Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
GREAT WEEP FORWARD
Forget all the tear-filled nostalgia.. Pochettino’s young, gifted Spurs squad have glittering future ahead of them
IT was an emotional farewell to a glorious past with another wonderful glimpse of the future. Tottenham said goodbye to White Hart Lane with a day to remember, an impressive victory, and even Manchester United did their best to be obliging party guests. Great names from the past were trotted out, glory days replayed on the giant screen, and the fans conjured a really special atmosphere in one of the last remaining old-school grounds. A big part of that is that Spurs are genuinely excited about the future under Mauricio Pochettino while, in contrast, United look a pale shadow of their glorious past. Jose Mourinho is relying on the Europa League to save his season. How the mighty have fallen. Wayne Rooney restored some pride but the scoreline flattered the visitors, who looked as if they were going through the motions. United did very little to spoil the occasion, but keeper David de Gea did at least stop the Reds from embarrassing themselves with a string of brilliant saves. Since Sir Alex Ferguson left in 2013, United have not finished above Manchester City and this defeat means they cannot now make the top four, while Spurs’ victory means they have definitely finished second. That is their highest finish since 1963 – two years after they won the Double – and that is not good enough if you have pretensions of being a really big club. They are only moving a few yards away, the new stadium is looming large in the background, but it does feel like an exciting new chapter under Pochettino. Right from the start, the hosts were far better than United. They
had more pace, movement and power. Mourinho detailed youngster Axel Tuanzebe to man-mark Christian Eriksen, but that backfired as the 19-year-old could not keep up with the Spurs playmaker. It was Eriksen’s short corner which led to the sixth-minute opener, his pass found Ben Davies who whipped in a cross and Victor Wanyama (with Harry Kane, left) rose to head home. Anthony Martial carried a bit of a threat as United’s lone forward, curling a shot just wide while Kane headed against the crossbar. De Gea also made a fabulous stop to deny Dele Alli’s blockbuster. It was very one-sided. They brought out Chas and Dave at half time, the Cockney duo sang all those cup final songs, and one joker on Twitter suggested they might do a better job in United’s defence than Phil Jones and Chris Smalling. Sure enough, the Reds’ fragilelooking backline buckled again after 49 minutes. Eriksen whipped in another brilliant free-kick to the near post and Kane beat Smalling to the ball and fired home. United somehow got themselves back into the game after 71 minutes. Martial beat Kieran Trippier and delivered a low cross which Rooney bundled into the net. It was his 253rd goal for United, stretching his record as the club’s leading scorer still further. But, more tellingly, it was United’s first away goal at a top-six opponent under Mourinho. It only took them 521 minutes of football (431 in the Premier League) and is a pretty damning indictment of the season they have had. They used to come away from home and entertain under Fergie. Now, under Jose, they go to shut up shop. The times are changing. And you feel Spurs are on the up under Pochettino while United are in danger of boring us under Mourinho.