Tottenham played with 4-2-3-1 line up.
Manchester City played with 4-3-3 line up.
When Manchester City tried to make game, the shape became a 3-2-5. Walker became the 3rd stopper, Cancelo closed to Rodri, Torres and Mahrez took position close into the touchlines, De Bruyne and Silva used half-spaces.
Walker supported attacks from the right wing too. Cancelo didn’t take position only in the centre. He closed to the left wing too. So he could support Torres. De Bruyne and Silva weren’t in only half-spaces. They moved to every space in between the opponent’s defense and midfield line’s, changed their positions with the other forward players and tried to have more numerical advantages, use half-spaces and confuse the opponent’s players’ mind.
When Tottenham encountered Manchester City, Ndombele came beside Kane and Son and Bergwijn took position in the half-spaces. Tottenham’s forwards and midfielders moved like one piece and controlled Rodri and Cancelo.
Tottenham didn’t use high pressure in the forward. They defended midfield’s forward to their penalty box. But the team length wasn’t too much. Usually it was 16.5 metres. But of course they responded moments of the match. So it could be 22 metres sometimes. The team length was between 16.5 to 22 metres. And their team width was 40.3 metres. It’s the width of the penalty box’s width. So they took position distance between right of the penalty box and left. They didn’t press wings much.
When they covered the midfield, Kane and Ndombele took position between the opponent’s stoppers and centre midfielders. They couldn’t cover the opponent’s stoppers and centre midfielders very well. Manchester City could pass each other in the midfield’s behind.
Because when Kane and Ndombele took position between the opponent’s stoppers and centre midfielders, they could cover 2 stoppers and 2 centre midfielders at the same time. Because with that positioning, they took position between their connections. But Manchester City had 3 stoppers and because of this 1 more player, they had 1 more connection and they could use triangles. So Kane and Ndombele couldn’t cover the opponent’s stoppers and centre midfielders at the same time.
But it was not a problem for Tottenham. Because they cared about covering Manchester City’s midfielders and forwards. Manchester City’s defense line could pass each other but it did not get a disadvantage to Tottenham.
When Tottenham was in set defences, Kane was the only player who was at the end of the 16.5 metres’ distance. The other 3 centre midfielders and 2 wingers took position to respond to each other. Defense line usually took position on the line of the penalty box.
Sissoko and Hojbjerg took position very close to the defense line. There were approximately 2.75 metres between them and the defense line. So sometimes Tottenham’s defense line had 6 players.
Wingers took position between Kane and centre midfielders. Ndombele took position in the wingers’ line and didn’t let Rodri to make game easily and helped the teammates cover centre.
Wingers and centre midfielders took position accordingly. They changed their marking roles with each other. If the ball was in their right wing, Son closed to the right wing and covered Cancelo, Sissoko took position in the defense line’s 2.75 metres front in the right half-space and covered Silva, Hojbjerg came to the centre, Bergwijn came to the left half-space. And also Reguilon closed to his stopper. So their team width remained 40.3 metres all the time.
In short, if Manchester City has the ball in the wing, Tottenham’s winger whose natural position was close this wing, closed this wing, one of centre midfielders closed to the half-space, which one was close to the ball, the other centre midfielder covered centre, the opposite winger closed to the other half-space and the opposite full back closed to the stopper, which one was close him, to protect the team’s width.
Manchester City couldn’t make game from centre because Tottenham’s midfielders and forwards could cover Rodri and Cancelo very well. So Manchester City tried to make game from wings.
Manchester City couldn’t make game from the left wing. Cancelo closed to the left wing and supported Torres. Silva took position in the left half-space. But in Tottenham, Son covered Cancelo, Aurier covered Torres and Sissoko closed to the half-space and covered Silva. So Manchester City remained 3 vs 3 in the left wing and couldn’t find numerical advantage.
In the right wing, Walker supported Mahrez, De Bruyne came to the right half-space. In Tottenham, Bergwijn covered Walker, Reguilon covered Mahrez and Hojbjerg closed to the half-space and covered De Bruyne. So Manchester City remained 3 vs 3 in the right wing and again they couldn’t find numerical advantage.
So Manchester City couldn’t make game and tried long and diagonal passes to unbalance the opponent. But Tottenham was the better team physically. They won aerial duals and second balls against Manchester City. So Manchester City couldn’t find important goal opportunities.
Tottenham tried to find goal opportunities with Son’s and Bergwijn’s diagonal runs. Kane closed to the midfield and pulled both opponent’s stoppers. And one of the winger ran diagonally from half-space, which one’s run position was better. And they could score the first goal with these moves.
As a result, Tottenham defended very well and with sharp effective attacks, they could take the score.