MANCHESTER, England — After a week in which they’ve missed out on signing Eberechi Eze to rivals Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur delivered a timely message with their 2-0 win at Manchester City that the success of a season doesn’t just come down to what you can do in the transfer market.
Already in coach Thomas Frank’s short time in charge, Spurs have come within minutes of beating European champions Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Super Cup and started their Premier League campaign with a comfortable 3-0 win over Burnley. But this week the tone has changed — primarily because of Eze’s decision to join Arsenal rather than their North London neighbors.
Radio phone-ins have been inundated with furious fans. The supporters who traveled to City for Saturday’s early kickoff began their afternoon with chants of “We want Levy out” in a show of frustration — it must be said, not only linked to the failed bid to sign Eze — at chairman Daniel Levy.
Within 45 minutes, though, the mood had flipped again. Tottenham went in at halftime at the Etihad Stadium leading 2-0. A controlled, disciplined performance in the second half meant the match finished that way and, for a few hours at least, Spurs went top of the Premier League. Maybe they’ve already got their signing of the summer by hiring Frank. Eberechi who?
– Has Frank got Tottenham ready for a Premier League revival?
– How did Arsenal beat Spurs to Eze, and why do they need him?
– How will Premier League’s new stars fare? Wirtz, Sesko, Gyökeres, more
“Extremely proud of the players’ performance, an exceptionally good performance,” Frank said postmatch. “I think it’s fair to say we’ve had a few questions about the transfer market. ‘Why not?’ and ‘What if?’
“We have a good group of players, a talented group of players, that I’m very pleased with. If we can improve it, perfect. If we can’t, then we have very good players, and we showed that today.”
Asked about Eze’s snub at his prematch news conference on Friday, Frank said he “doesn’t want any players that don’t want to come to this club.” He might find his transfer targets in the final days of the window are more willing to join after his team put in a clinical display against City.
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Thomas Frank ‘extremely proud’ after Tottenham’s win vs. Man City
Thomas Frank speaks after Tottenham’s 2-0 victory against Man City in the Premier League.
For 35 minutes, they soaked up pressure and needed goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario to save well from Omar Marmoush. The final 10 minutes of the first half were all about the manager’s game plan.
A long ball forward exposed City’s high line and Richarlison raced through before squaring his pass for Brennan Johnson. Initially ruled out for offside, VAR Andrew Madley intervened and the goal stood. Then, high pressure on the edge of the penalty area forced goalkeeper James Trafford — starting ahead of Éderson — to make a poor pass, and João Palhinha gratefully accepted the gift to score a second.
You don’t necessarily need new signings to play well and win games. Sometimes it’s more important to have a manager who knows what he’s doing. Frank, a winner at the Etihad before with Brentford in 2022, picked a team against City that included two summer arrivals — Palhinha and Mohammed Kudus — but, crucially, he’s getting more out of the players he’s inherited.
The way Spurs closed out the game by limiting City’s chances looked a million miles away from former coach Ange Postecoglou’s cavalier approach. Last season, Postecoglou’s team managed just six clean sheets in the league. This season, it’s two in two games for Spurs. Frank is trying to rebuild a team which, for all the euphoria of their UEFA Europa League triumph, finished 17th last season. There will be bumps in the road. For now though, it’s so far, so good.
“Second half I think we were very good,” said Frank. “The spell where they could put pressure on us, we were very aggressive in the pressure.
“The clean sheet makes me very happy. It is a big thing we have been working on. Blocking shots, everything. Last year we had six clean sheets.”
City manager Pep Guardiola has now lost eight Premier League games to Tottenham, his most against any opponent. It wasn’t lost on the traveling fans who spent the final minutes alternating between chants of “It’s happened again” and “We are top of the league.”
It’s too early in the season to force Guardiola into a major rethink, but he has issues to solve. His defensive line — always high — has been pushed up even further since the arrival of Jürgen Klopp’s former assistant at Liverpool, Pep Lijnders. Spurs took advantage of John Stones jumping out in an attempt to catch Richarlison offside in the build-up to the first goal.
Guardiola’s other problem is in goal. Trafford was picked after a positive debut and a clean sheet last week against Wolverhampton Wanderers, but it was his mistake which cost City the second goal. With Ederson on the bench, the 22-year-old looked shaky, particularly when coming out of his area to deal with balls over the top. You imagine Gianluigi Donnarumma, unwanted by PSG, is waiting by the phone.
Afterward, Guardiola offered no guarantees about who will start when City travel to Brighton & Hove Albion next weekend. He does, however, want to see improvement at the Amex Stadium.
“James made a good first game [against Wolves] and I decided to continue,” said Guardiola. “When I take decisions in the first part of the season, for all the players, you play one or two and everyone thinks ‘OK, this is the starting lineup’. It was just today I decided that.
“It’s just the second game. The last game against Wolves everyone said everything was fine, but I said it was just the first game and it’s the same now. We have to improve. We have seven days rest and then Brighton.”
Another win next Saturday against Bournemouth ahead of deadline day would be another nudge that Spurs’ first season under Frank won’t just be decided in the transfer market.
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