Man City given brutal reality with fan frustration evident and drastic action needed

Manchester City were late kicking off against Tottenham and risk leaving it too late to start up their annual title charge after another dismal defeat.

That is pre-emptive for now, with a team still sitting in second place in the Premier League with a whopping 26 games to go. The worry for City though, aside from the fact league leaders Liverpool can put even more distance between them by beating them at Anfield next week, is that things are getting worse when they should be improving.

City were coming into this game on the back of four consecutive defeats in all competitions - the worst run in Guardiola's eight years at the Etihad - but were back at home on the back of players returning, the manager signing a new deal and Rodri celebrating his Ballon d'Or triumph on the pitch minutes before kick-off. Against a volatile Tottenham side, this looked an ideal time for City to send out the kind of statement that would be met with gloom at Anfield and the Emirates.

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It certainly started off that way, with Yves Bissouma booked inside 20 seconds for bringing down Phil Foden charging towards the Spurs box. Erling Haaland had two good chances inside the opening 12 minutes to open the scoring with City completely dominant.

Welcome to 2024/25 City though, where the champions make hard work of scoring while gifting their opponents goals. Everyone should know the threat that Dejan Kulsevski possesses given the success he has had against the Blues, yet Josko Gvardiol inexplicably allowed him the time and space to keep the ball in play on the right wing and then cut inside to give James