05 February 2023 , 19:57
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Graeme Souness slammed Pep Guardiola's decision to name Kevin de Bruyne on the bench against Tottenham - and his pre-match verdict was proved spot on as Manchester City lacked creativity in their 1-0 defeat.
Harry Kane's record-breaking strike proved to be the difference between the two sides at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as Spurs closed the gap on fourth-placed Newcastle in the Champions League race. Meanwhile, City missed the chance to move within two points of leaders Arsenal with defeat in north London.
Before the game, Souness decided to question Guardiola's decision to drop De Bruyne to the bench in favour of Julian Alvarez. It was a move that did not work out for the Spaniard, however, as Argentine forward Alvarez failed to deceive and struggled to get involved.
Souness told Sky Sports: "It's a mystery to me... how could you play Alvarez instead of De Bruyne?! [Alvarez has] four goals in 15 games. For me, De Bruyne is as good as there is in the world as an attacking midfield player. But what you get what Alvarez is the hard yards."
The ex-Liverpool midfielder was proved right as De Bruyne seemed to change the game when he came on in the 59th minute and gave City a much-needed spark at the top end of the pitch. The Belgian managed to register two shots, four crosses and three key passes - the latter statistic was more than anyone on the field of play.
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That was despite being introduced late into the game and he was superb, using his technical flair and ball-playing ability to his advantage. De Bruyne's best moment arguably came when he rolled the ball back for Alvarez to shoot from a free-kick. It was a perfectly-weighted pass from the midfielder - but Alvarez was unable to find the back of the net.
Pep Guardiola (Getty Images)After the full-time whistle, Guardiola described the mood in the City dressing room following his side's second loss in four league matches. He admitted that although his team were defeated, he is staying positive and is now focused on their clash with Aston Villa next weekend.
"Normally when we win it is a real team and when we lose it is not," he said. "I have a lot of gratitude for these players. I always try to do my best. I said many times, I knew that we were not the same after winning a lot - me the first when I talk about that - but the way we try to go and fight for every ball until the end, we try until the end. I always try to do the next step.
"It doesn't matter what happened in the past. We have to try to do it now, we are sad. Tomorrow we will watch the game, reflect and then think about Aston Villa - that will be tough- with our people and fans. It will be a long season for everyone and we will try to continue."