Sunday 2 October 2016 21:27, UK
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 Pochettino come during his time at White Hart Lane?
NEVILLE SAYS: I thought today it was a typical Pochettino team. When you think of the mob he picked up here when came to Spurs with the likes of Adebayor, Kaboul and Capoue and Paulinho - I'm not having a go at them individually - and you look and think there's no way they could play at the level Pochettino would have wanted them to given the demands that he has now. Inside two years the transformation is a brilliant coaching and recruitment job. We're hearing less about Daniel Levy and more about the coach which I think is the right thing for Tottenham.
Young players, English players coming into the team. Moussa Dembele is a perfect example of a player who's been revitalised, while Kyle Walker and Danny Rose - who we had with England four years ago and they were what I would call players who were unreliable in many different ways - but in the last 12 months their energy and their appetite to play, their want and willingness to run and learn to do the right things is a complete transformation. That's down to Pochettino and the boys themselves.
Where does Pochettino rank alongside his Premier League counterparts?
NEVILLE SAYS: We talk about Pep, Jose and Klopp but Pochettino for me is an absolutely brilliant coach, there is no doubt. The job he has done at two clubs in the Premier League has been wonderful and he deserves, not being disrespectful to Tottenham, the biggest jobs in the world. He's giving the best dress rehearsals you could possibly wish for.
Did Spurs unearth the best way to beat City?
NEVILLE SAYS: Not every team will be able to achieve what Celtic are able to with their atmosphere at Celtic Park and what Tottenham can do with their incredible energy levels. Liverpool will definitely be able to do it, though. There were signs in the derby after Claudio Bravo made that mistake where United changed from dropping deeper to actually pressing City, there we signs in that game that City were a little bit more uncomfortable. That probably is a way forward and patterns will develop. If it was a one-off occurrence then perhaps leave it, but if is happens two or three times maybe teams will think that's the way to up against Pep's teams. That's something Pep Guardiola will have to deal with.
How will Pep tackle teams which replicate Spurs' approach?
NEVILLE SAYS: The way in which he deals with it will be to not change himself, it will be brutal and clinical. He'll find players who can ensure they can accept the ball under the most intense pressure and in the biggest atmospheres. If you recall how Barcelona played in Champions League finals against Manchester United, or in games at the Bernabeu against Real Madrid, or other games where they were put under huge pressure, they always came through it.
This Manchester City team at this moment in time aren't probably quite ready to do that but they shouldn't be as it's only six weeks into Pep's reign. He's done a wonderful job and one defeat certainly doesn't go to saying that that is the way to beat him because many teams have tried to beat his teams over the years and failed.
What will Pep have learned at the Lane?
NEVILLE SAYS: In the lead up to this game Pep said he would learn more about his players in moments of defeat. Perhaps he sensed that something has changed in the last few days or whether a seed of doubt was there from the Celtic game. Managers can sense a type of game that might cause them problems and sometimes you can play back press conferences and read into things.
Looking at it, he won't be concerned at all because he'll recognise that it's so early into his job but he'll see today that two or three players he wouldn't have fancied before are probably not good enough. Pep's only had one transfer window and he's made some big decisions already if you think about what he's done with Samir Nasri and Joe Hart. To get a squad of what he wants he's got more decision to make but he will make them because it's him or the player, and it will be the player that will go. Looking at it you know there are players who aren't suited to playing the way in which Pep wants to play and he's having to play them because of injuries, suspensions and other things that have happened.
Sum up how well Spurs defended...
NEVILLE SAYS: Sensing danger, awareness, getting their foot in, blocking shots, even the full-backs blocking crosses. Everything you would say defenders haven't been doing in the last few years they did brilliantly. To watch Rose and Walker and Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld - their covering positions, their detail and attentiveness in the last 25 minutes when Iheanacho came on was brilliant.
Their way of playing in the first hour, pushing up the pitch, contributed enormously to how Tottenham played. Every time the ball shifts back they shifted with it aggressively and did it really quickly. To get team to do that every time is tough because defenders like to be a bit lazy, but these lot are not lazy defenders, they make it really easy for the midfield players in from of them, who also put in a real shift in. It's a dream back four and that's Pochettino's work. I've been down to Tottenham a couple of times and seen them train.
There is no way if you're a Pochettino defender that you can see the ball get passed back and just stand, you have to shift with the ball. It seems the most obvious simple thing to do but to get a back four drilled is very difficult and Pochettino is building a back four which is probably as consistent as any in the Premier League. As an ex-defender it's as good for me to watch.
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