UNITED IN FINAL FLOURISH
Jose the master tactician in hunt for silverware and, as Pochettino fails again, it’s...
THE most-venerable performer in English football may be exiting the stage but there is still room for an older generation.
Mauricio Pochettino, 46, represents the best of upcoming, younger managers and, of course, he still exudes the excitement of potential. But Jose Mourinho, 55, just keeps setting his clubs up to win trophies.
He has won nothing this season yet. But he remains on course to keep his trophy counter ticking over. And his sheer cussedness when it comes to collecting silverware can only be admired.
United looked as though they might be overwhelmed in the opening exchanges of this match. But a Mourinho team is nothing if not redoubtable with a trophy at stake. Two were won last season; the cheapest two available but nevertheless they bought their manager time.
Now their season will run to the end yet again and to a final. Mourinho had reached deep into his psychological playbook to ensure his team peaked for this game. He had spent the week challenging the failures of last Sunday’s defeat against West Brom — principally Paul Pogba, Alexis Sanchez and Ander Herrera — to prove their worth.
And he seemed to have judged it just right. All three responded, the latter two with goals and Pogba, after initial wariness, with a performance of authority.
Pochettino, meanwhile, must wait another season at least before collecting the first trophy of his managerial career. The key moments keep evading Spurs. Be it a Champions League knockout game, a semi-final at this stage last year, those crucial games they need to win to stay in title races or the 2015 League Cup final: they simply cannot get across the finish line in tact. They are undeniably good. Just not good enough. Yet.
Tottenham, as is their wont, came out on the front foot. In fact, they seemed to pick up from where they left United here in January, where they had beaten them rather comprehensively.
It took them just 11 minutes to open the scoring when they created a mightily fine goal. Admittedly they were helped by the willingness of Mourinho to engage with the game and press high. Specifically, full-back Ashley Young was attempting to pressurise Davinson Sanchez when the Colombian lofted a l ovely ball i nto the path of Christian Eriksen. With Young up the pitch, it was Pogba left exposed and unable to track the Dane.
Eriksen’s cross was sumptuous, too dangerous for the keeper to attempt to gather but perfect for Dele Alli, whose timed run was delightful. On the canter, he simply touched the ball i nto the net. Pochettino punched the air and turned to his staff. For a man who is repeatedly downplaying this competition, it seemed to matter enormously.
Having seized t he i nitiative, Tottenham were in no mood to surrender it. The sight of Harry Kane dashing across the pitch to win the ball off Antonio Valencia epitomised their mentality. They wanted to keep United in their box. Heung-min Son dropped a ball on to the far post which was just out of touching distance for Kane. Phil Jones required a superb tackle in the 17th minute to clear from the feet of Alli when Son had teed him up for his second goal. Then Alli and Kane combined to provide Eriksen with a chance he struck just wide.
Mourinho looked aghast on the touchline. Arms whirling, face contorted, he could barely hide his contempt. In the 24th minute, his high pressing gained its reward.
Kieran Trippier played out from the back to Mousa Dembele and Pogba was immediately on to him. He wrested the ball away from the Belgian deep inside Tottenham’s half and lifted another excellent cross on to the head of Sanchez. The deftest of touches from the Chilean directed the ball past goalkeeper Michel Vorm.
The game switched almost immediately. Suddenly it became a genuine battle of heavyweights rather than the one-sided affair it
had been. Both sides wrestled furiously to regain momentum.
Pogba would be denied from a touch from Vorm in the 44th minute when he struck from 25 yards. And Eric Dier was frustrated by the post after his strike came off Chris Smalling in the 45th minute.
Neither team conceded territory in the second half. United started the better, Jesse Lingard fizzing around causing constant irritation and Spurs’ hearts to flutter when Jan Vertonghen laid hands on him and he dropped to the ground in the box in the 53rd minute. No penalty, Anthony Taylor correctly ruled.
But Spurs continued to create chances. Alli played in Kane in the 58th minute and he spun round Smalling and sized to shoot. But the United defender recovered to stick out a leg and deflect the ball wide.
No one ceded ground until the 62nd minute, when Romelu Lukaku won a long ball and flicked it on to Sanchez on the edge of the box. It looked as though Lukaku’s stab at the return ball from Sanchez was inadvertent.
Nonetheless, it directed the ball to the fast-approaching Herrera and he struck from just inside the box to give United the lead. Vorm, preferred to Hugo Lloris for the FA Cup, seemed at fault, the ball well within saving range.
Pochet t i no made hi s move, bringing on Lucas Moura for Ben Davies and dropping Dier back into defence. Moura played wide right and t he craft of Eriksen was deployed more centrally, with just Dembele holding.
But United remained in t he ascendancy. Having been unnerved by Spurs, they regained control and looked unwilling to allow their opponents back into the game.