MATCH REVIEW - MANCHESTER UNITED v TOTTENHAM HOTSPURS

 

TALKING POINTS

The start could not have been better for Manchester United as Anthony Martial won a penalty inside the first minute as he was tripped inside the box which was duly converted by Bruno Fernandes. What followed was nothing short of disastrous as Tottenham ran away with the game afterwards. Straight after Manchester United had taken the lead, Harry Maguire gifted a goal to Tottenham where he headed poorly and then tacked Luke Shaw out giving Ndombele a free shot to score. Soon afterwards, Maguire fouled Kane who quickly took the freekick and was converted in by Son Heung Minh. United at the\at moment did pose a threat to the Tottenham goal but that all changes when Anthony Martial was sent off due to violent conduct. Spurs ran away with the game after that with Harry Kane and Son scoring two more before half time - both of the goals coming due to defensive errors.

The second half was pretty much the same as United showed no fight at all and allowed Spurs to dominate. Much of that can be pinned on the poor substitutions made by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Spurs added two more before the full time whistle through Serge Aurier and a penalty by Harry Kane. All in all it was a pathetic performance by the Red Devils and this match should not be watched again by United fans unless there is a lot of alcohol involved. 

TACTICS REVIEW

A big change at the back as Eric Bailly came in for Victor Lindelof after impressing in midweek in what was the only change to the team that won in the Premier League in dramatic fashion against Brighton and Hove Albion. David de Gea retained his place as League number one and the formation stayed the same i.e. 4 - 2 - 3 - 1. 

As for the substitutions, Ole is to blame as he took off Fernandes, who by the way is probably the only player in the team who can produce a moment of magic. Van de beek was introduced way too late in the game..

HITANSHU'S VERDICT

've no words to say as nothing can explain or justify this humiliating defeat. This was one of the worst games of football I've seen. Manchester United were completely torn apart bit by bit as Jose Mourinho exacted revenge. In fact, he probably overkilled it. We shipped in 6 goals and you could point almost every single one of them as clear individual errors leading to a goal. In fact, one can even accredit Maguire and Bailly with an assist each. Until Martial's controversial Red Card, we seemed to be at least trying to get back in the game, but as soon as we went a man down there was no intent to push on. From pushing for an equalizer, we fell behind by 4 more. Yes one could argue that Martial was sent off unfairly and that affected the game, but there was no intent whatsoever. As Evra correctly pointed out, we had found ourselves in a similar situation against City in 2011, but back then our team never gave up. They kept on attacking. They didn't look dejected on the field. And I would've wanted to see at least the will to fight from our players Calling this a "lacklustre performance" would be massively overrating. I'm devastated, I'm distraught and this club is in deep trouble if we can't turn things around.

VARUN'S VERDICT

This was probably the worst performance I have ever seen from Manchester United. We continue to sink lower day by day and there wasn't even a hint of fight in the team as we squandered to equal our worst ever defeat at home. The scoreline doesn't even begin to tell the whole store as it should have been a lot more. Many people will blame it on Anthony Martial that the red card was the point where we lost the game but Spurs were dominating before that also. That decision though was a disgrace as Eric Lamela should also have been sent off. Overall, the performance was shocking as defensively we needed reinforcements badly but it wasn't even addressed in the transfer window.

I have to put this out again - as I have been doing for the past one year. Harry Maguire is not the answer. He shouldn't even have been bought in the first place. He has made so many errors and he simply seems to get away with it and most of the blame is put on Lindelof (Case in point the Steven Bergwijn  goal where Lindelof was criticised for not being 'fast enough' to cover when Maguire was the one who created the problem in the first place. There is no escaping this cause he was Shambolic. He can't mark, isn't that good aerially and doesn't even score from set pieces which was one of the major reasons he was bought. £85 million is way too much for him (I wouldn't even pay £85 for him) and that has to be on the board. Some people keep saying that he needs a good partner beside him and we need to spend more money to bring in a good centre back but we paid £85 million for him. He should be the answer so why do we need to get another centre back. He is not a leader and should not be captain at the club. He has no character and in short is simply not good enough for Manchester United.

On another note - Pogba was shit. Absolutely awful. He needs to be taken off the team and Van de Beek needs a run of games. I only hope that this is rock bottom and the only way to go is up..

MAN OF THE MATCH

This awful performance doesn't deserve a Man of the Match..