Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola joked they will never be like “old City” this season but was pleased to see them survive a nervy finale to claim an important 1-0 victory at Tottenham.
Fit-again Erling Haaland only needed 12 minutes to make it 20 Premier League goals for the season, but squandered a number of other first-half chances to leave the match finely-poised at half-time.
It allowed Spurs to respond and Wilson Odobert failed to make the most of two opportunities, while Pape Sarr had a goalbound effort headed away by Josko Gvardiol before Haaland appeared to clinch the points in the fourth minute of stoppage time with a second.
A VAR check of three-and-a-half-minutes subsequently ruled the goal out for handball, which was followed by a gilt-edged opening being put over by Sarr with seconds left as City bounced back from Sunday’s loss to Liverpool to return to fourth spot.
“Never will be this season the old City,” Guardiola smiled. “Old City were too good, but we will be back.
“The game, it was open second half because we didn’t close the first. In this stadium always they have 20 to 25 minutes and second half we suffered, but should be close in the first one. That was the problem.
“It’s happened many times this season that we give away an unbelievable amount of goals and up front there are many games, like Champions League at Sporting we should be 1-3 or 1-4 in the first half and we lost 4-1. Many times it happens and today fortunately it finished good.”
Guardiola heaped praise on January recruit Abdukodir Khusanov for another assured defensive display after his horror debut against Chelsea last month before reflecting on Haaland’s disallowed effort.
These two 🩵 pic.twitter.com/Szyb5g0kjF
— Manchester City (@ManCity) February 26, 2025
Haaland bundled his way through Tottenham duo Archie Gray and Kevin Danso and while several replays did not shed any light on whether the Norwegian had handled the ball, the original decision of referee Jarred Gillett to rule out the strike was upheld by VAR Graham Scott.
“I didn’t see it but I’m pretty sure the referee was quicker to disallow than VAR,” Guardiola pointed out.
“It was not clear and sure. In the Champions League it is quicker but if it happens, it is because there is a lot of doubt.”
Spurs head coach Ange Postecoglou felt an overeagerness hurt his team during a one-sided first half where Haaland was thwarted twice by Guglielmo Vicario and Savinho also miscued another golden chance.
Postecoglou added: “First half we were just a little bit too eager to get forward with the ball. I thought we were really wasteful and when you are against City, it allows them to get into a rhythm of their game.
“They can pick you off at different times and we just didn’t handle that part of the game well. They scored and had a couple of good chances to get further ahead.
“I certainly felt second half we dominated the game and territory. We were pretty relentless. Much better with the ball and a lot calmer but just missing a goal and ultimately fell short.
“It’s disappointing to lose again and that’s the main feeling, but it did look more like us today.”
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