Ange’s remarks at halftime

There are two perspectives to this game. Even though Ange Postecoglou’s’stubborn’ and ‘gung-ho’ tactics were being criticized for inviting trouble with his improvised squad of four full-backs and four wingers against Pep Guardiola’s prolific attacking corps, Spurs persevered and managed to salvage an unlikely point in the midst of the controversy.

A different perspective would be that City wasted a lot of shots, hitting the woodwork three times, and Erling Haaland missed some clear opportunities—the first time in the Bundesliga or Premier League that he has had five shots in a game without one going in. Meanwhile, an odd decision by the referee ended a late break from the hosts, though it was overlooked in the midst of the chaos.

Ultimately the truth lies somewhere between both camps as Spurs gripped the reins of the bucking City bronco and managed to hold on yet again for dear life until the time was done.

Despite their early goal from skipper Son Heung-min, Tottenham looked nervy in the first half and were ponderous and hesitant in possession, inviting their hosts upon them with misplaced passes aplenty in their own half.

In the second half, following an important half-time talk from Postecoglou and a key change with Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg bringing experience and extra control to the midfield, Spurs enjoyed plenty of the ball and threat in the second half.

In the end the possession stats were not as dominant as you would expect at the Etihad, with Guardiola’s side holding 55% of it, albeit playing 100 more passes than Spurs with 495. Both sides only managed four shots on target each, albeit City from 18 efforts and Tottenham from eight.

The makeshift Tottenham defence made 33 clearances to City’s 10, ensuring Guglielmo Vicario only made two saves, albeit fixing his own mistake with a flying palm away from Bernardo Silva after a loose pass.

The Italian could do little about City’s three goals, all close range from Phil Foden, Grealish and earlier an unfortunate own goal from Son, becoming only the fifth player in Premier League history to record a goal, assist and own goal in the same match. Gareth Bale was one of the previous four, having also done it for Tottenham against Liverpool in November 2012.

There were just 137 seconds between him putting Tottenham a goal up and then netting an own goal to level the scores. That made the South Korean only the second player in Premier League history to score a goal and own goal in the opening 10 minutes of a game, after Gareth Barry did the same for Aston Villa against Charlton more than 24 years ago.

At the other end, Tottenham showed the clinical edge that was missing from their attractive play against Aston Villa the previous weekend. All three goals were works of attacking art and right out of the Postecoglou playbook.

The first came from good work from Bryan Gil on the edge of his own box, spinning and releasing Dejan Kulusevski who played a quick ball into the stride of Son. The South Korean star headed the ball on and ran through before burying a shot under Ederson.

The second Spurs goal came from a diving header from Ben Davies, presenting the ball to Son who fed Giovani Lo Celso and the Argentine made it two goals in back-to-back starts with an exquisite curling finish.

After Grealish’s quickfire goal to put City back into the lead Spurs did not collapse and instead fought back once again with substitute Oliver Skipp spinning and giving the ball to Son who played in Brennan Johnson to dash into the box and stand up a cross to the back post for Kulusevski to score a rare, powerful header, with just a touch of shoulder, past Ederson.

All three goals came from players who have shown previously that they know how to score against the Manchester side.

While the football around the goals was not always what the Postecoglou ordered, the result will give this patched-up side the belief they need against anyone. If they can go to the reigning champions and take home a point against the odds then nothing ahead should faze them, regardless of the personnel they have available.

“Unbelievable second half. The coach was very angry at half-time and we came out like a new team,” said Kulusevski. “Vic and the guys at the back never lost the ball, kept playing, kept playing, believed in themselves, no pressure. I was very impressed with them.

“[The gaffer said to us] ‘can you just start playing, stop making simple mistakes, just play. You are good enough and you’re as good as these guys so just please play and don’t be afraid’. He was very angry and it was the first time I’ve seen him like that but he did the right thing and he’s right because the only thing we had to do was just grow a little bit more.

“We needed to be stronger, we are here, we can play against the best and if we can do that we’ll be up the top at the end of the season, I’m sure.”

Goalkeeper Vicario added: “We must take some risks from the back because this is our style of football. We want to play in that way, we have to try to find a third man and then break the lines and try to give us the best opportunity to score.

“It’s all about mentality, we just had to change a bit what we hadn’t done in the first half and then be braver, show more courage with more intention to take some risks, and to go through, because if we don’t accept the challenge, you cannot play here because it’s a tough stadium with a big team so we have to try to manage the level with them and then try to do our best.

“I’m still buzzing for this moment (the late goal), the fans were unbelievable today. Big thanks to them and we’re waiting for that again on Thursday.”