SPURS ENJOY A GRAND FINALE
Kane ends United’s top-four hopes to leave Lane in style
AMID the fanfare of Tottenham’s farewell to White Hart Lane, two important issues were settled here. Victory for Tottenham confirmed Mauricio Pochettino’s team will finish second in the Premier League, which is the very least they deserve after an exceptional season. It is their highest league finish since 1963.
Manchester United, meanwhile, can no longer finish in the top four and that is what they deserve. Over the course of the last nine months, United have not quite been good enough.
Wayne Rooney’s consolation goal was United’s first at a top-five away ground and against that background it is impossible to put forward a case for their inclusion among the elite. If United’s season is to end well, the glory will have to arrive in Stockholm in the Europa League final a week on Wednesday.
Tottenham have been much better than everybody apart from champions Chelsea this season and they were far superior to United here. They should have won by more than one goal and United’s goalkeeper David de Gea was the visitors’ best player.
Consider this sobering fact: Of the 10 outfield players selected by Jose Mourinho for this match, not one would improve yesterday’s opposition. That tells us much about the job Pochettino has done in London and the task still in front of Mourinho.
At full-time, Pochettino turned to his bench and pumped his fists. It was clearly very important to him that his team won — not only to see this fine stadium off in style but also to make sure Tottenham did not tail off as they did after losing out in the title race to Leicester a year ago.
Tottenham did not even finish second that year. That hurt Pochettino, but there will be no repeat this time.
The Tottenham manager can spend his summer positively, reflecting on clear improvement. The way his team recovered from the disappointment of ill-deserved defeat in the FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea should encourage him, so should the fact that his players responded to their rival’s clinching of the league title on Friday with another impressive victory.
This could have been a more comfortable afternoon, too. Despite missing first-team players, this was a United team more than strong enough to compete, but Tottenham started on the front foot and were ahead in the sixth minute.
One of the thrills of watching this Tottenham team is recognising levels of high technical skill and supreme athleticism. The opening goal here combined both as Ben Davies delivered a perfect cross from the left and Victor Wanyama rose to thump a powerful header past De Gea from six yards.
Questions could be asked of Rooney’s contribution to the goal. The United captain was marking Wanyama but got stuck under the ball, allowing his opponent time and space to score clinically. Despite Rooney’s mistake, it was still a lovely goal to watch.
At that point, it was tempting to fear for United. Such has been their manager’s recent insistence that it was impossible to finish in the top four and win the Europa League, one wonders if his players are currently approaching league games expecting the worst to happen.
They certainly played as though in a trance when losing at Arsenal a week ago and for a while it looked as though they might be submerged here. Spurs were motivated, energetic and aggressive. Any win over United counts as a scalp, even in these changing times.
De Gea was busy throughout the first half, saving well from the breaking Son Heung-min and then spectacularly from Dele Alli. Moments before half-time, he blocked a Harry Kane effort with his legs.
United tried to gather forward momentum but could not get enough of the ball. A brilliant Rooney ball sent Anthony Martial away and the Frenchman’s shot was curled wide. But that was as good as they got.
Early in the second half Tottenham scored again. Alli drew a foul with a turn of pace down the left and when Christian Eriksen took the free-kick, Kane eased ahead of Chris Smalling to nudge the ball in with the outside of his foot from close range.
It was a bad goal for United to concede — again — and it could have killed them. But Mourinho sent on attacking substitutes and when Martial crossed for Rooney to score at the near post, there was suddenly a whiff of a comeback.
Mourinho will have enjoyed that more than he would probably admit and United had a couple of half-chances. But this was a day that Tottenham were determined would not be spoiled and they saw the game out comfortably as the rain came down.
Spurs’s home record has once again sustained them this season and they will hope to take some of that habit to their temporary Wembley home next season.
United simply must be closer to them next time round and one feels their Europa League final will only signal the start of a critical couple of months.