Tottenham brutally exposed Manchester City's dwindling form and confidence with an astounding 4-0 win at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
City, who have won the past four Premier League titles, had not lost on home turf since slipping to a late loss against Brentford in November 2022.
This reverse was far more emphatic in nature and condemned Pep Guardiola's side to a third-straight loss in the top flight, and their fifth defeat in succession across all competitions.
As Guardiola and his players lick their wounds and try to plot a way out of their malaise — first at home to Feyenoord in the UEFA Champions League before a daunting trip to Premier League leaders Liverpool — Ange Postecoglou's words after the match suggested there is a way for teams to keep getting at the suddenly vulnerable titleholders.
The tactic of switching play quickly in transition to wingers Dejan Kulusevski and Son Heung-min proved key to Spurs cutting through the City defence. Kuluseveski picking Josko Gvardiol's pocket before producing a sumptuous cross for the first of James Maddison's two goals in the 13th minute set the tone for the whole evening.
"I thought it was going to be important for us," Postecoglou said. "We knew we were going to have to defend at times. With Deki and Sonny out there I thought if we could get the ball to them early… City are pretty aggressive with their approach, they like to defend almost man-on-man because they've got outstanding defenders who like to defend man-on-man.
"With Dom [Solanke] there as well, we liked that set-up when we can get the ball to them early. That is the theory, the practice isn’t always that easy. We got a little bit stuck early in the second half but we just persisted and persisted in trying to hit those areas that we needed to.
"Every time we did, even in the second half, we looked really threatening and obviously scored some good goals from it."
This Spurs tactic is unlikely to have escaped the attention of Mohamed Salah, Luis Diaz and the rest and Liverpool plot further Anfield misery for City.
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Tottenham brutally exposed Manchester City's dwindling form and confidence with an astounding 4-0 win at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
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