City v Tottenham Leg 2: A Shootout At The Etihad? Will Oasis Reunite?

CITY V TOTTENHAM 

           City will be desperate to grab an early goal in the 2nd leg at the Etihad, the occasion bristling with the possibility of a come from behind quarterfinal victory, something that would be a major deal for City.
           Pep Guardiola's side hasn't advance through the quarterfinals since his arrival at the blue side of Manchester: being upset by Monaco when they had Mbappe (and two potential City starters on Wednesday night) and getting destroyed by Liverpool last season.
            But if Benjamin Mendy (who looked fit and alright on the weekend) and Kevin De Bruyne can last 90+ minutes and at or near their optimum, City should advance. 
            Simply put,  
if Mendy is fit enough to go on runs down the left wing, freeing up Leroy Sane down that side in the process, the front six of City will have fun carving out chances against this rugged, tireless Tottenham XI.
             With Kevin De Bruyne

hitting 2 assists and 6 overall in this injury hit season he's endured and Mendy already has 6 assists on the season, we know the improvement, the width and (most critically) the space in attack those two weapons will bring.
            Raheem Sterling will profit most from these additions, offering the Englishman even more space to operate and a supply of fantastic passing for his runs in the box.

             But what about Sergio Aguero?
            Is he failing to reach his highest levels in the biggest of matches? 
            Everyone misses penalties, sure, but rarely do we see players as good as Aguero turning in on themselves, his confidence ruined in an instant. 
          If Guardiola had removed him from the match then and there after his missed penalty,

it wouldn't have had a single impact on the outcome of the match.
             That's hard to say, and if City want to advance for the first time since 2016, they need to have Aguero firing...Aguero needs to get involved, better yet, he relies on players like Sane, Sterling and De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva all combining and then spraying it to him.

Then, after a goal, Aguero drops deeper and combines and then runs in behind, creating an even more dangerous dimension to City's play.
             This is what needs to happen for Kun Aguero to succeed: an early goal, the Argentine's usual poacher-esque finish in the box, tapping in after a wonderful bit of play from the wide men. Then, he will drop deep and combine with the rest of the City attacking fleet

and they'll be on to Tottenham like sharks covered in blood.
       City just can't lose this, right?
       Guardiola can't be conservative in the Champions League anymore...he simply must force his men to work the ball, but penetrate, take charge, drive at Tottenham in the full knowledge that Son Heung-Min, Eriksen, Dele Alli and Lucas Moura won't outscore

City in full flight when they're lining up with De Bruyne, Leroy Sane, Raheem Sterling, Aguero, Bernardo Silva and Benjamin Mendy all in the same lineup.
        The match-up dictates that David Silva must make way for the sake of the team advancing. 
       Against Ajax, in the next round (if they get there), Silva would be featured in that particular sort of scenario against those midfielders from the Dutch giants, but against Tottenham's large, acrobatically athletic / aerial-dueling and ball-possessing mids (Sissoko, Wanyama if used, Dele Alli and Eriksen for the possession and work ethic, even  Harry Winks isn't shy to tackle),

David Silva is clearly outsized. 
        Size matters when you're demanding a high pace of your players. Size, speed, strength...this is crucial when your team is in desperation-mode (whether they appear like it or not) from the outset for a goal, with the fever and fury of your home crowd driving you on...David Silva's slender, tidy play in midfield will be disrupted and charged down into sideways, backwards passing by the aggressive, sometimes cynical and always robust midfield

and high pressing Belgian center back duo of Spurs (Vertonghen and Alderweireld).      The long balls up the middle aren't going to be working, so if Tottenham are forcing center backs of City into long balls all match, Spurs will take that. It'll tick the time away nicely for them and starve the best players of Guardiola's club of the ball, with very few touches in Spurs' box being from clean play.
       They'll give City the ball, but once City crosses the line into Spurs territory, Poch will have his men press in gangs of two and three.
       So the wings are critical, not only for the obvious outlet ball,  but to expose Spurs', for once the wings are being analyzed defensively by a shifting midfield going over to help, it'll create spaces at the top of the box for shooting opportunities, or even for some scintillating one-touch passing play into the box,

thus Benjamin Mendy starting is not only a requirement, it's an order for City to advance. 
         Mendy is playing for his reputation and his City future...

if he fails to appear, and fails to help City advance in this tie and then do the same in the next round, then Guardiola must look into the transfer market for a new, full-time replacement until Mendy can get it together.
          Either way, many have forgotten what a special talent Benji Mendy is. When he is blitzing down the left wing, with De Bruyne, Sane, Bernardo, Sterling and Aguero,

City have an undefeated record and averaged 3.4 goals per match over that span, with Mendy posting 8 assists (creating 10 total goals) over the two early season spells he's actually played in during his short City career.
         In his short 8 game spell before this current knee injury, Mendy started and played every minute, posting 5 assists and City scored 29 goals.
         It's not rocket science: when you give attacking mids space,

they'll create and they'll score. Rampaging fullbacks are the best way for Pep's side to do this, with Aymeric Laporte as the only suitable non-Mendy option. In the last leg, Delph appeared at left back, though he was literally a placeholder, someone who rolled the ball around and not much else. 

Fabian Delph is really only good for taking Kane out of the tie, which he did with a nasty challenge that was completely clean and not a dirty tackle...sometimes feet are late or feet are left trailing and they make contact...it is a contact sport, despite what Neymar would have you believe.
         And once again, the moments in transition will dictate the arrival and the quality of the goals.
        AND....
        THERE ....
        WILL...
        BE....
        GOALS...

        Tottenham will press Ederson into a catastrophic mistake in the 4th minute, Son rushing the keeper into a bad pass straight into Alli arriving at the box. Alli flashes it wide to a trailing Christian Eriksen who bashes it through the Brazilian keeper to put City on the brink of collapse.
        Instead, Benjamin Mendy goes on a sprint and drives it inside to De Bruyne who smacks it home only ten minutes later, the Belgian grabbing the ball and running it back to the center circle.
        With more to do, City breathlessly attack and this time Mendy and Sane combine, the German scoring with his right foot in the box as he's barreled into, tying the match on aggregate, though City have more to do thanks to the away goal.
         In the 65th minute, Mendy crashes through again, getting fouled as he lets go of the ball to De Bruyne, and with the referee playing advantage, he curls in a low ball into the box for Sane to score yet again, Guardiola's men taking the lead.
         Before long,  Tottenham grow into the second half and this time Eriksen feeds a flying Sissoko through the right wing gap and the Frenchman blasts a heat-seeker, wrestling the tie back to a Spurs away goals advantage.
         The match gets out of hand, with fouls, yellow cards and angry play, the stakes being so high and the emotions boiling over, with City's ponderous possession paying no dividends for twenty or so minutes. 
        Finally, Sergio Aguero takes the ball and feeds Sane, the German turns on the edge of the box and lays it off into Aguero's path and the Argentine makes no mistake this time, ripping it past Lloris in the final five minutes of the match, the Etihad exploding in ecstasy...the Gallagher brothers hugging and telling each other how much they love one another and City end the tie with the ball, finishing off Spurs in a heated, outrageous two legged affair that displays the best English football has to offer.
         

4-2 CITY 
(City advance 4-3 on aggregate)
(De Bruyne 1 goal and 1 assist)
(Benjamin Mendy 2 assists)
(Leroy Sane 2 goals and an assist)
(Aguero scores the match winner)
(Eriksen goal, Alli assist)
(Sissoko goal, Eriksen assist)