Spurs slumped to their second defeat of the Premier League season against Manchester United at Old Trafford this evening, with the hosts’ first-half dominance paying off following second-half strikes from Fred and Bruno Fernandes.
Spurs made one change from the weekend’s victory over Everton, with Yves Bissouma coming in for the injured Richarlison.
Given the dominant fashion in which Spurs finished the match against Everton, one could have been forgiven for assuming that the inclusion of another midfielder would give Spurs a greater degree of protection and comfort in midfield.
However, this was far from the case. From the off, United sensed Spurs’ submissive and tentative demeanor like a shark smelling blood. The visitors had to rely on several outstanding saves from Hugo Lloris to keep out United.
Among these saves was a comfortable stop from Fred’s long-range effort, and even better saves from Marcus Rashford when the forward was through on goal and an acrobatic diversion of Luke Shaw’s powerful drive over the bar.
United kept probing, and when Lloris was beaten, they still could not score, with Fred hitting wide and Antony clipping the post from distance.
Cue the second half, and any luck Spurs had before the interval vanished barely a minute after the restart, with Jadon Sancho laying the ball off to Fred, whose first-time effort took an unfortunate deflection to wrongfoot Lloris and give the hosts a deserved lead.
The best response Spurs mustered to United’s pressure all game arrived when Harry Kane’s effort from just outside the box was deflected wide, and Kane had an even better chance 15 minutes later at the back post but his close-range effort was stopped by David de Gea.
However, even that effort was offside; nevertheless, the referee played an advantage that saw United retain possession and subsequently score on the break with a wonderful first-time curler from Bruno Fernandes to wrap up the points for United, who are now only 4 points behind Spurs with a game in hand.
What a miserable night. Exactly as I predicted. We are rarely perform at O.T.
Totally outclassed, outplayed and humiliated. We need a Fernandes and Anthony to create some class.
Thank goodness for Lloris tonight…could easily have been 8-0.
Usual pathetic substitutions from Conte …far too late. Mind you our subs are like demoralised schoolboys. (Take a look at the Man U. bench and unavailable players..scary).
Spence given his usual 90 seconds to demoralise hime even further. He should have replaced our Charlie Chaplin lookalike at half time.
I expected the worst but this was embarrassing. Dreadful night.
Conte is a very poor fit for Spurs. I have always thought he is no longer a top coach. Far too boring and defensive. No better than Maonino because the game has passed him by. He does not deserve another contract. We need a modern coach with attacking credentials as well as some creative midfielders. Just look at how Fernandes controlled the game and scored.
Good night top4,