Premier League 2019/20: 3 reasons why Manchester City drew against Tottenham Hotspur

#2 Manchester City’s defensive flaws

Manchester City’s defence not up to the mark

In the last season, only Liverpool conceded fewer goals than City and the main reason for that was their ability to press and defend as a team. But some minor flaws in City’s defensive armour was on display against Tottenham Hotspur. Due to the absence of Son Heung-Min, Tottenham failed to put any sort of pressure on the Manchester City defence for the first 50 minutes.

Pochettino was smart enough to recognize this and introduced Lucas Moura to change the tempo of Tottenham’s attack. The Brazilian caused a few problems for City with his pace as he wriggled free of their pressing many times. Kyle Walker did not have a good game as Lucas Moura out-jumped him to score the equalizer.

Lucas' header was the major reason why Pep Guardiola does not encourage his defenders to give easy corner kicks for the opposition. Manchester City lacked a physical presence while defending set-pieces which eventually cost them two points.