Pep Guardiola defended selecting James Trafford ahead of Ederson and said Manchester City lost 2-0 to Tottenham because “we missed the simple things”.
Ederson was a substitute at the Etihad Stadium and a sloppy ball from Trafford led to João Palhinha scoring Spurs’ second goal at the end of the first half. The 22-year-old goalkeeper, who rejoined City from Burnley for £31m this summer, tried to find Nico González, but passed instead to Pape Matar Sarr, the ball eventually reaching Palhinha.
Ederson is considering his future at City. While the club do not want the Brazilian to leave, Pep Guardiola was asked if this was a factor in choosing to start Trafford, who played in last Saturday’s 4-0 win at Wolves. The manager said: “He made a good first game and I decided to continue.
“When I take decisions in the first part of the season – for all the players you play one or two [games] – everyone thinks: ‘OK, this is the starting lineup.’ It was just today I decided that.”
Brennan Johnson had opened the scoring and while City had chances their performance was disjointed. Guardiola said: “We missed the simple things. The effort and running is extraordinary and I have no doubts about that.
“We created chances, we created enough. It happened, it’s football. It’s just the second game. The last game versus Wolves everyone said everything was fine, but I said: ‘It’s just the first game.’ It’s the same now.
“We have to improve. Step by step until we make it click and have good connections. Now, we have seven days of rest and then it is Brighton.”
Thomas Frank was particularly pleased with Palhinha, who is on a season’s loan from Bayern Munich. He referenced how Spurs have missed out on signing Eberechi Eze because of the Crystal Palace forward’s preference for Arsenal.
“It is fair to say we got a few questions about the transfer market, why not and what if, but we brought two top players into the club,” the Tottenham manager said. “Palhinha – wow, sometimes players need confidence and I don’t think he is fully fit yet, but very pleased with his performance.”
Frank denied using Eze’s decision as inspiration for the victory. “Never ever use one word about one player not at our club,” he said.
Spurs are yet to concede in the league after last Saturday’s 3-0 win against Burnley. Frank said: “The clean sheet makes me very happy, it is a big thing we have been working on. Blocking shots, everything. Last year we had six clean sheets.”
Manuel Akanji, who was left out of the City squad for tactical reasons, is attracting interest from Galatasaray. The price for the 30-year-old defender would be a minimum £15m.
