Spurs (H) - Sun 3rd Dec, 16:30 | PL | Pre-Match Thread

Match Result Prediction

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Cannot make this game - in Seville for the weekend

Anyone recommend a sports bar to watch the game?

I was here last year for the CL game - but cannot remember there being an area with sports/Irish bars
 
City and Spurs

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By an act of fate Manchester City always seemed to get involved with Tottenham Hotspurs more than random chance would otherwise indicate. Up to my late teens this seemed to take the form of City being to some degree Spurs bogey side. This was no more so than in Spurs double winning season of 1960/1. Spurs had won their first eleven league matches of the season and were expected, given City`s relatively low league position, to beat City in their twelfth league game which was a midweek evening fixture at White Hart Lane on the 10th October 1960.

However, City secured a one one draw courtesy of a goal by their then winger Clive Coleridge.

I was not at that match but did travel up to London to see the previous seasons fixture on the 16th April 1960, which was the Easter weekend.

City won by the only goal scored by their Centre Forward, Billy McAdams in the second half despite Denis Law limping on the wing. - there were no substitutes in those days. The match was also interesting in that Spurs were awarded a penalty in the last minute of the first half. It was taken by Cliff Jones and was parried by the legendary City Goalkeeper, Bert Trautman. Jones netted the rebound but by then the Referee had blown for half time so it was no goal.

The Spurs side that day was essentially the one that won the double with the exception of Jimmy Greaves. He did however feature in City`s home match against Spurs the season following Spurs Double played, on the 3rd March 1962. City won by six goals to two with Peter Dobing scoring a hat trick. Surprisingly my memory is not of any of City`s goals but of one of Spurs, both of which were scored by Greaves. I was behind the goal where it was scored, the then open north end at Maine Road. The shot from Greaves surprisingly beat Trautman at his near post from approximately twelve yards.

The next memorable City Spurs match I remember and which I attended was on the 9th December 1967 at Maine Road won by City by four goals to one in atrocious wintry conditions. Because of the weather there were very few matches played that day and as a result it dominated BBC`s match of the day on television that evening. The commentator, Kenneth Wolstenholme christened it “the ballet on ice”, so impressive was City`s performance. The match actually announced to the world generally the emergence of the great city side that went on to win the league that year followed by the FA Cup, League Cup and European Cup Winners Cup.

City`s penultimate match that championship winning year was the return fixture at White Hart Lane on the 4th May, which City won three goals to one after being three goals up at half time. Again I was there.

Meanwhile Spurs went into a decline culminating in them being relegated in 1977. That this was on the cards was obvious to me by their performance I witnessed at Maine Road on the 7th May of that year when they lost five goals to nil. The only Spurs player who appeared interested was their Captain Steve Perryman, which had a personal interest for me, as his elder brother had once been a work colleague.

With Spurs being in the second division City did not play them the following season and they bounced back at the first attempt but that did not alter their results against City. The 3rd February again saw me at White Hart Lane with a score line of three goals to nil for City.

The bogey was however set-aside in the 1981 cup final on the 9th of May. City were leading one nil with a goal from Tommy Hutchison when a Spurs free kick which was heading straight for the City Goalkeeper, Joe Corrigan, hit Hutchison`s shoulder and was deflected into the net. To compound City`s luck Steve McKenzie hit the Tottenham post when it was easier to score. I should not have attended the match as I had just been discharged from Hospital but the effort of doing so set me back so I was unable to go to the replay. This was again at Wembley with the resultant disadvantage to City fans and possibly the team itself given Wembley`s proximity to Tottenham. Tottenham won by three goals to two. The winning goal was scored by Spurs Argentinean International Ricky Vilas with allegedly one of the best ever cup final goals. He beat four City players in a mazy dribble but what was never recorded that two of the City Players he passed had been given harsh yellow cards, which inhibited them tackling him robustly.

Normal service was however resumed the following season when City won at White Hart Lane again by two goals to one. Leaving the ground my Brother and I thought Spurs had got a draw with an equalizing goal deep in injury time. The City goal we had seen had been an exquisite lob from Graham Baker. However, on returning to my car and switching on the radio we were amazed to learn the true score. What had happened was we had arrived after the kick off and for some reason did not realize City had already scored.

Soon after that I stopped going to games although always remaining a loyal City fan. However, the entanglement between Spurs and City, which lead to, such interesting encounters seemed to continue. This was no more so that the FA cup 4th round replay on the 4th May 2004 when City were three nil down at half time with a man sent off. Nevertheless they recovered to win four goals to three!
 
JPBB said:
The questions for us Spurs fans; is what is better? Sitting back and winning 1-0 with a Son breakaway or losing 5-2 but going full Ossie Ardiles and playing no centre half, 4 full backs, 4 wingers, Lo Celso and Bissouma.

I think nowadays most Spurs fans would prefer to go out in a blaze of glory and enjoy the admiration of others rather than a lucky three points.
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You ain't fooling me with that.
 
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