Man City 0-4 Tottenham: Post-match reaction

Michael Plant gives his thoughts after Manchester City lose 4-0 to Tottenham in the biggest defeat of the Pep Guardiola era.

Transcript

00:00I'm at the Etihad after this evening's game. Incredibly finished, Manchester City 0, Tottenham 4.

00:07A result that beggars belief really and a performance that will raise so many alarm bells for City,

00:13who of course came into this game on the back of four defeats in a row.

00:17But I think there was a real feeling that coming into this match there was a sense of positivity.

00:20Pep Guardiola had signed his new contract, there were players coming back from injury,

00:24we had Rodri here before the game presenting his Ballon d'Or.

00:27There was a really good atmosphere at the start of the game. City started well.

00:30Remarkably found themselves 2-0 down pretty quickly.

00:33James Madison scoring two and alarmingly for City, they just failed to deal with the setback.

00:39After Madison scored the first goal, City capitulated a little bit.

00:44Those are the sort of words and adjectives that you don't really associate with City.

00:48That has never been the case for City under Pep Guardiola's reign as manager.

00:52But it was a woeful performance you have to say after they did go one goal down.

00:56They were far too easy for Spurs to rip through the middle of.

01:00Defensive issues have been such a problem for City this campaign.

01:03They failed to control the middle. I still don't think he found the answer to Rodri.

01:08He has been unable to control games to the same extent they have in previous years.

01:14And there was a real sense of frustration at times.

01:16There was a number of City players jumping into tackles.

01:18Quite a few were booked for pulling back players or jumping into needless fouls.

01:23Guardiola, even here at the sideline, I did think he was screaming and shouting as we're used to.

01:28It became pretty obvious in the start of the second half.

01:30It was the 52nd minute that Pedro Poirot made it 3-0.

01:33The really good cutback from Solanke to Poirot again.

01:36Another example, suddenly Spurs were dashing in on goal and Solanke playing the ball back.

01:41But there were so many blue blurs just sprinting back towards their own goal.

01:45It's becoming such a problem now for City.

01:48And really from that point on, when it went to 3-0, there was nothing really in it.

01:51City in this game two seasons ago were 2-0 down at half-time and fought back to win 4-2.

01:57There was none of that this season.

01:58At this stage right now, not capable of producing a comeback like that.

02:02And in the dying embers of the game, it became 4-0 when Timo Werner went down the right flank for City.

02:09Outpacing Kyle Walker, that's another alarming and worrying trend that's developing this season.

02:14But he cut it across and there was Brendan Johnson at the back post to tap in to make it 4-0 on a night

02:19that will cause so many shockwaves in the Premier League and raise real questions about where City are at at the moment

02:24and whether they have the ability to challenge for the Premier League title once again.