Neville’s Spurs-City verdict

First versus second in the Premier League did not fail to disappoint as Tottenham closed the gap on leaders Manchester City with a superb 2-0 victory on Super Sunday.

Sky Sports co-commentator Gary Neville dedicated his post-match podcast to examining the key themes at White Hart Lane as Pep Guardiola suffered the first defeat of his tenure at City, while Mauricio Pochettino underlined his credentials as one of the Premier League’s leading coaches.

From piling praise on Pochettino to reflecting on what Guardiola may have learned in defeat, read on for the full unmissable analysis from the Gary Neville Podcast…

What are you initial thoughts after Spurs victory over Man City?

NEVILLE SAYS: In my first podcast of the season after Arsenal v Liverpool I said that with the investment that’s been made into the Premier League, and the coaches that are now here, City’s level had to be higher because in the Champions League and in Europe over the last few seasons, generally it hasn’t been good enough for the amount invested. I have to say I’m encouraged by what I’ve seen in the first few weeks of the season because the quality is higher. That game was a proper game of football. Man City have contributed to it in the second half and could have scored one or two goals. Tottenham were outstanding throughout but overall I’m enthused by what we’re seeing. In terms of higher levels of concentration, better quality, higher intensity, more tackling and more energy everything is better and that’s good to see, we need to see that.

Did Pochettino outwit Guardiola?

NEVILLE SAYS: I think we always want to say that one coach has outwitted the other. Pochettino knows how to beat Guardiola, he’s beaten his teams before. We know where Pep wants to take this team and where he has been so far on the journey they’re on. But without Kevin De Bruyne, without Nolito and without the players who have been fundamental – Gundogan started on the bench – they looked more predictable.They were less comfortable on the half turn and when you think of Pep’s teams with Iniesta and Xavi, they always received the ball on the back foot away from the game.

With Navas and Fernando in the team, it looked a little bit back to last season. We spoke about it before the game and it was probably the perfect time for Pochettino in terms of getting City this week. They didn’t do a job on Man City but showed a little bit of the way forward. It’s a brilliant day for Pochettino, it was a big call leaving out his centr- forward Vincent Janssen and playing Son as a central striker; City didn’t know what to do with his mobility and energy the first 20 minutes.

I’ve not seen many teams run at the speed and with the level of tackling Spurs did, it was my closing statement in the game and probably needs more explanation than just that they’re a team that tackle and that they tackle all the time. They were incessantly relentless, they put their foot in, they risked giving fouls away and being beaten but then they knew their mate was going to be behind them.

How far has …

continue reading in source www.skysports.com