In a trio of big calls, Spurs head coach Ange Postecoglou left out captain Heung-min Son, Dejan Kulusevski (their player of the season so far) and Djed Spence (their player of 2025) – with Pedro Porro, James Maddison and Odobert, who was making his first start since September, coming in.
A quadruple substitution of Kulusevski, Sarr, Son and Spence, followed by the return of Timo Werner, helped Spurs to stay in the ascendency but they could not fashion an equaliser, with City going closest to another goal when Haaland bundled through to score – only for the VAR to rule out the effort for a handball.
But you were left wondering what might have been if Spurs had played Spence, Kulusevski and Son from the start against a fallible City, and whether this should go down as an opportunity missed to win a fourth straight league game.
Plainly, Kulusevski, who has played every game this season, Son and even Spence need some time out at some point but could Postecoglou have used them more sparingly against Ipswich on Saturday or asked them to go again here ahead of more than a week with no game?.
Spurs’ season now surely comes down to the Europa League and perhaps Postecoglou sensed that already, hence resting key players with the first leg of the last-16 knockout against AZ Alkmaar in eight days time.
