Dominic Solanke dropped to the floor and when he finally found the energy to stand up, Ange Postecoglou was there to embrace him. Radu Dragusin bounded over to Guglielmo Vicario and gave him a bear hug before the entire Tottenham Hotspur squad slowly walked over to the fans.
The players were so physically and mentally drained after beating Manchester City in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday evening they barely celebrated, but the most important thing was that they completed the job.
It does not matter if Pep Guardiola named a weakened team, beating City to reach the quarter-finals is a significant achievement. Postecoglou was reluctant to call it the best win of his time in charge but it is definitely up there.
The way Spurs beat the champions was impressive and a timely reminder of what they are capable of after Sunday’s disappointing defeat to Crystal Palace. Tottenham relentlessly pressed their opponents in the opening half an hour. Dominic Solanke kept applying pressure to Manchester City’s goalkeeper Stefan Ortega while Dejan Kulusevski hunted down Ilkay Gundogan. When Gundogan played a couple of loose passes, Kulusevski and Timo Werner pounced. Rodrigo Bentancur and Pape Matar Sarr shackled Phil Foden while Dragusin produced one of his best performances since joining from Genoa in January for £25million.
Werner’s erratic display in last week’s 1-0 victory over AZ Alkmaar led to him being substituted at half-time and it felt like Mikey Moore was ready to permanently move above him in the pecking order. Yet when Werner limped off clutching his right thigh in the 68th minute against Manchester City, Spurs lost their biggest attacking threat and the fans warmly applauded him.
The 28-year-old repeatedly drove at Rico Lewis and drilled crosses into the box. He helped Micky van de Ven and his replacement Destiny Udogie deal with the threat of Savinho down the City right. On at least two occasions, Werner stripped the Brazilian of the ball deep inside Tottenham’s half and sprang a counter-attack. Man City’s defence found it difficult to cope with Werner’s speed and in the fifth minute that helped him score for the first time since March. It was only his third goal in 26 appearances since he arrived on loan from RB Leipzig in January. Werner was also involved in the build-up to Pape Matar Sarr’s long-range strike as he played a quick one-two with Kulusevski from a short corner. It would be premature to say that the forward has been transformed within a week but this will have been a much-needed confidence boost.
Tottenham were never going to be able to sustain such high energy levels for the entire game and they deserve praise for adapting their tactical plan when Man City started to dominate. After Matheus Nunes scored with one of the last actions of the first-half, Yves Bissouma replaced Sarr. Bissouma provided the defence with an extra layer of security alongside Bentancur. The best example of this was in the 85th minute when Man City tried to counter from a corner and Bissouma charged after Jacob Wright to slow the move down.
Out of possession, Spurs’ shape resembled a 4-4-2 in the second-half with Richarlison — who replaced Werner — tucking in to become an orthodox left midfielder while Kulusevski moved towards the right. Moore and Solanke were left slightly higher up the pitch. They only had 32 per cent possession which, according to data from Fbref, is the lowest figure they have recorded in 55 games under Postecoglou. Their focus was on hitting Man City on the break and at times they had to sit deep to defend a barrage of crosses.
Postecoglou made headlines in September after Tottenham lost the north London derby to Arsenal when he corrected a reporter from Sky Sports that he “always wins” trophies in his second season with a club. The Australian is reluctant to deviate from his principles but these small tweaks felt like an admission that sometimes you need to compromise to achieve your ambitions.
“You’re playing against an unbelievable side and they’re going to ask you all sorts of questions and they did today,” he said. “I thought we defended well as we didn’t give away many clear-cut opportunities but we did have to defend and I thought we did that well. In our attacking moments we had some really top quality moments and we had some really good chances to finish the game off that we didn’t take. But great resilience from the boys to sort of hold out.”
This will go down as a memorable night but there will be concern at the potential long-term cost. Van de Ven ran down the tunnel in tears after he appeared to injure his right hamstring in a challenge with Savinho. Cristian Romero was taken off 10 minutes into the second-half because he was tired. Brennan Johnson looked absolutely exhausted when Moore replaced him later in the second half and is entitled to a rest. The only problem is with Son Heung-Min, Wilson Odobert and potentially Werner all struggling for fitness, Johnson will surely be required to start against Aston Villa on Sunday.
Van de Ven’s injury is the biggest cause for concern. When the Netherlands international missed two months of last season with a hamstring injury, Tottenham lost four out of nine league games. Van de Ven’s recovery speed is crucial to the success of Postecoglou’s high line. Dragusin impressed alongside Romero but there will be bigger tests to come starting with Ollie Watkins and Jhon Duran this weekend. Dragusin’s performances this season have been mixed but one thumping header in the first-half prompted Postecoglou to break into a rare moment of applause on the touchline and then he patted the defender on the back when he jogged past. If van de Ven’s injury is serious, then Dragusin needs to demonstrate his quality on a consistent basis.
Those issues can be addressed in the next few days and weeks. Right now, Tottenham should celebrate reaching the last eight — where they will face Manchester United at home in December — and taking a step closer to winning silverware.
(Top photo: Nigel French/Getty Images)
