Spurs vs. Man City
12:45, Saturday 14th August 2010, Manchester City vs. Tottenham Hotspur. Didn’t hear many complaints about the opening fixture this season and rightly so - it was set up to be a fascinating encounter and despite the scoreline, it didn’t disappoint.
The City line-up was awaited with keen interest by most fans of the sport, and its defensive focus probably asked more questions than it answered: Are City really so unsure of themselves that they feel the need to play THREE defensive midfielders? Just how much money can you have sat on a bench and in the stands? Why is SWP STILL being picked ahead of Adam Johnson? I could go on...
hands up if you think Johnson is better than SWP...
City’s formation told it all; they came to the Lane for a point, and thanks almost entirely to Joe Hart, (ironically, a bargain signing from Shrewsbury Town), they got what they were after. Hart made a string of great saves in the first half, most impressively managing to keep out Ekotto’s long range deflected strike, denying Benny his second long-range stunner in consecutive season openers for Spurs. Hart made eleven saves in total, and was rightly given the man of the match award. With anyone else in goal, City would have gone home rather embarrassed, as it could easily have been four or five. Shay Given is probably updating his C.V. as I write this, as based on Saturday’s performance, he’s not going to get many games unless he packs his bags. I hope and assume he will, although he would by no means be the first player to sit on the bench and collect his paycheque.
Bale was arguably our biggest threat, terrorising City throughout with his pace and delivery, and was also unlucky to hit the post. Micah ‘creatine’ Richards was used at right back in what was clearly an attempt to nullify Bale’s pace and at times he did well, but despite this small crumb of comfort, there isn’t a right back in the world at the moment who would fancy going up against our tenacious Welshman.
HULK SMASH!!!! 
As a long-term defender of Crouch and not a huge fan of Pav, I have be fair and recognise that when Pav came on he was indeed a threat, much more so than our gangly Casanova Peter was, anyway. Gio looks to be a different player this season, and will undoubtedly now stay at the club. The jury is still out on Keane, he has undoubtedly done great things for our club but whether he still has something to offer is questionable.
Looking forward to Young Boys tomorrow, and no, that line hasn’t been lifted out of Arsene’s daily diary...
Submitted by James McManus
16/8/2010
