For All the Marbles: City-Spurs Preview

It spills out of my brain and on to my keyboard without any conscious effort: reiterating the fact that the expanded Champions League is a ruse devised by the big clubs for their own benefit, a mechanism for reinforcing inequality between the Big Four and everyone else, year after year after year, and hence fundamentally unfair to the majority of Premier League teams who have nothing to play for save avoiding relegation and occasionally grabbing an UEFA (Europa) Cup spot.

But wait–hang on–what’s that you said? That Liverpool cannot finish 4th this year? That there must be a newcomer to the party? And that it will either be Tottenham Hotspur or Manchester City? And that they will play one match Wednesday in a virtual playoff for the spot? Well, that changes things doesn’t it. And that sounds like a match well worth watching….

Roberto Mancini said Monday that there is no pressure heading into the match–it’s a football match, not a war. Fair enough. But both clubs, so often in the shadow of local rivals, have a huge opportunity to achieve something truly significant in the next five days, and only one can.

One might argue that the pressure is greater on Spurs. They have gotten to this point by some shrewd acquisitions and by playing an attractive, high-paced brand of football with multiple attacking options. Outside of City, they probably have been the most enjoyable team in the Premier League to watch this year–an honor that should bother rivals Arsenal as much as the fact that Spurs could still actually overtake the Gunners for third. But Tottenham don’t have infinite financial muscle, and if they don’t do it this year, one wonders when the stars will line up so favorably again.

On the other hand, there is a sense of inevitability about Manchester City’s eventual climb into the elite. It’s much more a matter of when, not if. That doesn’t mean, however, that it’s irrelevant how soon City scale the Champions League entry walls. I’d much rather do it now when there are still a number of players about with long-standing connections to the club, along with the more recent acquisitions. And I’d much rather see the efforts of this group of players get their reward for a year’s work rather than face the somewhat depressing prospect of starting over.

And on a more greedy note, certainly Champions League qualification would open the door in a big, big way for City to recruit new faces of the highest caliber, high enough to put a title challenge within reach.

The beauty of English football is that pretty much all clubs at some time reach decision points–points where the future of the club could go very different directions–depending on the result of a single match. 11 years ago Manchester City, a team playing in Division Two with the infrastructure and bills of a much higher level, faced the crunch match to end all crunch matches in a playoff final vs. Gillingham. A loss in that match would have forced City to seriously downgrade the operation to stay alive. The dramatic victory set City back on course to eventually achieving Premier League stability.

Since coming up in 2002, City have only had one even slightly serious flirtation with relegation, in 2003-04. But at every opportunity since then to achieve something truly significant, the club have faltered; Robbie Fowler’s missed penalty v. Boro in 2005, losing home FA Cup quarterfinals in 2006 and 2007, losing in the UEFA Cup quarters in 2009, losing the League Cup semifinal in 2010. The rest of this week presents a golden chance to set that poor record right and earn something big on the pitch.

But what of the match itself? Frankly, Spurs frighten me. Patrick Vieira was splendid against Aston Villa on Saturday, but I have doubts about his ability to replicate that performance at what will likely be a higher-paced match. City are playing with an emergency on-loan keeper. Spurs have played their best against big opponents of late. And, City do not have a good league record against Tottenham in the recent past.

Realistically, City will need two or even three goals to win this match. I suspect it will be a match that may come down to the quality of the finishing on either side.

We’ll be here live-blogging the action on Wednesday. May the best team win.

Category: Team News