Tottenham Hotspur fell to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Manchester City in the FA Cup last night, with Nathan Ake stabbing home a late winner for Pep Guardiola’s side.
Let’s take a look at the five things we learned from the defeat:
Tottenham Are Out
Tottenham Hotspur are out of the FA Cup once again. Short of pushing for the Premier League title, it looks like it will be another season without a trophy for the Lilywhites.
Man City Break the Curse
After more than 100 shots at goal and five years of trying, Man City finally scored at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and what a weak one to give away. Guglielmo Vicario was pushed aside by Ruben Dias from a corner, while Nathan Ake reacted fastest to stab the ball home. Hey, Pep, you still haven’t scored from open play though!
Madders is Back!
James Maddison returned to the Tottenham squad for the first time since his injury against Chelsea 11 weeks ago, just in time for the Premier League season to restart following the winter break. While Dejan Kulusevski and Giovani Lo Celso have done an effective job in the creative role at times, Ange Postecoglou will be happy to have his creator-in-chief back fit and ready.
The Reality of the Situation
As much as we all wanted to win that game and as close as we were to at least getting a replay, the reality of the situation is that it was always going to be a tough ask. Yes, Man City were without Haaland and De Bruyne in the starting XI, but Spurs were without Heung-min Son, Maddison, Yves Bissouma, and Pape Matar Sarr. I, for one, cannot wait to see Ange Postecoglou actually get to name his strongest possible starting XI in the weeks to come.
The Silver Lining
We always try to look for the silver linings after setbacks, and the only one to grasp at here really is the fact that Tottenham now only have one competition to focus on. If Spurs want to kick on and keep investing in Postecoglou, then European football is a must. The injuries have been bad this year, but can you imagine how awful it would have been with mid-week games on top of that? The squad needs major depth investment and hopefully concentrating on pushing for the top four (and beyond) could be the first step towards that.
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