Devils blitzed
Tottenham’s 10.5-second goal put United in disarray
Tottenham scored one of the Premier League’s fastest goals in their 2-0 win over Manchester United. The Red Devils hadn’t even had a chance to touch the ball when Christian Eriksen put the ball in the net after 10.5 seconds at Wembley. United manager Jose Mourinho labelled the goal as “ridiculous”. “Unlucky is a different thing than ridiculous,” Mourinho said.
LONDON: Watched by the English Premier League’s biggest-ever crowd, Tottenham scored one of the competition’s fastest goals.
Manchester United hadn’t even had a chance to touch the ball when Christian Eriksen put the ball in the net after 10.5 seconds at Wembley on Wednesday.
“It feels a bit weird to score from your first touch,” Eriksen said after Tottenham’s 2-0 victory.
Jose Mourinho watched aghast. “Ridiculous,” was the United manager’s assessment after his conceded for the first time since Dec 26.
But not quite as hard to fathom as the second goal.
On a night when Mourinho’s side were outrun and new recruit Alexis Sanchez struggled to make an impact, United’s pitiful performance was summed up by the own-goal that sealed Tottenham’s win.
Phil Jones inadvertently turned Kieran Trippier’s cross into his own net in the 28th minute when the United defender was under no immediate pressure.
“Unlucky is a different thing than ridiculous,” Mourinho said.
“And after that Tottenham has the game in their hands.”
It was a damaging defeat for Mourinho’s team, with Manchester City allowed to surge 15 points clear of their second-place neighbours by beating West Bromwich Albion 3-0.
United were second-best all night in front of a Premier League record 81,978 fans at English football’s national stadium, which is Tottenham’s temporary home while a new venue is being built at White Hart Lane.
Tottenham set the tone with their explosive start, producing the third fastest goal since the Premier League’s inception in 1992.
After the kickoff, Jan Vertonghen’s high, long pass from inside his own half reached Harry Kane who headed to Dele Alli and the midfielder flicked the ball across for Eriksen to finish.
“We prepare that situation,” Pochettino said, “... and give the signal to the opposition that we want to play in the opposition half and dominate the game and put pressure on them.”
United should have been more alert, based on their preparations.
“After kickoff is ridiculous, especially ridiculous because the players they watched it before, we analyse opponents,” Mourinho said.
“The players knew the long ball, they knew Harry Kane normally he is already inside, before the kickoff, he is already inside the opponent.
“We knew everything and then we don’t press the ball.”
Mourinho broke down United’s shortcomings in detail.
“One mistake, we don’t clean the ball in the air,” he said.
“Second mistake, we don’t win the second ball on the ground.
“Third mistake, we don’t cover the fullback inside when Eriksen comes. Four mistakes.”
It was timed at only 0.1 seconds slower than Alan Shearer’s 10.4-second goal in 2003 for Newcastle against City. Tottenham do hold the record, with Ledley King netting after 9.9 seconds at Bradford in 2000.
“One of the criticisms of ourselves over the last couple of weeks was our slow starts, it was something we wanted to improve on and we definitely did today,” Tottenham midfielder Eric Dier said.
“We were in control of the game from beginning to end, we came out and pressed them and didn’t give them any time.
“They suffered under it.”