UNITED TACTICS SPOT ON AT SPURS
▶ Solskjaer makes it five league wins in a row on a damaging night for Pochettino’s side
Advantage Ole? Manchester United’s most notable league win of the season maintained Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s 100 per cent record, showed a strategic sense many wondered if the Norwegian had and came at the expense of Mauricio Pochettino, the favourite to be the next permanent manager at Old Trafford.
As Solskjaer strengthened his case, United went level on points with Arsenal to, in effect, ensure that one of their two greatest rivals, Liverpool and Manchester City, and not Tottenham Hotspur, will win the league.
Above all, it seemed a 90-minute indictment of Jose Mourinho.
Solskjaer’s United were everything Mourinho’s team were not – bold and bright, fast and fearless, resolute and resilient in a second-half onslaught – to highlight their underachievement under the sacked Portuguese.
Mourinho’s United lost 3-0 to Spurs in August. Solskjaer’s side won the Wembley rematch. They were still reliant on David de Gea for a series of saves, bringing back memories of his extraordinary display at Arsenal last season, as Tottenham made a huge contribution to a high-calibre game, but it felt both vintage United and with a sense of renewal.
Take the scorer of the sole goal. Marcus Rashford is the personification of Solskjaer’s United: young, quick, talented and often overlooked by Mourinho. Paul Pogba feuded with the Portuguese and has flourished under the Norwegian.
They were an emblematic double act with the Frenchman setting up the decider and coming close to scoring himself.
He forced Hugo Lloris to make a hat-trick of saves in a 10-minute spell as he looked at his marauding best, even if his display was marred by a high challenge on Dele Alli that may have merited a red card.
But the initial inspiration came from the dugout as Solskjaer suggested he has the tactical prowess to prosper at this level.
He imitated Tottenham’s system and deployed a midfield diamond for the first time in his reign but, rather than looking to negate Spurs, it was an attacking gambit that worked so well that Pochettino changed shape for the second half.
Solskjaer succeeded in using his strikers in space either side of Spurs’ central defenders and behind the full-backs.
Rashford escaped to draw a save from Lloris. The warning went unheeded. Rashford evaded Jan Vertonghen to meet Pogba’s glorious diagonal pass and drill a shot beyond Lloris.
It was immediate vindication for Solskjaer, who had begun with Romelu Lukaku on the bench again, while the injured Alexis Sanchez did not make the matchday squad, though he should resume training this week.
Yet, despite United’s fine first half, Tottenham had the majority of chances.
Harry Kane had an effort blocked by Nemanja Matic and a goal chalked off; he was offside when he diverted Alli’s volley over the line.
De Gea made fine saves from Kane’s drilled shot, low header and late effort but a forward who has never scored in seven successive games saw his run end at six.
De Gea also blocked Alli’s header and then the midfielder’s shot while his finest stop came at the expense of Toby Alderweireld, repelling a volley to deny a player who might have joined United in the summer.
The number of Spurs’ chances illustrated that United’s defence is far from watertight.
But it was a damaging day for Spurs. Midfield injuries have given Moussa Sissoko a huge workload this season and while the Frenchman has relished it, it took a toll when he pulled up with a groin injury.
With Son Heung-min now off to the Asian Cup, Pochettino has lost two of his regular side and, perhaps, his chance of making Spurs champions this season. If potential future employers hurt him, they also gave him reasons to move north.
Everton manager Marco Silva said his side showed “big personality” to beat Bournemouth 2-0 at Goodison Park yesterday and end a run of four Premier League home matches without a win.
Kurt Zouma’s first Everton goal and a late strike from Dominic Calvert-Lewin eased some of the scrutiny on Silva but Bournemouth’s miserable run of form continued.
The on-loan Chelsea defender’s 61st-minute header was followed by substitute Calvert-Lewin sidefooting home in the sixth minute of additional time to secure only Everton’s second Premier League win in nine matches, and their first home clean sheet since November 24.
Bournemouth’s misery was prolonged, though, as their slump was extended to nine defeats in their last 12 league matches. At this week’s annual general meeting, Everton majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri, while backing to Silva, assessed the season as “not good enough”.
Victory at least ensured they are three points better off than at the same stage a year ago when they were on their third manager of the campaign in Sam Allardyce.
Performances will have to improve, significantly, though to prevent Moshiri wondering just where his £250 million (Dh1.18 billion) investment is going.
Silva, though, was happy to see his team claim an overdue home win. “They were an important three points for us,” the Portuguese manager said. “We knew before the match it was important to turn the last few results back our way.
“Even if 2-0 is a tough result to take for them, we deserved the points and our players showed big personality and character as a team.”
Bournemouth, meanwhile, need to find a way of stopping the rot, although their good start means they are still nine points above the bottom three.
A meeting of two of the Premier League’s three most out of form teams did not bode particularly well combined with strong winds and inter- mittent, heavy rain. Not long into the first half the watching England manager Gareth Southgate must have wondered if the later kick-off at Wembley between Tottenham and Manchester United would have been a much better option.
He was there, presumably, to check on the form of Jordan Pickford primarily, but the England No 1’s unconvincing handling of Junior Stanislas’s low free-kick midway through the first half, plus some nervy moments with the ball at his feet, will not have offered much reassurance.
The player who did catch the eye was Bournemouth’s 21-year-old Wales international David Brooks, who had the only real chance of the half.
Zouma was muscled off the ball by Josh King and Brooks fired an angled shot past Pickford but against the far post.
The only other player to look lively in the opening 45 minutes was Everton’s 21-year-old Ademola Lookman on only his second league start of the season. His cross saw Bernard’s stooping header fly wide and he would have been clean through had Richarlison not hit his pass straight at defender Nathaniel Clyne in a two-ontwo counter-attack.
Zouma’s first goal in 14 months eventually broke the deadlock in the 62nd minute when he nodded home Lucas Digne’s cross.
Bournemouth’s response saw King drill a fierce shot into the side-netting on the counter but Everton now had the impetus and energy so lacking before with Richarlison’s diving header flying wide. Nevertheless, it was far from a comfortable finish until Calvert-Lewin made sure right at the end.
Despite another dishearetning defeat, Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe insisted his players can take plenty of encouragement.
“I thought we played well today, we started the game well and we had a good chance with David Brooks but that’s how it is going for us,” he said.
“A lot of elements were really strong but ultimately it goes against us.
“It will change for us if we continue to hit those levels we were at today, but when you’re in that moment, that win seems elusive.”
The win eased some of the scrutiny on Silva but Bournemouth’s poor form continued with nine defeats in 12 matches