LONDON -- Pep Guardiola's reimagining of Manchester City has delivered its first trophy and the manner of victory over Tottenham Hotspur will only cement this approach for the bigger challenges ahead.
Both teams played with a center-forward in name only at Wembley. After a week of speculation over the extent of his ankle injury, Harry Kane declared himself fit to start but based on the 90 minutes that followed, there surely wouldn't be many at Spurs who would agree with his assessment. Tottenham interim boss Ryan Mason, who has a close, personal relationship with Kane, took the understandable view that the England captain had to play if they were to have any chance of matching City's firepower.