Tottenham took care of business against Manchester United
After a tough first minute, Heung-Min Son and Spurs were all smiles as Tottenham Hotspur smash 10-man Manchester United 1-6 at Old Trafford in the Premier League. Tottenham had to be feeling hard done again, their last five minutes of Premier League football had resulted in bookend penalty kicks the first to end an undeserved draw with Newcastle at the death and now a deficit only one minute into the match at Old Trafford against Manchester United.
Ultimately, it took Tottenham less than 5 minutes to respond, and less than 10 minutes to take control as United were no match for Spurs on this day. So how did Tottenham go from behind an early eight-ball to total control in what turned into a laugher?
Tottenham Start Slow and Fast
For Tottenham fans, you had to think you have seen this movie before, the first minute of the match and a questionable penalty in the box occurs and Spurs are down 1-0 before the match has even gotten going. Two seasons ago in Madrid, Tottenham were unable to recover from such a situation and the result was a loss in the UEFA Champions League Final, which has taken the club over a year to recover. Today, we saw a team with a different mentality, a winning mentality able to overcome some hardship and grab the game by the scruff and take command.
It was just 30 seconds into the game, United was attacked and got the ball to Bruno Fernandes near the corner of the box, he chested it down and was able to deftly play in Anthony Martial behind Davinson Sanchez. Sanchez scrambled and put a challenge in, whether or not he actually touched Martial is irrelevant as Anthony Taylor immediately blew his whistle and pointed to the spot. Not sure if VAR checked or not, as Fernandes stepped up, did some little bunny hop to put Lloris off balance and popped a side footer toward the right corner, 1-0 United.
In the last five minutes of football in the Premier League for Spurs, they had now given up two penalties, one at the death from VAR for an unsighted handball and now this foul in the box. Rather than pointing fingers, Tottenham stepped on the gas and did not let up until the game was in hand. Spur immediately went to work attacking the United end and were quickly rewarded.
Pogba went wildly in cleats high to win the ball – as he often does, ask Pierre-Emile Højbjerg – but the ball was not controlled and went into the air. Instead of clearing the ball, Harry Maguire tried to head it back toward David de Gea, however, there was little power on the ball.
As it bounced between Maguire, Luke Shaw, and de Gea; Erik Lamela came in scrapping as Lamela does to try and get the ball. Maguire thought he had grabbed Lamela, but instead had Shaw and pulled his mate to the ground. This gave Lamela enough room to pop the ball free. In came Tanguy Ndombele – who gets better by the match – who used his left foot to blast the ball into the net and level the score at 1-1 less than five minutes into the match.
Tottenham were now on the front foot and United were the ones asking themselves and Anthony Taylor questions. Spurs saw the opportunity and continued to attack, Kane who continues to drop deep and facilitate play received the ball just into the attacking half with Maguire at this back. As Kane went to play the ball Maguire clattered into him fouling Kane and earning Spurs a free kick.
Harry Kane was Johnny-on-the-spot and saw an opportunity. He jumped up, slammed the ball to the turf to clearly show it not moving, and quickly played a through ball to Heung-Min Son. Son, a surprise starter following his hamstring issues earlier in the season took a touch and then dinked the ball into the far corner over an onrushing David de Gea, 1-2 Spurs now had the lead and control of the match.
On the front foot, Tottenham continued to attack. Lamela played a wonderful long ball to put Son in again around 25 minutes, however, an uncharacteristic poor touch from the South Korean allowed de Gea to just beat him to the ball in the box and avoid another goal. A minute later Kane turned Maguire in the middle of the pitch and found Aurier out wide. Serge cut back in as he attacked and blasted a wicked left foot toward the goal that de Gea punched away.
Moments later, Spurs were in again, Aurier played it to Ndombele who crossed to Lamela who had his shot blocked for a corner. Reguilon, Sanchez, and Ndombele all had attempts on goal following the corner and ultimately, Spurs go another corner with 29 minutes gone in the match. It was during the lull in the match waiting for the corner that any chance United had on the day faded away.
Martial, United See Red
It started as many plays start, with some pushing between players, Erik Lamela extended his arm into Martial’s chest and the Frenchman took exception. While it would be a major stretch to call it a punch or a slap, Martial clearly reached his arm back out in retaliation and struck Lamela in the face. In slow motion, you could see the thought process go through the Argentine’s head as Lamela realized what happened, grabbed his chin, and went to the ground.
Anthony Taylor again wasted no time and immediately blew his whistle ran over and displayed the red card for Martial. Had it not been retaliation maybe it would have just been a yellow, but a hand to the face, in retaliation and Anthony Taylor, was left with no choice, it was a Red Card. Interestingly the ‘foul’ did not result in a free-kick, but resulting drop to 10-men meant the end for United.
In reality, United was going to have to play well to win regardless of the red card, but now down a goal and down to 10-men, United were never going to win and the good news for Tottenham fans is the squad made sure, as Spurs soon scored again and buried Manchester United.
Tottenham Hotspur Show Their Stuff
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The corner kick that followed the red card led to a goal and a calamity of poor decisions. Down a man, United was committed to trying to build from the back and de Gea played the goal kick a few yards to Eric Bailly.
Bailly tried to force a pass to Maguire, but Harry Kane came over the slid in to intercept the pass. Tanguy Ndombele hustled over to the ball to keep it alive popping it out to Son. Son played a cross back to his right to Harry Kane.
Kane of course knew exactly what to do with the ball and buried it past de Gea for the two-goal Spurs lead. Up 1-3 in the first half at Old Trafford Tottenham were not done.
Sissoko played an okay ball wide into space in front of Serge Aurier. Aurier – who is suddenly playing like a man fighting for his job – went toward the end line and crossed between Maguire’s legs toward the front post. Son came rushing in and got a touch on the ball that then bounced off de Gea and into the goal for Tottenham’s fourth in the first half.
Tottenham continued to pressure, with Kane missing a header before the half and then Aurier having a shot blocked after again getting in on the right to start the second. It was about five minutes into the second half, when Tottenham had their prettiest goal on the day, showing off some wonderful third man running football. Ndombele was attacking from the left and played it into Lucas Moura who was in the center of the pitch near the box with his back to goal.
Moura played a first-time ball backward to Højbjerg who himself laid a wonderful first-time pass forward into the space behind Moura and between defenders as Serge Aurier came running into the play. With his third attempt of the game, Aurier did not miss, as he slotted the ball far post past de Gea for the fifth Spurs goal.
Tottenham continued to push and eventually, Ben Davies was taken down by a lazy Paul Pogba tackle in the box giving Spurs their own penalty kick. Harry Kane did no dancing or jumping around, he just ran up and drilled it in stark contrast to the pageantry of Fernandes’ kick some 76 minutes earlier. The goal gave Kane his second, Spurs their sixth, and called game on a match that was not even as close as the 1-6 scoreline would say. For Tottenham, it is a wonderful way to go into an international break after four wins in four matches this week. For United, let the inquisition begin.