The only man who escaped any real criticism after Manchester City’s no-show against Tottenham was midfield star Ilkay Gundogan.
Not just because he was on the spot to score the equaliser, hit the post and brought a brilliant save from Hugo Lloris, either.
With Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva below par, and Phil Foden disappearing after a bright start, the Germany international was the main driving force behind the Blues’ attempts to overturn Spurs’ shock early goal.
On the Bluemoon fans’ forum, the usual man of the match poll, often split fairly evenly between several players, was virtually unanimous, with the Gundogan getting nearly 66 per cent of the vote - the next best was substitute Riyad Mahrez with 10.5 per cent, while Ruben Dias and Aymeric Laporte both received no votes at all.
Only Joao Cancelo had as many shots as Gundogan, with five, and the German was the only player with two on target.
Pep Guardiola needs no reminder about how vital Gundogan is to this squad, and how influential he can be when he starts.
The fact that he dumped both holding midfielders to shoehorn Gundogan into his team for the Champions League final last season tells you that. It was a gamble that failed, but through no fault of Gundogan.
The cultured midfield ace always used to be Guardiola’s go-to man for Champions League nights, his intelligent, measured performances deemed perfect for a competition that is not as fast or physical as domestic football.
That has changed this season, with Gundogan being on the bench for the 5-0 win at Sporting Lisbon last week, just as he was for the 5-1 win at Club Brugge earlier in the season.
Given that he started in both weekend games a few days later - Spurs this time and Brighton away after Brugge - in both cases it could be argued that he was being saved for the tougher game a few days later.
But the fact is that with Kevin De Bruyne free from injury and getting back to his best, before Saturday, and with Bernardo Silva arguably being City’s player of the season to date, Gundogan had started to look like the spare man in midfield, for all of his excellence.
If Guardiola can take any pluses from the below-par Spurs showing, it is that Gundogan is still very much a big option who, more often than not, can dictate the speed and rhythm of City’s play like no other player.
