After a 2-2 draw against Manchester City last weekend, there was a small amount of optimism that Tottenham Hotspur could also get a result against the OTHER Manchester club as Spurs traveled to Old Trafford to play United. And for a while it looked like it might be possible. Tottenham played United relatively even and even had a few chances in and around United’s box in the opening half hour.
But a 30th minute red card for a reckless tackle by Cuti Romero on Casemiro put paid to any chances of that happening. Spurs were suddenly down to ten men and within minutes were down a goal thanks to a well worked corner routine and a shot into the bottom corner by Bryan Mbeumo. Tottenham managed to hang in defensively for much of the second half with Guglielmo Vicario making a number of smart saves, and Xavi Simons elicited a whisper of hope when he flashed a shot just wide of the post early in the second half, but Bruno Fernandez poked a second goal past Vicario late and Tottenham never threatened again. The final score was 2-0 to United.
Another match of “what might have been” but wasn’t due to one pretty stupid play. Here are my match reactions.
Match Reactions
With both RBs out injured, Frank opted to start in that unbalanced back three with Palhinha as a hybrid RB/RCB, Cuti in the middle, and Micky LCB. It got cut open early on by Bruno Fernandes and Bryan Mbeumo but stabilized.
Lovely pass from Xavi in the 11th minute to Gallagher in the box. Tricky finish and Conor could put it away, but it did showed Spurs do occasionally have some ideas in the box.
Xavi Simons was great today, and showed some incredible vision.
Looked like Michael Oliver decided to swallow his whistle again in this match but at least he was consistent in not making calls unless he had to.
Speaking of… Cuti. Wow. Not a good challenge and he went in really hard on Casemiro. Don’t think there’s much to complain about with that straight red, but it means Spurs’ captain is out the next four matches (for is second straight red of the season) and that suuuuuucks in the midst of what is a rough stretch of matches — vs. Newcastle, vs. Arsenal, at Fulham, and vs. Palace. At least Dragusin’s fake-agent will shut up for a while now.
That red is a shame too because Spurs were actually playing pretty well — they were playing United more or less even and had some good box entries until the red. Gallagher and Sarr were both doing well and pulling Odobert for Dragusin means Spurs just have less to work with going forward. A lot more pressure on Solanke to make something happen now.
Figures that United’s opening goal was a stupid one, low and slow and just leaks into the bottom corner. Vicario should’ve saved that.
Look, I’m not saying that Cuti didn’t deserve to be sent off, but Amad put in a real shithead tackle as well which was a borderline red card, but Spurs will never get that call on the road.
And another knock for Udogie. Love the guy but he’s made of glass. At least we got a first look at Souza. Kid might be raw but he’s got a motor. Give him that legacy number.
The match was basically decided after that red. Spurs were never going to get going afterwards and it was all rear-guard defensive actions from that point out, though I should stress that Spurs played quite well defensively. Simons did his best but there’s just nothing there to work with. At least with Ange in charge you knew they were going to at least attack the goal.
Somehow this match will be used by the board as justification to give Frank more time, won’t it? I just can’t see anything getting better the rest of the season, and meanwhile Michael Carrick has United rolling.