Roy Keane blasts ‘shocking’ Tottenham as Gary Neville blames Ben Davies amid crisis in Manchester City draw
The defensive injury crisis at Tottenham was exposed in the 3-3 draw at Manchester City as Roy Keane branded the ease with which the hosts scored their second through Phil Foden “shocking”.
The Sky Sports pundit reacted at half-time live on the broadcaster to denounce the defending as Julian Alvarez found the England man inside the Spurs box to put his side 2-1 up just after the half-hour on 3 December.
Gary Neville had harshly held Ben Davies responsible for playing Foden onside during the first-half commentary, with the full back blamed for tracking the runner while his teammates held their line, which felt harsh for a unit fielding the Welshman and Emerson Royal as two emergency centre backs.
It was particularly hard on Davies, 30, as he had statistically held his own admirably in the face of a daunting City attack containing Foden, Alvarez, Erland Haaland and Jeremy Doku from the start, with Jack Grealish coming off the bench.
According to stats from SofaScore the Wales international had won 100% of his one-on-one duels, with two each in the air and on the ground, while only conceding possession only twice across the entire game.
However, Neville had summed up the move by saying (5.02pm): “There is a runner. I think it’s Ben Davies who goes with the runner. Once he goes in with that runner and the rest of his teammates hold their line at the edge of the box then they’re struggling.
“It’s a lovely little pass and it’s brilliant work from Alvarez, a five-a-side goal in the end. You see there Ben Davies just goes back and deepens, and he becomes isolated with no-one else to help and Foden, touch, and a really comfortable finish and good goal. Too easy for City.”
Three goals conceded is rarely cause for celebration, but with Cristian Romero suspended and Micky van de Ven injured Davies has been thrown in out of position in a back four, without even having the luxury of a specialist central option alongside him.
His 96% pass completion rate, as he only misplaced two of 47, was also a strong return and he largely surpassed fellow stand-in Royal on the day, as the Brazilian conceded possession 11 times and won only four of 10 combined duels, with a lower pass completion rate, although solid, of 90% (75 of 83).
Keane was in no mood to make allowances however as he said of the goal (5.26pm): “We questioned it before the game, they are missing players so we try to give them one or two excuses but from City, excellent. Spurs, all over the place. People ball-watching…
“He’s took a touch I think literally in the six-yard box and the second one to put it in, but again Spurs all over the place. Neat and tidy from City… Foden, Alvarez, as simple as you like, but shocking from Spurs.”
Tottenham are either defensively adventurous or defensively suicidal at present under Ange Postecoglou, depending on your perspective, and a trip to the treble-winners in such a depleted state was never likely to be pretty.
But it was unfortunate for Davies to be singled out in such a no-win situation amid what turned out to be a creditable draw.
In other Tottenham news, Neville was shocked by the “madness” that one Spurs flop produced during a nightmare performance.