Seconds out as Spurs run riot
It took tottenham 11 seconds to score and Marouane Fellaini seven minutes to be substituted — and that should tell you all you need to know.
Spurs are in the ascendancy, making serious ground on the top four, while United have slipped to 15 points adrift of rivals City.
If the margin of victory appears comfortable here, note it could have been more.
tottenham were denied a clear penalty and Son Heung-min missed the chance of the night, shooting straight at David de Gea after 69 minutes.
It is fair to say Harry Kane, in a good position at the far post, was not impressed. Against that, he too had several good opportunities, but erred in unfamiliar fashion.
All in all, it was very much tottenham’s night.
It certainly wasn’t Fellaini’s, who was humiliated by Jose Mourinho having been introduced after 63 minutes and withdrawn after 70, incurring the manager’s wrath, by the look of it, from a corner.
Mourinho insisted a knee injury was the reason why he substituted the Belgian, who looked less than happy as he walked off.
‘He was injured,’ said Mourinho. ‘Continually he has the same injury — the lateral ligament.’
Had there not been two hours left to the window’s close, who knows what Fellaini’s next move would have been?
tottenham’s might be into the top four if they can secure three points at Anfield on Sunday and, on this form, who knows?
they put four past Liverpool earlier in the season and look better than that now.
By the end, United, a team most had pegged as certain to be second to runaway leaders City looked as if they wanted to be anywhere but Wembley.
Mourinho fumed at his team’s ‘ridiculous’ defending, saying: ‘I don’t think it’s normal to concede a goal like we did after 15 seconds. Straight from kick-off is ridiculous.
‘that has a big influence because then tottenham can play the way they like to play.
‘My players have watched the tottenham kick-off many, many times. It was a really, really bad goal. After the first goal the team had a good reaction — we were there and tried to create.
‘the second mentally kills the team. We were very bad.’
Spurs’ opener largely encapsulated the 45 minutes that followed: tottenham alert and aggressive, United startled or slow to react.
there was a degree of controversy, too, but deep down, even if he fancied a moan, Mourinho would have hated it. Yes, Kane had set off and was a yard or so inside the United half when tottenham kicked off.
If VAR had been in service it would not have been allowed.
Having said that, it was a minor infringement and does not excuse United’s defence for what followed. It wouldn’t have mattered where Kane stood, had United been able to defend a straightforward long ball. Jan Vertonghen hit one, the ball passed back from kick-off, and Kane beat Phil Jones to head it down to Dele Alli.
He was marshalled by Chris Smalling but without sufficient determination and switched the play with a backheel into the path of Christian Eriksen.
A splendid finish followed, leaving De Gea no chance. Kane missed a 26th-minute chance as United were rocking every time Spurs threatened.
And two minutes later Kieran trippier was the architect of the second goal of the night.
Eriksen started the ball rolling again, but trippier’s early cross did the damage — and how often have we said that this season?
He whipped it in and Jones, attempting to clear, diverted the ball with venom into his own goal.
If Dennis Bergkamp scored it for Arsenal in his pomp, it would have contended for goal of the season.
Alexis Sanchez, on his league debut?
Well, he was booed with every touch as one would expect for an former Arsenal man, but there were not too many outbreaks of booing. Kane received one of the biggest cheers of the night for giving him a clump.
He knows how to keep in with the locals, that boy.