Manchester United 0-3 Tottenham Hotspurs
MANCHESTER – On a night when Tottenham Hotspur bagged their first win at Old Trafford since 2014, the increasingly shaky ground on which Manchester United coach Jose Mourinho’s employment status is based will hog the headlines.
Mourinho’s United began Monday night’s Barclays Premier Soccer League match six points behind pacesetters Liverpool, Watford and Chelsea. They were also four points behind city rivals Manchester City and three behind match day opponents Tottenham. Mourinho would also have been mindful of the repercussions of Paul Pogba’s ill advised confession about lacking the right attitude on the pitch as they lost to Brighton.
What the fans demanded after last weekend’s humiliating 3-1 loss was effort, honest hard work and a visible desire to perform well for the club.
The first half was characterised by a series of errors and inaccuracies in execution, admittedly from both sides. Right from the kick off, the hosts’ Brazilian new-boy, Fred latched onto a loose ball but with the ball on his weaker right side, was unable to stay over the ball and shot wide.
A few minutes later, a sloppy pass from England fullback Danny Rose was intercepted by United’s Romelu Lukaku who rounded the Spurs’ keeper Lloris but he shot across the unguarded net. That seemed a dark omen for what was to come.
Spurs had a close penalty appeal turned down by referee Craig Pawson when centre back Jones appeared to barge in on Lucas Moura as he prepared to shoot.
United showed more energy and purpose than they have shown since the new season began. Their game centred around direct passing and a higher tempo than they have played with in recent matches. This seemed to go down well with the home fans who have resigned themselves to the knowledge that theirs will not be the team that will set the world alight with fluid interplay and clever skills their cross city neighbours display with such consummate ease.
Spurs, towards the end of the first half, began to impose themselves long enough to string together passes. Moosa Dembele and Eric Dier directed play with short, crisp passes while working their way into the opposing box.
The second half began with the visitors on the front foot and plainly with the courage to hold the ball longer than they had done in the first half. Unlike United who had huffed and puffed for forty odd minutes, it only took five minutes for Spurs’ endeavour to pay dividends.
It seems fitting that in a match characterised by direct, hard-nosed football, Harry Kane opened the scoring with a typical English forward’s goal from a corner in the 49th minute. Phil Jones lost half a yard of space, confused by the clever movement from the Spurs players. Kane rose to meet the cross from Christian Eriksen proximate to the penalty spot, lobbing the header over an unbalanced David de Gea.
With barely enough time for Spurs fans to draw breath after celebrating their first goal at Old Trafford in years, they got their second in two minutes through Moura. If the first goal seemed a little forced, the second was all about the style and guile Mourinho’s side has lacked.
Moura received the ball in the half space between Phil Jones and Luke Shaw. With a visibly fatigued Matic unable to recover and force him wide, Moura had the time and space to open up his body and side foot the ball across a despairing de Gea.
This resulted in three quick changes from Mourinho with Lindelof coming on for Jones, Alexi Sanchez for Ander Herrera and Marouane Fellini for Matic. This did not yield much in terms of creatively carving apart the Spurs defensive formation as they seemed content to remain narrow and allow United space out wide.
With six minutes left on the clock and United desperate to ignite some semblance of hope, Spurs capitalised on the threadbare United defence. Kane received the ball on the break. He coolly drew an over committed Lindelof before laying the ball onto Moura. The latter in turn, had only to withstand a feeble challenge from veteran defender Chris Smalling before netting his brace and Spurs’ third of the match.
United fans headed for the exits, the horror show too much to bear.
Ultimately, as Mourinho ruefully reflects on this latest setback, he will be conscious of the fact that the team he put out to play Spurs gave its best and yet that is well short of the standard. Players constantly seemed to lose their positional and situational awareness and after conceding the first goal, appeared to lose their belief.
The new centre-half pairing of Smalling and Jones, in place of the maligned Lindelof and Bailly, appeared ill at ease with the short passing game of the Spurs. Mourinho’s attempt to liven up things in the 60th minute by bringing on Sanchez proved shambolic given the latter’s evident disinterest and the potent ability of Marcus Rashford who remained unused on the bench.
United’s second successive loss sees them drop to 13th on the table, two points above the relegation zone whereas Spurs go second alongside three other teams who have taken maximum points from three matches played – Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City.
