Mancashter United (Home) 27.04.2023

With the team looking much the same as under Stellini and Conte, so it was going to be an interesting evening to see how they perform under Mason.  The only change was Richarlison coming in for Kulusevski and playing on the left, with Son switching to the right side.

While United had the very early possession, Spurs almost broke through in the fifth minute, with Porro producing a neat pass down the right, inside Dalot for Son to look square for Harry Kane in the box and he would have found him if it hadn’t inadvertently hit Lindelof’s heel.  While we didn’t have the ball that much, there was an energy that has been missing from the team’s play for a few games now.  However, when Rashford broke Skipp’s tackle 25 yards out, he played the ball left to Sancho, who came inside to bend a low shot across Forster and into the bottom corner of the net.  Going a goal down so early was the last thing Spurs needed and while there was a toxic air about the stadium, the fans actually got behind the team with chants of “Come On You Spurs !”

RIhcarlison worked hard straight from the kick-off to shrug off Lindelhof and then Wan-Bissaka to win the ball and knock it back for Perisic, but Ivan drilled a ball back across the box from the dead-ball line that missed everyone.  From the tenth minute, United were taking a long time over goal-kicks and despite the referee pointing to his watch, he failed to stop the game being broken up by the stoppages.  A free-kick given for a foul by Dier gave Rashford an opportunity to shoot at goal from 22 yards out, but his effort went a couple of feet wide of the Spurs goal to the right, although Richarlison’s close relationship with the offside flag was testing the United back-line.  The Brazilian was also taking a bit of a kicking, which, again, the referee allowed to go unpunished.

With 18 minutes on the clock, a similar move to the goal put Sancho in left side of the box, but this time Romero blocked his shot.  The ball went back to the United winger and this time he tried to get his shot over two defenders and Forster who were all on the floor, but Romero got something on it  with some kind of donkey kick and it looped over them towards goal.  Luckily for Spurs Perisic had smelt the danger and was on the line to head the ball out.  From that clearance the ball was won by Son onto Kane and he looked to find his strike partner, but was just unable to get enough weight on the ball to beat Shaw and put Son away beyond him.

When a long ball was played out of United’s defence saw Pierre Hojbjerg go to close down Fernandes, he got an elbow in the face for his trouble and I was surprised that there wasn’t a booking, but perhaps I shouldn’t be as very little goes against United.  In the 23rd minute there was a problem of another sort, with an orchestrated chant against Daniel Levy and a half a dozen black balloons thrown onto the pitch.  It might have been better to get behind the team, as United were in the ascendancy, with Fernandes shooting from outside the box and Forster having to push it wide as it moved all over the place.  From it, with the rain falling, Perisic was pushed to the floor, with nothing given and eventually, Casemiro was given offside.

Again, Richarlison was regularly being man-handled by Lindelof, but when he got away from him he looked to find Porro across the six yard box rather than shoot and it was blocked with a corner resulting from it.  It was played in fiercely to the near post and Perisic got a glancing header on it that de Gea had to palm away with a good reaction stop.  Richi then made another run into the left hand channel and put a ball across the box with nobody there to get on the end of it, then Harry did exactly the same with the same result.

After the spell of pressure, each side picked up a booking and Rashford brought a sharp save out of Forster and Perisic brought de Gea into action at the other end when through on goal, but, as so often this season, when we are doing well we get punished.  A long ball from Fernandes put Rashford against Dier in a foot race, but managed to get into the left side of our box before shooting across Forster to make it 2-0 with a couple of minutes to go to half-time.  When that came there were the customary boos.

As so often has happened this season, after a disappointing first half, Spurs picked up the pace at the start of the second.  A couple of corners were won without anything coming from them and then it looked like Tottenham had a good chance when Porro fired a shot at goal, but it hit Kane, who reacted to reach the ball and dink a cross to the far post.  It was flicked away and Perisic put the loose ball back into the mixer with it flying off a defender into the air where Lenglet beat de Gea to it and the ball bounced off the top of the bar.  However, a foul on the keeper had been given even though he didn’t get to it.

Surprisingly, it didn’t take long for get the ball in the net that did count.  After a good build up from the back, the move broke down and Spurs started again, with Hojbjerg spreading the ball left to Ivan on the wing.  He played a cross into the goalmouth with the outside of his right boot and Richarlison went for it, but was shoved in the back by Casemiro.  The crowd (who some of were chanting for the chairman to be removed) suddenly called for a penalty as the ball dropped for Kane to shoot.  Shaw stopped it with his chest as he knelt on the ground (after having Richi a hand in the back of his neck before he was fouled), but the ball came out to just inside the penalty area, where Pedro Porro took a touch with his left foot before putting the ball into the net with the outside of his right.   Spurs had found a way back into the match, even with de Gea claiming that Richarlison was offside and obstructing him, being on the floor behind him and not being seen until after the ball had gone past the keeper.  The Spurs crowd suddenly saw a glimpse of what could be achieved. 

However, it might have been in vain a minute later, when Fernandes strolled through the middle of the Spurs defence, with a bit of luck with the bounce of the ball and with only Forster to beat he lifted he ball over him, but it crashed back off the bar and then Fraser had to push Wan-Bissaka’s follow-up header wide.  Lindelof got a yellow card for a crude foul on Harry Kane and then later threw his arms around Son’s waist as he darted forward but the ref only gave a free-kick and not a second yellow.  The official’s weak excuse that Fred was waiting if Sonny had got past the United number 2, can be used in a number of situations and how could he be sure that Lindelof knew that Fred was there ?

Following two corners, Hojbjerg had shots on the volley; one wide and the other going gently through to de Gea, but Spurs were pressing hard  Around the 66 minute mark, Kane put a great cross into the box from the right and coming on to it from the other side of the goal was Heung-Min Son.  He tried a first time shot when he had more time than he perhaps realised and got it wrong as the ball went well wide on the other side of the goal.  Then Dejan Kulusevksi, who was on as a sub for Richarlison cut in from the right and put a shot just wide of the far post.  Soon after a cross-field pass to our left wing from Kane was picked up by Perisic, who swapped passes with Son and lifted the ball into the middle of the United six-yard box.  It found Eric Dier free, five yards out, but he tried to direct his header just inside the post to de Gea’s left, but the effort went wide in what was a great opportunity.

A corner at the other end was taken by Fernandes and cleared back to him.  His cross/shot had to be saved at the near top corner by Forster at the expense of another corner, but this one was cleared away.   Kane had a sniff of goal, but his effort dribbled through to the visiting keeper, then Mason made a couple of changes with Danjuma on for Porro and Davies on for Perisic.  Tottenham closed quickly and forced Shaw to play back to de Gea.  His kick was won in the air by Romero, whose header put Harry Kane away against United sub Malacia.  From outside the 18 yard line, Harry moved in to the box and inside the right corner of the area, his pass across the box missed out Danjuma and Son came in at the far post to lift it back past de Gea from where the keeper had just come from with his right foot.   Removing Wan-Bissaka was ten Hag’s mistake, as he was having a good game and Mason’s change bringing on Danjuma was inspired as his run into the middle left space behind for Sonny, who was way ahead of Dalot to allow him time to pick his spot to beat de Gea, who had gone to ground.  The chances had been coming for Spurs, but also for United, so to pull the game back to 2-2 was a relief.  

Rashford was away and decided to shoot from outside the box, but couldn’t keep his effort down, with it ending up in the North Stand and it was United pushing hard for a winner in added time.  Having brought on Wout Weghorst, they were looking to use his height, but is major contribution was giving away a free-kick when United were going forward, however, it was Casemiro who won a header in the air at a corner, but again it flew over the bar and into the fans behind the goal.

So, Ryan Mason had geed up the Spurs players sufficiently to produce a second half performance to earn a point.  I must admit, it was more than I was expecting as I made my way to the game.  Half an hour before I left home, I got a text saying that the line through Northumberland Park had been closed following a person being hit by a train.  So, I had to leave straight away, as it meant going in to Liverpool Street and then out to White Hart Lane, but by the time I got to Stratford, the line had opened and I could get a train from there to Tottenham.  The levels of misery that we put ourselves through to support the team are wiped away when we make this sort of comeback.  The major problem is you don’t quite know which Spurs you are going to get when you turn up.

In the first half, Spurs did reasonably well.  It wasn’t like a Conte first half, but letting two goals in makes it so much more difficult to get a win, as we haven’t really looked like scoring three very often.  It could have happened today, but then it’s the old adage about taking your chances, which equally applied to the opposition.  United’s changes in removing Eriksen, Wan-Bissaka and Sancho back-fired on them, while Danjuma, Davies and Kulusevski were offensive changes that helped apply pressure on the visitors’ goal.  In the second half, Romero calmed down and played very well and Lenglet was encouraged to move forward with the ball, which he did to good effect.  In the first half, the wing-backs got isolated, with little cover in front of them, allowing United to profit, especially down their left.

With games against Liverpool and Palace in the next week, the players will need to give consistent performances over the 90 minutes to achieve more points in the chase for European football.

The Funky Phantom

• Heung-Min Son’s goal put him sixth in the list of all-time Spurs goal-scorers.