Tottenham Hotspur 4-1 Manchester City: Five talking points

Lamela was instrumental in Spurs’ victory over the Citizens

Tottenham turned the tables on Manchester City as they thumped the visitors 4-1 at White Hart Lane in their biggest victory over the Citizens since 1962. Although Kevin de Bruyne opened the scoring for the Manchester side, it spurred the Spurs on as they went on to hit back with four strikes, the first one coming from Eric Dier and followed by Toby Alderweireld, Harry Kane and Erik Lamela.The defeat means that the early-season pacesetters have now lost two league games on the bounce and conceded their top spot to their crosstown rivals Manchester United, who beat Sunderland later in the day. Here are the five talking points from the game:

#1 Lamela steps up to the plate

Lamela was instrumental in Spurs’ victory over the Citizens

Spurs winger Erik Lamela has had an indifferent season so far with the North London side, but all of it wouldn’t matter now as the Argentine attacker ran the show with his terrific performance, that he capped off with a beautiful strike in the dying embers of the game.

Starting on the right side of the vanguard, Lamela wreaked havoc in City’s defense with his intelligent runs and incisive passes; moved infield to help out his teammates and even got into shooting positions early on. He was a constant threat attacking the far post and capped off his brilliant evening with a composed, nonchalant finish after rounding off Caballero.

It was one of Lamela’s best ever performances in a Spurs shirt and has surely set his spirits high to perform in the same vein in the forthcoming games.

#2 Caballero isn\'t a reliable back-up

Willy Caballero had a day to forget at the office

With City’s no.1 choice shot-stopper Joe Hart nursing a back injury, the visitors had to contend with Willy Caballero in goal and were left frustrated with the Argentine’s performance. The former Malaga man has found hardly any game time since his move to Manchester and with such performances he may just be overlooked even as a backup option the next time Hart is unavailable for a game.

The 33-year old had a game to forget in goal, conceding more goals that Hart did in all the games combined this season. His reaction to the equaliser was lethargic and was totally on the wrong foot for the second Spurs goal. Caballero appeared devoid of confidence in goal and his mistakes cost City the match.

The absence of Hart will become a real worry for the Etihad outfit now, as they don’t have an able and reliable reinforcement in the Englishman’s absense.

#3 Referees need to make offside decisions cautiously

Refree decisions played a major part in the eventual result

One glaring issue in this game was the number of offsides that went unnoticed by the officials. According to reports, as many as three offsides weren’t flagged by the linesman, which is really a bewildering prospect.

The first one popped up in De Bruyne’s opener when the Belgian was marginally off. The other one was in the build-up to the equaliser when Kyle Walker was way off and Harry Kane was clearly offside when he struck the rebound off a free-kick.

It was really flabbergasting to watch the match officials fail to take notice of some really straightforward events and it raises alarm regarding the referees’ abilities to make accurate judgements within split seconds, sometimes.

#4 Hane finally gets back on scoresheet

Kane finally gets on the scoresheet

The biggest surprise of last season, Harry Kane was somehow yet to find the net this term with Spurs. The scorer of 31 goals in the previous campaign was struggling to get even one in the current season and was slowly drowning under the tag of being a one-season wonder. However, the England striker, much to his relief, broke his duck for the season and managed to grab a strike.

While his performances have not been overly underwhelming, goals were the key facets that were missing from his games and made sure that it is no longer the case when he opportunistically struck a rebound from a free-kick that doubled his side’s advantage.

Nonetheless, Kane was sublime in his showings, causing City all sorts of problems. He may have struggled to get on the scoresheet like last season, but the quality he possess hasn’t faded away like his goals.

#5 City losing steam after a bright start

City were struggling for ideas after going a couple of goals down

After a whirlwind start to the campaign that saw them cantering to pole position, Manchester City are losing the steam, or so it may seem. The defeat was their third in the last four games in all competitions and have been left behind by their cross-city rivals.

Watching City storm to win after win in the initial weeks of the season brought back the optimism that seemed to had eluded the Etihad side last term, when Manuel Pellegrini’s side conceded the league title to Chelsea without a proper fight. Moreover after some irresistible additions to the roster in the form of Sterling, Otamendi and de Bruyne, they appeared to be totally ready to mount a challenge on all four fronts.

While their performances up until a few days back did suggest so, chinks have reappeared in their armor. They aren’t threatening as they used to be nor so sturdy at the back like in the first few games. Sergio Aguero is yet to hit the throttle this season, whereas Sterling hasn’t completely found his footing with his new side. The defense these days has been shambolic, whereas the midfield, listless.

Manchester City is turning into a pale shadow of their rip-roaring self and need to find their verve sooner rather than later as the fixtures will be coming their way thick and fast.

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Edited by Staff Editor