Fri 22 August 2025, 15:10
Tottenham Hotspur"The new Manchester City were flying last week to win 4-0 at Wolves, with Erling Haaland firing and impressive performances from summer signings. How will Thomas Frank navigate his third match in charge?"
Rob Daly, official club commentator, presenter and pundit
Pep's 2025 business
City’s underwhelming 24/25 campaign, by their standards, has prompted a remarkable rebuild. In 2025, across two transfer windows so far, the club have spent around £335m on new players. After the winter arrivals of Abdukodir Khusanov, Vitor Reis, Omar Marmoush and Nico Gonzalez, City have added, amongst others, James Trafford, Rayan Cherki, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Tijjani Reijnders. All four featured in last week’s comprehensive win at Wolves - and despite Cherki’s fine goal from the bench, it was a Dutch midfielder who really stole the show.
De Bruyne gone, Reijnders in
There can be no direct replacement for Kevin de Bruyne, who left in the summer for Napoli, but the acquisition of Reijnders for 55m euros from AC Milan already looks inspired. Wearing number 4 but playing as a box-to-box midfielder, the Dutch international scored one, a superb finish from a difficult angle, and made another, cutting it back for Haaland. However, his most impressive moment came for the opener, carrying possession from deep, dribbling through a couple of Wolves players before scooping the ball over the defence to find Rico Lewis, who squared for Haaland. Reijnders won all of his tackles, had a 91% pass accuracy and was a relentless runner. But given his style of play, having scored 15 last season for Milan, he may be more of a long-term successor to Ilkay Gundogan rather than De Bruyne.
Where are City at?
This is still a period of evolution for City, with everyone waiting to see just how strong Pep Guardiola’s side will be this season, after ending 2024/25 without a major trophy. The summer Club World Cup campaign lasted only two weeks, ending on 30 June in the round of 16 after an extra-time defeat to Al Hilal. It means, like PSG, they’ve had an unusual pre-season, but Pep Guardiola had his players back on 28 July. City managed to squeeze in two friendlies, including a 3-0 win over Palermo, before the season’s start last weekend - but they looked sharp enough at Wolves. Guardiola’s side played with an aggressive high-line in that game, taking risks to win the ball back quickly. If Spurs can get the ball in-behind, there will be space to run into.
Talking tactics
Against Burnley, Thomas Frank reverted to a back four - taking the decision to bring Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall into midfield. The team has now played in a 3-5-2 and 4-3-3 in the opening two games, with differing approaches too. Spurs ended the Super Cup in Udine with 25% of the ball, but came away from the Burnley match with 67% of it. Perhaps this should be no surprise given the difference of opposition, but one can’t help but wonder, given the technical quality City boast in midfield and around the area, if the new Spurs boss will revert back to something close to the PSG tactics.
