Manchester City: Tottenham did Guardiola a favor inflicting first loss

Manchester City lost their Premier League unbeaten record to Tottenham Hotspur. However, Pep Guardiola did get something in return.

Tottenham Hotspur beat Manchester City 2-0 at White Hart Lane on Sunday. In doing so they handed City boss Pep Guardiola two things: his first Premier League loss and exactly the lesson-learning acid test the Spaniard had been craving.

Nobody wants to lose, of course not. But sometimes it’s necessary to improve and grow. City are still growing, adapting and learning a new style of play under Guardiola after all. People forget that. They needed a test like the one they got on Sunday.

Guardiola needed to see how far his team have truly come in just a few short months. After weeks of running roughshod over lesser Premier League teams, the City boss needed a measuring stick. A true gauge. How far have we really come? How do we stack up?

You can’t judge that, with all due respect, against Swansea City or Bournemouth. Manchester United was a test of sorts, but even United are not a team who are the finished article either. They’re still trying to find their way.

MUST READ: Scholes wrong about Wayne Rooney impending recall

Tottenham are almost the finished article right now. Today. Mauricio Pochettino has been building that team for two years. When the coach is as talented as Pochettino is, that really counts for something. You saw the results of his efforts on Sunday.

That takes time. Spurs weren’t performing like that after six games. Pochettino learned from wins. Learned from losses. Corrected the flaws. Guardiola is in that process right now. Some players he though he could rely on might have just been exposed.

He’ll be delighted with that. That’s why he needed that litmus test. It was time for Manchester City to be put under severe pressure and that’s exactly what Tottenham did. Literally. Running, hustling, chasing every single ball like they’re lives depended on it.

More from Manchester City

• Manchester City predicted lineup vs Red Star Belgrade: Rico Lewis starts
• Manchester City: Pep Guardiola spotted Barcelona sensation in summer
• Manchester City injury news vs West Ham: FOUR players ruled out by Pep
• Manchester City Predicted Lineup vs West Ham: Unchanged from Fulham?
• Manchester City announce star defender’s re-signing in Holywood fashion

It was all fun and games when John Stones, Claudio Bravo and Nicolas Otamendi were playing triangles around everybody for the past few weeks. But can you do it under the gun? Can you do it when you have no time and no space?

The answer for City was no. For now. Under Guardiola, they will get to a point where they do exactly that right in the eye of the storm. Right in the line of fire. But they can’t do it now. Clearly. They’re just not at that level.

Maybe Otamendi needs replacing. Maybe the full backs do. Whatever’s needed, Guardiola will do it. Things will change. Guardiola will teach the ones who are capable, and replace the ones who are not.

He will get it right so that in time his team are ready for extreme situations like Sunday. And he will do it on the back of Sunday itself. That game will have taught the City boss more than the first six games put together.

It’s like a boxer knocking out his first ten opponents in the first round. You feel great. You’re ready for anybody. Bring it on! But are you? Are you really ready for anybody? Based on what? You can’t judge anything on those first ten opponents.

So, what happens? The trainer sends you to spar with a world champion. That’s what. He knows it’ll be tough. Hey, you might even get knocked down and beat up. But only taking that step up will tell you where you truly are. It’s a learning experience. A barometer.

Spurs were that barometer for Guardiola. That measuring stick to see how far his team have really come, and how far they still have to go. Prior to the Spurs game, Aleksandar Kolarov had been one of the best ball-playing defenders in the league so far.

People were guessing when John Stones might be Manchester City and England captain. Pablo Zabaleta was 24 all over again. Fernando looked ready to play a role. As did Jesus Navas. David Silva was a central midfield player for the first time in his City career.

None of these concepts were created in testing environments. They were mainly born in games Manchester City should be winning in style. Strangely, Guardiola will be thankful to Tottenham in a perverse way.

Next: Conte Chelsea formation change a step forward

Thankful that somebody finally gave him a true test of his team’s progress. No doubt Guardiola will obsessing over the video footage over and over again for the next few weeks now. What he’ll see is that City took a bit of a battering.

They were knocked down and beat up. But at least Guardiola knows exactly where his team stands now.