Forever Blue With Ian Cheeseman: A Week Of Mixed Emotions

“From one extreme to another”, is how I’d describe being a Manchester City fan during the week that included a magnificent win in Lisbon and a “Kaning” at the hands of Spurs.

I’ll start with my trip to Portugal, which included the mask wearing and locator form filling in that has become the norm for overseas travel. To save money, a group of four of us drove down to Stansted (on Valentines Day). It’s a lengthy drive, then a couple of hours in the airport, two-and-a-half hours flying and then a 45 minute queue through immigration, via the non-EU lane, before the taxi journey to our apart/hotel.   

Matchday was sunny and warm. We relaxed by the pool after breakfast to get over the rigours of the journey before walking down to the shores of the Tejo Estuary. The mood among the fans down there was chilled as the Champions League, the trophy the club wants the most, was about to return.

I travelled by Metro to the stadium early and settled in. Within 16 minutes of kick-off, City were easily 2-0 ahead and I texted my wife with the words, “tie over”. By the end of the game it was a 5-0 thrashing and even the most pessimistic City fan knew that indeed the tie was over, despite there being a return leg in Manchester still to come.

After the match I waited for fans to pour out of their enclosure. I’d been in the press box myself. As I stood there a couple of hundred riot police gathered to escort the fans to an underground station, a mile away. Those who were staying in a nearby hotel were not allowed to leave the group, they had to stay in the cordon whether they liked it or not. It seemed heavy handed and unnecessary.

Despite that heavy handed treatment, it was a joyous trip, though our bumpy landing back at Stansted, as the first storm hit, plus not getting home to my own bed until 4am wasn’t as much fun. City had been magnificent so no complaints from me.

The storm clouds were gathering in more ways than one though, because on Saturday, back in Manchester, Harry Kane created choppy waters in the City defence. The player Pep had tried so hard to sign last summer, scored twice to inflict a rare defeat on the Champions. Spurs defended stoically and broke away brilliantly to leave City shocked as they lost 3-2 and cracked open the title door for Liverpool.

How could the two performances be so different? Well, Sporting played like Leeds United had done, a few weeks earlier, when they lost 7-0 at the Etihad Stadium. They tried to play open attractive football, which should be applauded, but City were so much better at that, as they are against most opponents.

In the Premier League, Spurs learnt from Crystal Palace and Southampton and came with a plan. A five man defence with no space between their defence and midfield. Their plan, which they executed perfectly, was to hit City fast and accurately on the break, exploiting the gaps behind City’s attacking fullbacks. Son is ideal for that plan, as he’s shown before against City. The Blues are built to attack but are vulnerable against counterattacking. Lyon, Chelsea, Palace, United and Liverpool have all demonstrated this in certain games, in recent years.

City’s defenders and goalkeeper usually spend they match days focussing on crisp, short passing rather than tackling and shot stopping; and it showed. Spurs also used up every second they could on delaying tactics.

The home defeat gives Liverpool some hope in the title race, though I still believe City will lift that trophy in May, but the inability to adjust to top quality counterattacking and more cynical opposition than Sporting were, might be more of a problem in the Champions League and FA Cup for Pep’s team. Time will tell. The key games will start coming thick and fast once we get into April and May.