MAN UTD........0 TOTTENHAM...3
MARTIN SAMUEL
In the space of 10 minutes, there it all was: two Tottenham goals, three Manchester United substitutions, the abandonment of an ambitious defensive strategy, the recurrence of old problems, the breaking of hoodoos.
‘You’re not special any more,’ teased the Tottenham fans as Jose Mourinho stood powerless on the touchline, but this certainly was; special in so many ways.
not solely in terms of Tottenham’s performance, either. As good as they were in the second half, they can be much better than this, and certainly better than in the first half when they were largely ordinary. Yet it was a special performance because of what it represented.
Just as victory over Borussia Dortmund at Wembley last year showed a club coming to terms with their new surroundings, so this was a landmark result. Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham had not scored a goal or recorded a point at Old Trafford and suddenly they had two and were staring at three.
It was October 1972 when Tottenham last won by a margin of more than one goal in a league match here, so the significance cannot be overplayed. nor the maximum points from three games to ensure they keep pace with Liverpool, Chelsea and, er, Watford.
What a shambles this was for United. Mourinho had introduced a back three, none of whom had played this season, including Ander Herrera on the right. It looked to be doing quite well. In a matter of minutes, Tottenham dismantled it — and then so did Mourinho.
It was 1992-93 when Manchester United last lost two of their first three league games. They went on to win the title, so nothing is over, but they also bought Eric Cantona in that campaign. Mourinho cannot pull an equivalent rabbit from the hat until January at the earliest and by then it may be far, far too late. United do not look capable of keeping pace with teams such as Manchester City or Liverpool, the title favourites, and have now been spectacularly undone by Tottenham, while Chelsea are taking to Sarri-ball a lot quicker than Jose-ball is being understood at United.
His team is lacking identity. What are they meant to be? Expansive and daring? Spiky, robust and hard to beat? Can they dig in? Can they break out? Mourinho, always the most certain of managers, doesn’t even seem to know his best XI any more.
It is 23 matches since a London club last won here — Spurs, on January 1, 2014 — but Pochettino’s side have wilted under the pressure of expectation before, not least in last season’s FA Cup semi- final, which United won comfortably despite much talk of it being Tottenham’s time.
Yet this was different. Tottenham were disappointing in the first 45 minutes and had Romelu Lukaku been a better finisher, United could have been in command, but they emerged after half-time with greater energy and struck twice in two minutes to leave United reeling.
It was a corner that gave Tottenham the lead, and a familiar double act making it work. Kieran Trippier sent the ball swinging in from the left, while Harry Kane battled with Phil Jones in the middle. Jones is a sizable unit, an old-fashioned centre half. Here, he got shrugged off like a rube on his debut. There was much pushing and pulling but Kane was better at it, smarter with it; by the time Trippier’s ball arrived, he was in space and his looping header defeated David de Gea.
Mourinho had started with a back three of Jones, Chris Smalling and Herrera in his new role and it had done relatively well to that point, but the experiment was over two minutes later. Christian Eriksen pulled away into space and cut the ball back for Lucas Moura, arriving late, to leave De Gea no chance.
At which point, Mourinho abandoned experiment A. Off came Herrera, then Jones — injured, as
he so often is — and finally Nemanja Matic. Victor Lindelof was among those introduced, but his major contribution was a woeful back pass that would have given Dele Alli a goal, had De Gea not recovered magnificently. In Lindelof’s defence, few of his team-mates were showing for the ball. United by now looked dreadfully short of confidence, too.
De Gea could do nothing about the third. Moura through again, this time from a lovely Kane pass, and Smalling, the last member of the starting three on the field, missing his tackle as Moura skipped through to emphatically end the contest. Old Trafford emptied, Tottenham rejoiced.
Fans and footballers not being the best for statistics, this was probably more spectacular than even they imagined. Mourinho has not lost 3-0 at home in his entire professional career.
Could it have been different? Mourinho will certainly think so. Lukaku, alone, had three decent first-half chances — and one absolute snorter. That came in the 16th minute when Danny Rose badly underhit a back pass to goalkeeper Hugo Lloris and Lukaku rounded him with the goal now open, albeit it from a tight angle, only to send the ball the wrong side of the far post.
More wastefulness followed three minutes later when Luke Shaw — a rare bright spark — hit a cross to find Lukaku, only for the striker to miskick and give Lloris a soft stop. A Fred cross in the 26th minute completed a miserable 10 minutes, Lukaku steering his header wide.
Yet this had been much better from United than the insipid display at Brighton, a statement of intent coming after just 18 seconds when an error from Toby Alderweireld was pounced on by Fred, curling a shot just wide.
At the end, Mourinho stood applauding United’s few remaining die-hards for an inordinately long time. Later, he talked of unity, but it is not the fans he has to worry about. United are fractured on the field, more so than off it. Unlike Tottenham, they no longer seem to know who they are.