Goalkeeper James Trafford of Manchester City had a match to forget against Tottenham, but he is not exactly helped to settle
James Trafford looked like he wanted to swallow the ground by the time that the defeat of Manchester City against Tottenham was over. A 2-0 housing loss was most of the momentum from their 4-0 victory at Wolves last week, and Trafford had been personally responsible.
The pass in his box to Nico Gonzalez was never on and let people remember how good Ederson is with his feet in printing situations – even if he had done the same at the Club World Cup. More worries for Pep Guardiola was the way in which Trafford then completely lost confidence, which created uncertainty in the second half, because the team should have driven a way back in the game.
Nobody can be written off after one match, especially when it comes after an impressive show the week before and even more when it comes to so much uncertainty. As Trafford he thought he knew what he was starting when he came to City at the beginning of the month, in recent weeks were chaotic.
Guardiola insisted that last week Ederson remained his number 1 for the first Premier League match, but a few minutes later, Trafford knew that he started with the Brazilian who came down with an early period of illness. After another week in which both had trained, the manager could not confirm who his no. 1 was and finally decided the night before the game that Trafford would retain his place.
Now that Eminerson is looking at the couch, that is more pressure for Trafford than the week before. The 22-year-old also has to deal with the uncomfortable persistent feeling that Or Nomerson will leave for Galatasaray before the window is out, and the Champions League-winning Prime-of-the-Leven Gianluigi Donnarumma will come from Paris Saint-Germain to be the new number 1 and the Trafford with a much more challenge.
It has been said about Stefan Ortega that there is a shortage of options for him, because most clubs with some feeling have already sorted their number 1 in the season, but City cannot absorb itself in that bracket. That is not a good place to be inside, and it is not fair on Trafford.
City's signing sessions flourished more often under Guardiola than because of their quality, but also because they are included in a finely tuned machine. They have been helped with their integration by knowing exactly what is expected of them and thereby being helped by others who know what they are doing.
Tottenham has to go down as a missed opportunity for Trafford to make more a claim for the number 1 shirt, but he has entered a goalkeeper department that is the most unclear that it is since Guardiola Joe Hart from the team bombarded in his first summer that was in charge and tried to sign for Barcelona.
Trafford has to restore his focus after Saturday, but also the city in the following week if they want to cut out the wobbles.