Premier League: Manchester United 0 Tottenham Hotspur 3 (Johnson 3, Kulusevski 47, Solanke 77)
This is the nadir of Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United tenure. A slipshod shambolic mess that Tottenham Hotspur exploited gleefully, pinging the ball about, and punching through their storied host as if in a men-v-kids knockabout.
The manager claims to have a plan and on this showing it seems to be based on waving the opponent through on a figurative red carpet as Spurs did so endlessly. Towards the end, at 2-0 down, 10-man United rallied, as Casemiro raided and Alejandro Garnacho darted in: this merely showed what Ten Hag’s charges might have done if they were not an embarrassment to their famous shirt.
By then Brennan Johnson and Dejan Kulesevksi had scored and Bruno Fernandes had been red carded, so the captain will miss the next three league games. If the latter decision appeared harsh, further insult and injury ensued as Lucas Bergvali’s first touch – a corner, from the left – was headed on at the near post by Pape Matar Sarr – his first touch, too – and the unmarked Dominic Solanke touched home.
Ten Hag, drenched in pouring rain, had overseen a duck shoot and this, too, with Ange Postecoglu’s men missing the injured Son Heung-min, and who might have given United a six or seven-nil trouncing.
United are next at Porto, on Thursday, in the Europa League, then travel to Aston Villa, on Sunday, in this competition. After this utter farrago, the manager, desperately, needs to win again – preferably in both of these – as it is now this loss and two draws in his side’s last three outings.
As the jubilant travelling congregation sang “when the Spurs go marching in”, and despite the denial of any job-security concern, the beleaguered Dutchman ended his afternoon dicing with the territory marked “sacking”.
Postecoglou, though, bathes in the warm glow of his side having turned over the record 20-times champions, on their own turf. With his “it’s just who we are mate” high line mantra and could-not-care-less declaration about a second season “always” yielding silverware, there is an endearing swagger about Postecoglou.
After three minutes this strut was sighted in his charges and it never left. Fernandes slid the ball into Garnacho on halfway. He tapped to Marcus Rashford who pushed forward, overhit the ball, Micky van de Ven pilfered this, then launched a rampaging surge that left United in tatters. When he reached the left byline and crossed, Johnson had a simple tap-in.
Superb from Tottenham and criminal from United. Similar naivety ensued when Manuel Ugarte dawdled, James Maddison mugged the supposed “shielding” player and set up Solanke. A well timed Lisandro Martinez tackle saved Ten Hag’s men from fielding serious jeering from this support – these would come at the torrid first half’s close.
United were like Anthony Joshua in the first round against Daniel Dubois: dazed from hitting the canvas instantly and never recovering. There is always hope against Postecoglu’s boom-or-bust ethos. Yet when Rashford broke along the left, his ball for Joshua Zirkzee was aimless, and here we saw the lack of ruthlessness Ten Hag bewails.
Spurs continually knifed through United’s crepe-paper-like resistance. Example: from deep in their territory, Destiny Udogie did a Van de Ven impression, skating along an inside left channel. Space, once more, was created for Johnson who was unlucky his effort defeated Andre Onana but not his right post.
Earlier the keeper’s left shoulder thwarted a Maddison chip after he, Kulusevski and Udogie combined. And, later, Johnson was inches from giving Timo Werner an open goal, Nassar Mazraoui’s interception saving United.
Cut to a grim-faced Ten Hag seeing his side shredded. Cut back to the action as an ambling Dalot, who somehow lost Johnson for his strike, was pickpocketed, allowing Madison to unload. He was wide, as was Cristian Romero with an aesthetically pleasing scissors-kick that offered further evidence of how splayed United were.
An abacus was needed to track Spurs’ chances. Another clear one came when Kulesevski prodded for Werner to race in behind. Onana saved, though the German should not have aimed at him again.
Then, disaster. Fernandes clipped – slightly – Maddison, who made the proverbial of this. Up went Christopher Kavanagh’s red card and off went the Portuguese.
Now came the break and the United support’s jeers. There were more when Spurs doubled the lead. Casemiro had replaced Zirkzee for the second 45, with Rashford switching to No 9. Done, presumably, to shore United up, suddenly Johnson was wheeling down their left and popping in a ball that, deflected, Kulesevski deftly beat Onana with.
United, hapless, could not embody, even, the truism that having 10 men is awkward for the foe. And came close to losing a second captain of the day when Martinez (who took Fernandes’s armband|) chopped Madison down but he saw only yellow.
Romero, too, escaped when a loud ball-to-hand shout in the area and so, too, Guglielmo Vicario’s goal when Martinez missed when it bounced to him from this. – Guardian
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