I saw surprise Erling Haaland treatment – it shows Man City’s true feelings about Carabao Cup defeat

The moments you might have missed from Manchester City’s Carabao Cup clash at Tottenham.

Manchester City are out of the Carabao Cup after defeat at Tottenham – but they didn’t seem to mind.

Injuries to Manu Akanji and Savinho will be a concern, taking the injury count up to eight players, but there were positives in defeat and it eases the burden on the winter fixture schedule.

Pep Guardiola made changes to his City side as expected, rotating his senior players and leaning on the academy as well. Timo Werner and Pape Sarr scored early which proved enough for Spurs, despite Matheus Nunes’ latest strike just before half-time to give the Blues hope and they almost snatched an equaliser through Nico O’Reilly.

These are the moments you might have missed from City’s clash with Spurs:

Dias steps in unexpectedly

There were so many changes to Pep Guardiola’s line-up that it was hard to work out who had come in and who was getting rested. Manu Akanji and John Stones were named in defence yet it was Ruben Dias who emerged to lead the team out rather than Ilkay Gundogan.

A quick double-check of the team sheet and count of the players, and it was clear Akanji was the man Dias had replaced. A calf problem saw him add to City’s growing injury list which now stands at eight players.

Dias was the most senior of City’s six elected captains on the pitch so he delivered the team talk in the pre-match huddle. Guardiola had said beforehand that he had just 14 fit senior options to pick from, excluding youngster Nico O’Reilly but including fellow academy graduate James McAtee.

Add Savinho’s enforced substitution and now it’s just 12.

Haaland watch speaks volumes

Even when he’s not playing, Erling Haaland is box office value. A few days off this week saw Haaland support his teammate… in Malmo. As he finished fifth in the Ballon d’Or, Haaland was absent from Paris as he returned to Norway to watch Norway colleague Erik Botheim, posting about his evening on social media.

He was back with the City squad at Tottenham, arriving with the group but facing a rare evening on the bench as Guardiola prioritised the Premier League. But with City slumping to a 2-0 deficit, it was only a matter of time before Haaland’s face was cut to by the match director.

Possibly aware of the attention, Haaland was seen at one point laughing with Scott Carson. And when Guardiola handed a debut to centre-back Jahmai Simpson-Pusey with 15 minutes remaining and City still trailing, the camera cut to Haaland once again. He looked thoroughly unbothered, laughing again – as was Guardiola soon after.

Etihad
City no longer need to take the Carabao Cup seriously as they have bigger fish to fry. In fact, the prospect of three free midweeks in the next three months is probably more important than another League Cup. Even with all the injuries it was never the plan for Haaland to enter the fray – he didn’t warm up once.

Guardiola’s full-time smiles

If you turned on the TV just before full-time and didn’t see the score, you’d see a City bench with Haaland wrapped up, laughing with teammates and Guardiola joking with staff, officials and fans behind him. At the whistle, he shared a hug with Ange Postecoglou, shook hands with players, and beckoned his squad over to the away fans. Another good result and everything was rosy.

Except City had lost for the first time this season and were dumped out of the League Cup.

For all the reasons outlined above, losing here was not the end of the world and City lost in the right way. They played okay, there was a debut for Simpson-Pusey, and Jacob Wright looked very good. Aside from the injuries, Guardiola will feel that this result won’t knock them off their stride too much.

By the time he conducted his post-match TV interviews, however, he was more frustrated – leaving a Sky Sports chat in a hurry after what he perceived as too many questions.

McAtee not giving anything away

McAtee is a fascinating footballer and has a very interesting story, but is not necessarily the most open of players in pre or post-match interviews. This was his third start in a City shirt, all three coming this season, and he was looking to build on his goal against Slovan Bratislava recently.

He admitted he had been working towards a start in this game, and was unlucky last time out not to come off the bench as City only put one past Southampton. But when asked what the manager had told him to do in the game, he wasn’t giving anything away.

A quick smile and McAtee said: “I’m not telling you [the specific instructions].” He added: “He’s told me to go and enjoy myself.” Shortly into the game he was involved in a minor flashpoint as he was subjected to a high boot and he was busy all night in a difficult game for City’s midfield.