Tottenham beat Manchester City 4-0 and left Pep Guardiola reeling | first division

“Fired in the morning” was the euphoric jibe from Tottenham fans directed at Pep Guardiola when Pedro Porro's third was hit in a classic Mancunian downpour that had subsided at the end of Manchester City's fifth consecutive defeat.

The right-back thrived as Ange Postecoglu's men did all afternoon: plundering the champions who, despite Guardiola's challenge that he was prepared to stop the slide, were clueless, as illustrated by the team's fourth goal. Brennan Johnson in added time, when, countless times City fell on the counterattack.

You have to go back to 2006 to see the last time City suffered five defeats in a row. That terrible run ended in a sixth and don't bet against Guardiola's iteration matching this (Feyenoord will be here next Tuesday) as his famous tactical brain is drawing a blank.

Before the start of the match, tribute was paid to Rodri's Ballon d'Or, presented before a huge neon sign spelling out his name in white light bulbs. When he was injured here against Arsenal in September, his coach promised to solve the key absence of the number 6. At the moment Guardiola is failing.

City had been sloppy in their losing sequence, lacking the usual cold ruthlessness that casts aside many foes, and they were once again in a terrible first half. Three of the defeats were 2-1, the other 4-1, so of his total of 41 goals in 17 games in all competitions (22 in 11 league games before this game) only four came in a run of defeats.

This showed how the attack had subsided, while the fact that it had been breached eight times told the story of the defence. To try and remedy the latter, in City's first home game in a month, Guardiola brought in John Stones and Manuel Akanji from the defeat at Brighton last time out, with Bernardo Silva coming into midfield, in place of Matheus Nunes. , who was a substitute alongside Mateo Kovacic, who also lost Jahmai Simpson-Pusey, was absent due to injury.

But within 13 minutes, Spurs attacked City's reorganized group. Dejan Kulesevski, after assaulting Josko Gvardiol on the right, skipped infield and dropped the ball perfectly for James Maddison, whose run he closed with a volley past the helpless Ederson.

What followed for Gvardiol and City was just as bad. This time the left-back's loose pass was picked up by Maddison, who found Son. The number 10 went around his captain's back to return the ball and achieve a wall as sweet as the hit on Ederson.

Gvardiol wrinkled his face in despair and Guardiola took off his jacket.

Before and after the goals, Erling Haaland's usual infallible aim was wrong: the number 9 either missed completely or crashed the ball where the legs of Guglielmo Vicario or Ben Davies could repel it.

City, based on their recent form, were unable to control the midfield and thus strangle the visitor. Instead, Tottenham were a white wave that flowed through them at will, as when an unmarked Dominic Solanke tickled Ederson's fingertips from mid-range, as Son had done earlier from a left angle.

Spurs' 4-2-1-3 posed the narrow (and weird) questions City's 4-3-3 struggled to answer, Guardiola's central trident of Rico Lewis, Ilkay Gündogan and Silva was his solution to the absences of Kovacic and Rodri.

During a 40-minute team meeting while Vicario received treatment, Guardiola was a flurry of thigh-slapping and traffic-light instructions, but Son was soon back in and only his indecision saved City.

Spurs' half-time lead was worth it and Guardiola needed to work some magic to revive his troops.

Nathan Aké ran for Stones during the second half and Guardiola switched Silva and Savinho out to the right and still scratched his head when Savinho gave up possession. The 53-year-old then looked lost as rampaging Spurs registered a third. City, again, sank deep into the opposition's half and from here they were crossed, when Kulesevski passed to Son on the left, who returned to the Swede.

His cut pass to Solanke had the number 9 behind him on the opposite wing, he gave the tee to Pedro Porro and the defender who made no mistake.

The rain, which fell throughout the day, became a deluge that soaked the devastated Guardiola. City's response was to investigate and apply pressure. Haaland brushed the crossbar as he turned, Gvardiol's shot was blocked and a subsequent volley went wide, and one wondered about Kevin De Bruyne's fitness, as despite being a substitute he had not yet been called up.

Once again, the counterattack almost went beyond City, but only Ederson's reflexes deflected Kulesvski's effort. Guardiola, in the 74th minute, brought on De Bruyne and Jack Grealish, who replaced Lewis and Savinho.

But despite recovering, City remained toothless and Spurs, overall, deserved the victory.