Jesus Navas calls for Manchester City calm

More questions will now be asked about Manuel Pellegrini’s squad after his team were dominated in a 4-1 loss this morning against Spurs. “He was ok for the bench against Tottenham, but then he had a problem in the warm-up”.

While focused on improving that record, Pellegrini says the Champions League should not be prioritised at the expense of getting their domestic form back on track. I am very happy for the players and the supporters, especially after losing to Arsenal on Wednesday.

“Yaya had some problem with his hamstring”.

Spurs knew the visitors were in trouble at the back and constantly looked to swarm them with numbers and runners from deep, but they were wasteful in the first half hour or so. “We must wait for Sunday or Monday to decide if they are 100 percent”.

The prognosis on centre-back Kompany seems more clear-cut, though.

“History is good, but you don’t win things because you have history”, said Pellegrini, as quoted by the Mirror. “We will see in the way he develops in the next few days”.

There seemed no hint of what was to come when City broke quickly in the 25th minute following a Spurs corner with marauding Yaya Toure eventually releasing De Bruyne who slotted his shot past Hugo Lloris.

Manchester City lost a second league game in a row, with Harry Kane scoring his first club goal this season as Tottenham came from 1-0 down to win.

“There has been a lot of talk that I haven’t scored yet”, Kane said.

Referring ot the fact that City have crashed out of the Champions League to Barcelona twice in two seasons, he said: “I hope that this year we will be luckier with the draw”.

“Maybe the equaliser was important in a psychological way and the first 10 minutes (of the second half), two set-pieces decide the game”. It is about marking and concentration, not leadership. “That decided the game”.

Dier told Spurs TV: “It is a statement”. Although Sunderland have made a very slow start to this season, the link-up play between Sterling and De Bruyne in the final third in midweek was sublime – assisting each other and wreaking absolute havoc on the Black Cats’ defence.