Manchester City - 1 Tottenham - 1:FA Cup fourth round: Manchester City's home matches are becoming a matter of routine. First there is the false sense of expectation (maybe they will even take the lead), then there is the loss of nerve, the capitulation and, nearly always, the unhappy ending.
This is Manchester's version of Groundhog Day.
The one thing that changes is the level of dissent. Vast expanses of empty seats could be located yesterday but the smallest ever crowd at this stadium - 14,000 below capacity - made sure they let the manager know how they felt about not having witnessed a home victory since October 18th.
"Get Keegan out," one fan shouted as he made his way past the press box. "Have the guts to write it." Fortunately for Keegan this is not the widespread view - not yet, anyway - but it says much about the sense of melancholy engulfing City that the visit of Total Network Solutions, a village team from the League of Wales, had attracted a better crowd, for a UEFA Cup qualifier in August.
Back then, of course, not even the most pessimistic City supporter would have imagined them going on a run of one win in 17 matches, beaten in Europe by an obscure Polish team and in the midst of a relegation battle.
Yesterday might have been worse, too, if Tottenham had made a better job of exposing City's suspect temperament and the butterflies that afflicted Kevin Stuhr-Ellegaard, the fresh-faced Dane who stood in for the cup-tied David James and was badly at fault for Gary Doherty's equaliser. Unfortunately for Spurs their best chances fell to the wasteful Helder Postiga and the tie will go to a replay at White Hart Lane on Wednesday week.
Keegan could reflect that City had to go to a second match in disposing of Leicester in the third round, but the manager also had to face some home truths.
"We've got a magnificent stadium but we've won only four games here, and one was against TNS, which is not very good at all," he said. "Even our most experienced players are suffering from a lack of confidence."
The same could certainly be said of the 20-year-old Stuhr-Ellegaard, whose nervous flap in allowing Doherty to score from Postiga's corner was far from his only unconvincing moment. "I'm not going to condemn him," said Keegan. "His positioning was at fault but it's only his fifth start and he's in the team ahead of his time."
Why his side, as he commented, "were not at the races" in the second half he could not answer, especially as they had been so positively minded in the opening 45 minutes. Robbie Fowler was a perpetual threat throughout the opening exchanges and instrumental in setting up Nicolas Anelka for his seventh goal in as many games.
First Fowler's shot, coupled with a slight deflection off the Spurs midfielder Simon Davies, led to Kasey Keller turning the ball around his post for a corner. Then, when Michael Tarnat swung the ball into the penalty area, Sylvain Distin returned Doherty's half-clearance and Fowler's twisting header turned the ball on to the post for Anelka to score from the rebound.
Keller will not enjoy the television replays of his sluggish reflexes once the ball had ricocheted off the upright, but the goalkeeper was also entitled to point an accusatory finger at the defenders who, Doherty excluded, had stood as rigid as a row of stalagmites. There were six Tottenham players inside the six-yard area.
City's dominance should probably have been reflected in more goals. Ledley King's weak back-pass gave Anelka another chance but, even though he took the ball around Keller, a heavy touch allowed Mauricio Taricco to avert the danger. Claudio Reyna might also have doubled the lead but lobbed carelessly wide after Sun Jihai's pass had sent him clear.
"We were mediocre in the first half, and that's being kind," said David Pleat, Tottenham's acting manager. "But I'm filled with pleasure at the way we changed the match so dramatically. In the end we could have won and I'm pleased for our supporters because they won't have known what to think at half-time."
So many times City have been left to regret their profligacy. Once Pleat had brought on Stephane Dalmat and Johnnie Jackson, moving King to left back to replace the injured Taricco, Fowler and Anelka were increasingly peripheral and Stuhr-Ellegaard's vulnerability merely epitomised the way Keegan's players crumbled.
Their opponents should really have taken full advantage, but the paradox was that City's substitute Jon Macken actually wasted the best chance to score a late winner. He lifted his shot wide and the dissenters cleared their throats.
Guardian Service
