City vs Spurs - Preview

Having lost to Ajax this week, albeit somewhat unjustly, City will be looking to respond with a bang against Spurs, who they host on Sunday. Granted, we should have been awarded a penalty, and on another day the linesman might not have flagged Kolarov offside prior to Aguero converting the former's cross, but the fact remains that in order to beat Tottenham, the lethargy and complacency that was obvious for all to see during much of the first-half on Tuesday, must have been eradicated come Sunday.
I would say that I trust Bob will take care of it but I think it's something that has been consistent with our performances so far this season. Without wanting to sound like much of the spiteful journalists out there, at half-time on Tuesday night, I felt as if the team weren't playing for the manager and for the fans, the passion they showed in the second half duly restored my faith in them however.

Spurs, on the other hand, had a slightly more enjoyable week in Europe, beating the champions of Slovenia, NK Maribor, by three goals to nil at home, Jermain Defoe bagging a hat-trick. Despite AVB's preference not to start both Adebayor and Defoe together, the Togolese forward changed things for Spurs when he came off the bench the other night, offering them the ball retention and back-to-goal link up play that Defoe really lacks.
Of course, Villas-Boas has never liked selecting two strikers to play together, he'd much rather play in a 4-3-3 than a 4-4-2, as it enables his wingers to press much higher up the pitch, a key factor in his tactics at Porto, and something he didn't have the personnel to execute at Chelsea.
However, I do wonder, given their current injury problems in central-midfield, whether AVB will consider fighting fire with fire and throw both Adebayor and Defoe up top? At the moment, both Dembélé and Parker are missing, while Spurs go into the game tomorrow sweating on the fitness of two of their defensive midfielders, Sandro and Livermore.
For me, this leaves Villas-Boas with two options, he can either, as said above, go 4-4-2 with Huddlestone and possibly Sigurdsson or Dempsey in midfield, assuming Sandro and Livermore are both out, or he could try and play the possession game. This may mean sacrificing Defoe for the exciting young Spaniard, Iago Falqué or the equally exciting Englishman, Tom Carroll, who, like Adebayor, impressed on Thursday night. It would mean that he could play his beloved 4-3-3 and push City's full-backs back, as many teams have done to us in Europe and benefited magnificently. Adebayor would be needed for the said reasons above, ball retention and because of his ability to play with his back-to-goal, which is almost non-existent in Defoe's game.

Predicted Teams
City: Hart; Zabaleta, Kompany, Nastasic, Clichy; Garcia, Barry; Yaya; Nasri; Aguero, Balotelli. (4-3-1-2)
Spurs: Friedel; Walker, Caulker, Vertonghen, Naughton; Huddlestone, Sigurdsson, Carroll; Lennon, Defoe, Bale. (4-3-3)

We saw Spurs go to Old Trafford and attack United before successfuly soaking up wave after wave of attacks after the break. The key to their first-half success was Dembélé's pressing and hassling on Scholes who had a much more subdued game than usual, because of how little time and space he was allowed. Now City don't have a Scholes, someone who is going to dictate the game from deep, but they do have a Yaya Toure, someone who, if afforded the space, will terrorise defences and midfields with his powerful bursts all day long, except of course for the minutes in between in which he recovers gingerly. Without Dembélé, I don't think Spurs have a player who can stand in Yaya's way, so rather than start him deep, I'd expect Mancini to start Yaya in central-midfield with Garcia and Barry behind him, almost like a triangle, with Yaya the point at the top. If you play him too far forward, you risk not allowing him enough space to run into, which can often lead to him running to the byline and cutting one back aimlessly, as opposed to breaking into the box and making a clear-cut chance.
City have a wealth of talented strike power and each of our four fit forwards put forward a valid case to start. Dzeko of course has save City late on recently at Fulham at West Brom, while Tévez has run himself into the ground in recent weeks trying to create opportunities and lead the team to victory. But I think the boss will plump for Balotelli and Aguero because the former has shown just how much of a handful physically he can be in recent games as well as showing the effort which some may say was missing from many of his performances last season. Additionally, Mancini will know that AVB is faced with playing one of Vertonghen or Gallas at centre-back, both of whom struggle with strikers of Aguero's diminutive, mobile ilk.
Hopefully, David Silva will make an appearance on Sunday but should the opportunity arise it is likely to only be a substitute appearance. Nevertheless, his return has been long-yearned for, and will add a much-needed boost to City's displays because if the truth be told, our strikers often look like they're strangers to each other without him behind them.

It will be a tight game no doubt, but if the entire team's passion and fight mirrors that of Pablo Zabaleta's, then I think we'll take all three points, Spurs don't have the options available to compete in the middle, although if they go for the 4-3-3 above but with Adebayor replacing Defoe, I think they may have a chance.