Tottenham force Pep Guardiola to eat his own words

Pep Guardiola once called Tottenham a one man team who depended on Harry Kane. Heung-Min Son and Spurs forced him to eat those words on Tuesday.

Manchester City remain the likely favourites in their Champions League tie with Tottenham, but for one amazing night in North London, Spurs turned back Pep Guardiola’s side. The truth is the seeds for Tottenham’s triumph were sewn back in October of 2017.

That was the day when Guardiola decided to make a joke at Spurs’ expense. He directly referred to Tottenham as the “Harry Kane team” in reference to how dependent Mauricio Pochettino’s side was on their English talisman. The quip, predictably, went over like a lead balloon at Hotspur Way.

In fairness to the City boss, he’s worked hard to backtrack after making that ill-advised comment. Publicly, Tottenham players and officials have claimed they have no issue with Guardiola. It’s fair to wonder whether things behind the scenes at Spurs are quite that placid.

Tottenham appeared to be the better side in a very close Champions League fixture before Kane exited the match with an ugly ankle injury. Once he went off, City began to grab the game by the scruff of the neck. Suddenly their high-priced midfield began to ping passes all over the pitch with ruthless precision. It looked as if City were destined by find a priceless away goal.

Then one moment of brilliance from Heung-Min Son changed everything for Spurs. He did yeoman’s work to keep the ball in play and then pivoted back to carry the ball into City’s penalty area. When he fired a low, blistering shot past Ederson it gave Tottenham a massive lead. It may have been against the run of play, but it was also a goal that spit in the face of the notion that Spurs are a one man side.

The frank truth is that Tottenham have played really well without Kane over the last two seasons. Pochettino and company would certainly rather play with him down the stretch of this season. Spurs face a desperate fight to keep hold of their place in the Top 4 and try to push their way further in the Champions League competition. Clearly having one of the best strikers on the planet would be a massive advantage for Pochettino’s squad.

The club aren’t dead without him though. They’ve got enough goal scorers and drive to win against all odds. That’s a lesson that Guardiola learned, quite painfully, on Wednesday evening.