevsky), so the Portuguese's choice is: I will not defend anyone (which shows how crucial the waves that Emerson defended in the first half are).
How did Manchester City get killed? It was Canselo who once again left his defensive zone, and then Kulusevsky made the most of the space.
Conte had a good grasp of City's weaknesses, in contrast, City failed to really hit Emerson, taking advantage of Doherty's slow movement after he came off the field and seizing a penalty opportunity (the crosser had a certain serendipitousness).
Tottenham Don't have many scoring opportunities, but it was just a coincidence that they all played on the Side of Manchester City's Canselo?
Conte's persistence paid off, with Spurs scoring absolute scoring opportunities out of 4 out of 6 shots on goal. Kane's header was a killer, allowing Spurs to take a crucial victory.
Conclusion:
The winner of a game can often be your advantage, but it can also become a weakness of the team in an instant. Cancelo also had a shot into the box in the first half after two consecutive people, but it was slightly offside.
As a result, he did not gain anything on the offensive end, and the defensive end was fully hit by the opponent, which is the charm of football. Winning or losing sometimes requires some luck, but it also requires the coach to keenly capture that key entry point.