United have gone from red-faced to red-hot since Old Trafford humbling

IT was a game you had to witness in order to believe the result. Here, DAVID SNEYD looks back on Man United 1 Tottenham 6 and the impact it has had on the 2020-21 season..

MANAGER Ole Gunnar Solskjaer described it as his “worst day” in charge of Man United.

Luke Shaw said he was “embarrassed on the pitch” while Marcus Rashford took to social media to issue an apology.

Gary Neville (below) labelled the United players “pathetic” and “spineless” and Patrice Evra seemed on the verge of tears as he summed up his feelings on Sky.

“You’re embarrassing the club,” he said, looking at the camera. “Look in the mirror and be honest – you’re an embarrassment.”

United were also the butt of the joke, with Manchester City’s official Twitter account welcoming Tottenham to an exclusive club of teams who hit the Red Devils for six on their own patch.

United 1 Spurs 6 was only six months ago but, even during Covid times, it already feels like another lifetime.

Back in October and Old Trafford seemed to be crumbling just three games into the season.

Bruno Fernandes was substituted at half-time when United trailed 4-1. Subsequent reports emerged of angry exchanges in the dressing room between him and his team-mates.

Captain Harry Maguire had a nightmare afternoon along with Shaw, as Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min

(right) both scored twice.

Anthony Martial was shown a first-half red card for a petulant grab of Erik Lamela in retaliation to being pushed. The Frenchman’s season hasn’t really recovered since but United’s has.

They now sit second while Fernandes didn’t wallow after being hooked and has continued to be a talisman. Instead of going under, Maguire and Shaw have risen to the challenge.

Solskjaer took the blame publicly to lift the weight of criticism off the players and the contrast with Jose Mourinho is obvious. That win at Old Trafford seemed to reignite something in the old Jose, a flickering of the Special One. But since being ditched from the top of the Premier League table on December 16 the spark has slowly burned out.

They are still within touching distance of the Champions League spots and a win when United visit today might just be the catalyst for a late surge.

But a reminder of how quickly he can turn on his own players came after Newcastle snatched a dramatic 2-2 draw last weekend.

“There are mistakes which I probably shouldn’t even call mistakes because they are related to qualities that players have,” he began.

“In terms of profile, vision, balance, which belongs to top players, I didn’t see it in every position.” Mourinho used to whinge

about

opposing teams parking the bus but it won’t be long before he suffers the consequences of throwing his players under it if he’s not careful.