TEN HAG’S SIDE ARE RED MEN WALKING
THE best teams find a way to win even when they don’t play well.
That was the narrative trotted out at the start of last week after Manchester United, aided of course by some dubious officiating, took three points off Wolves.
But here at Tottenham, they played all right and found a way to lose – something that, even at this early stage of the season, will worry their manager and fans.
To be fair to both United and their hosts, this was a cracking, vibrant game.
There were moments of great collective and individual skill at either end and both sides will know they could and should have scored more goals than they did.
But where Manchester City and, to a degree,arsenal produce such cold-blooded and calculated football, there were times when this game swung so rapidly from end to end that it often felt like a Sunday league game.
That isn’t to liken any of these players to park players, of course. It’s just that there was the kind of fun element about the fixture that you just won’t get at the Etihad or Emirates anytime soon.
And it’s why, even at a stage of the season, nobody will have left this stadium last night thinking either of these two sides can seriously mount a challenge for the title.they will both have to tighten up plenty if they are even going to finish in the top four.
That’s okay when you’re a Tottenham side that’s bouncing back from a miserable time of it, with new boss Ange
Postecoglou only a couple of months into the job.
But Erik ten Hag (right) has been at United long enough now for his team not to be producing performances like this.
It is a United team that still needs serious work and only new keeper Andre
Onana looked the part despite the scoreline.
Onana has a huge presence, good hands and good feet. He cut through three Spurs players with one pass to Anthony and a long ball to Alejandro Garnacho was pinged with pinpoint accuracy.the trouble is, up ahead of him, it was just too easy for Tottenham to turn defence into attack. Former United skipper Roy Keane had talked in the build-up about United’s front three and midfield three not defending well enough against Wolves last week.
And as well as they moved the ball forward early, they did not defend well enough, which proved their undoing. In fact, United looked one-dimensional at times, as if there was no Plan B.
And even when Ten Hag sent the substitutes on, it was just a different mix of players doing the same thing.
They’d had chances with Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford heading over. But as well as Fernandes played going forward, he struggled while defending, while Mason Mount found it hard to impose himself on the game – though he needs time to settle.
When you join United, no matter what the fee, the least you can expect is 10 players performing around you to aid the settling-in process and Mount just isn’t getting that at the moment as United struggle.
As for Spurs, Postecoglou promised the shackles would be off and he has done just that.
Yves Bissouma gave an excellent display, as did Pedro Porro and Pape Sarr.
Soon after the break, Sarr slammed Tottenham ahead – and when Lisandro Martinez turned the ball past Onana, it was game over.
No wonder Tottenham players and fans celebrated wildly at the end of a deserved win.
They’ve already moved on from Antonio Conte – and already the Harry Kane hangover appears to have cleared.