Manchester United (away) 04.10.2020

An unbelievable start to this game was soon turned around to make it a memorable afternoon for Tottenham and quite a few records fell as Manchester United fell apart in a 1-6 defeat.  Spurs had over-powered United to reverse an early set-back and even before Anthony Martial was sent off, they were gaining supremacy to dominate the home side and take the match away from them.

30 seconds in and United got a penalty. No surprise there, coming from a simple throw-in that was played through to Martial, who was brought down by Sanchez as he moved in on goal from the left. And so, the long line of penalties that United have been given against us continues. At this point, with the handball interpretation as it is, you wouldn’t have bet it would be the last.  Fernandes did his usual hop, skip and a jump and the ball was slid to Lloris’ left and Spurs had given United a goal start with just over 90 seconds on the clock.  It was the exact opposite from Thursday’s Europa League match when Spurs had the advantage of an early lead, but the remainder of the game bore a striking resemblance to Tottenham’s performance.

It was another throw-in that led to another goal in the fourth minute. From it, Pogba skied the ball into his own box, where Maguire put two headers straight into the air, with the ball landing between Shaw and Maguire. Lamela had got in amongst them, as they dithered about what to do with it on the edge of their six yard box, but Erik held them off, providing a clean run onto the ball for Tanguy Ndombele, who put the ball past a static de Gea. It was a result of some awful United defending and some good pressing by Spurs.

A foul on Harry Kane, given for Maguire bundling him over 40 yards from goal, saw the England captain putting the ball down and  taking it almost as he was on the ground. His pass put Son away and he cut across Bailly, so that he was unable to tackle him and then slipped it past de Gea as he came out to meet him, handing Tottenham a lead after a quick turn around. Sonny’s pace and deftness of touch got him into a position to score and to finish, but the alertness of Kane being alive to the situation provided the opportunity to make the most of it.

It had been a frantic first seven minutes and things settled down a bit with United looking to hit Spurs on the break, as Tottenham were controlling the game well at this point. It looked like United might have got back into it in the 20th minute, after a few Spurs tackles had seen the ball run their way and helped move United forward.  It came to Rashford in the box, he cut back and sold Aurier, but his shot rebounded out off the post. It didn’t really matter, as the United striker was offside.

It had been such an absorbing game that it was a surprise when I looked at the clock and it was only halfway through the first half. Just after that United’s over-indulgent play around the edge of the Spurs box broke down on the edge of the Tottenham area and Lamela made space to pick out a ball over the United players on the halfway line, sending Son clear. As he got to the edge of the box, his touch let him down and the ball ran through to De Gea. Another couple of minutes passed and Kane sent Aurier clear on the right, from where he cut inside and hit a shot on goal that de Gea beat out and then when Serge played Tanguy wide and his cross wasn’t dealt with, Lamela had time to take a touch and shoot, this time blocked by Bailly. From it, Bailly headed it on towards the far post, where Reguilon had a shot blocked and then he played it back in for Ndombele to suffer the same fate. But it was another corner.  As the players waited for the second corner to come in, Lamela was pushed in the face by Martial and he received a red card in the 29th minute. It looked as though Erik had made an initial push on his chest and then Martial.

The corner came to nothing but a goal-kick.  When de Gea and Bailly tried to play the ball out, it didn’t get to Matic, as Kane slid in to intercept the ball in the D of the United box. Sissoko played the loose ball left and Son received the ball inside the penalty area, squaring it for Harry Kane to side-foot it into the net out of de Gea’s reach. Coming just after having a man sent off, it was a couple of minutes of ill-discipline both in terms of the temperament and in their defensive ineptitude. Bailly could have easily followed Martial soon after when he stood on Kane’s calf after fouling him.

The extra space allowed Spurs to be able to move the ball around with Sissoko spreading it right to Aurier.  The full back’s ball in went through Maguire’s legs and Son latched onto it at close range at the near post and glided it through de Gea’s legs to rack up Tottenham’s fourth goal. It was becoming a nightmare for the ramshackle United defence, with only 37 minutes gone, but Spurs looked like they were going to score every time they went forward. Aurier was enjoying lots of space on the right, but United looked ragged, even going forward, with Wan-Bissaka completely mis-kicking the ball when in a really good crossing position.

Son nut-megged Pogba just after Reguilon had done the same to Rashford. In added time, Kane glanced a header wide when it was a chance you might have put money on him to at least get it on target. It had been a most one-sided half, even after United were gifted a one goal advantage.

Spurs could easily have been streets ahead even before Martial got dismissed, with United offering little apart from a couple of low weak shots that Hugo easily got behind and one from Greenwood that flew a yard wide of his left hand post. It was difficult to work out which team had been playing three games a week since the season started, such was Tottenham’s energy and vigour.  But there was a still a lot to play for and Spurs needed to be clinical with the chances that inevitably would come their way and they could not be complacent, however bad Man U had been in the first period. McTominay and Fred came on for the home side and Lucas Moura replaced Lamela, who might have been walking a tightrope with the United players realising he was already on a yellow card and looking to equal up the numbers.

When passes go astray and still find a Spurs player, you know it’s your day. Five minutes into the second half, Reguilon slipped a pass inside for Son, but it went to Ndombele. From him, he passed it in to Moura, who played it back for Hojbjerg, whose incisive pass inside the full back allowed Serge Aurier in behind Shaw to drill a low shot past de Gea and inside the far post for the fifth Spurs goal. It was well constructed and Aurier had already got his eye in with a couple of first half efforts, so finished this very well.

United had dropped into a 4-4-1 system, trying to deny Tottenham space, but dropping off Spurs allowed us room to pass the ball about at will. It also hindered United when they looked to move the ball forward, changing defence into attack with few outlets meant that the ball kept being turned over. Bailly was at it again, raking his studs down Son’s Achilles and bringing only a yellow, when it could have been worse had the referee seen his first half indiscretion.  After a couple of crude challenges from United, Ndombele was replaced by Dele, with his first involvement being in the middle of a United maul, kicking out wildly at anything in a white shirt. It had taken this long for the home side to add a willingness to get involved and at 1-5 down, it was a little after the horse had bolted.

Son’s through pass almost set up Harry Kane, but his low shot was turned around the post well by the keeper, as it would have snuck inside the post. It was the last action for Heung-Min, as he was replaced by Ben Davies. This allowed Sergio to push on up the left wing, although it was Ben who broke away, getting onto Kane’s pass and he cut inside Wan-Bissaka and Pogba then slid in to bring him down for a penalty.  Harry Kane put the ball on the spot and lifted his spot-kick to de Gea’s right and the pace beat the keeper’s dive, even though he went the right way.

United had given up by the time there was five minutes left of normal time. They were walking around as Spurs passed the ball for fun and Kane had a shot that was blocked as he went looking for another hat-trick. As it was, Spurs had to settle for the 6-1 win, although it could have been against a further reduced United side, as Moura raced away from Shaw, who violently scythed him down to prevent another goal in the against column.  It was a pre-meditated ‘tackle’ and we saw a Cardiff player sent off for a similar assault at Wembley a couple of years back, but inexplicably, Taylor only pulled out a yellow card.  So much for the referee’s primary duty to the safety of players.

Whatever happened to the boring Mourinho systems that were promised when he arrived at Tottenham. So far, we have had games involving a five, a seven and a six as the team are clicking into gear. With a full pre-season behind them, the side are perhaps showing the learning picked up in training and also not to be nice guys. Despite Gary Neville’s and Graeme Souness’ assertion that Lamela should have been sent off too, it was the hunger to win the ball and then make the most of it when they succeeded which did for United.

The buys that have been made have added a competitiveness to the squad and for all the carping by United fans about not having enough players, the ones they have are not performing, so maybe the manager has lost the dressing room. At least Levy has backed Mourinho, something that didn’t happen when he was in Manchester.  A crushing home defeat at the hands of Crystal Palace and a last-minute penalty win over Brighton coming before this match, all eyes will be on what happens at Gold Trafford in the coming weeks.

With the last-minute penalty that allowed Newcastle to rob a point last Sunday, it wasn’t an auspicious start to the week, but then we had a penalties win over Chelsea to put us into the quarter final of the League Cup and a 7-2 passage through to the Europa League group, which the draw kindly handed us a winnable one. Then a hardly dreamed of 6-1 win away to United put the seal on a week that looked very taxing.  Many of the squad will benefit from only three games in the next two weeks !

So, all credit to Jose and the team. We have won nothing yet, but it’s a statement to other sides who might have thought we were going to be a pushover.  

Jim Craddock

Both teams took the knee before kick-off.
United conceded four goals for the first time in the first half of a Premier League match.
First time United had conceded four goals in the first half at home since 1957 … also against Tottenham.
A five goal margin equalled Manchester United’s biggest defeat in the Premier League.
Tottenham’s biggest win in an away game against Manchester United.
Tottenham’s joint equal biggest win over Manchester United.