Inside Futbol

Premier League star Ashley Young thinks Tottenham Hotspur looked like they were the home side at Old Trafford against Manchester United.

The pressure grew on Erik ten Hag on Sunday evening when his Manchester United side imploded in the Premier League game versus Spurs.

Brennan Johnson put Tottenham ahead with just three minutes on the clock, while Bruno Fernandes was then sent off for the hosts just before half time.

Spurs scored two more goals in the second half through Dejan Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke as they made light of missing Heung-Min Son.

Manchester United could have been on the end of a heavier beating and former Red Devil and current Everton man Young thinks Spurs looked like the home team.

Young admits Manchester United did not even trouble Tottenham as he said on Sky Sports: “Manchester United didn’t give anything. There was no effort, no workrate, no leaders on the pitch. It was disjointed, there were individuals all over the pitch.

“Everything was bad from start to finish. They didn’t lay a glove on Tottenham.

“Spurs had so many chances they looked like the home team.

“The United fans will be disappointed and rightly so.”

Manchester United spoke to other managers in the summer before telling Ten Hag he could carry on as boss.

The jury is now out on how much longer the club will continue to keep the Dutchman at the helm.

Fixture: Manchester United vs Tottenham Hotspur

Competition: Premier League

Kick-off: 16:30 UK time

Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou has picked his starting eleven to go up against Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United side at Old Trafford this afternoon.

Spurs won 3-0 in the Europa League against Qarabag in midweek, despite having Radu Dragusin sent off early in the game.

Postecoglou would love a similar result today, but he will have to break a bad run for Spurs to achieve it as the club have only won three away games in the league since November 2023.

If Spurs can go to Manchester United and win today then he would move them up to eighth in the Premier League table.

Tottenham have Guglielmo Vicario in goal today, while a back four of Pedro Porro, Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven and Destiny Udogie is selected.

In midfield, Postecoglou picks James Maddison and Rodrigo Bentancur, while Dejan Kulusevski, Brennan Johnson and Timo Werner support Dominic Solanke.

The Tottenham manager has options off the bench if needed and they include Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall.

Heung-Min Son misses out today due to inury.

Tottenham Hotspur Team vs Manchester United

Vicario, Porro, Romero, Van de Ven, Udogie, Maddison, Bentancur, Kulusevski, Johnson, Solanke, Werner

Substitutes: Forster, Spence, Dragusin, Gray, Bissouma, Bergvall, Sarr, Moore, Lankshear

Big money Tottenham Hotspur signing Archie Gray has admitted he is ‘really grateful’ to be playing for Ange Postecoglou at Spurs.

Postecoglou snapped up Gray for a deal worth £40m in the summer transfer window, beating off competition from Brentford to land him from Leeds United.

Brentford thought they had the deal in the bag and booked Gray in for a medical, but Spurs swooped in and tempted him to north London.

Postecoglou started Gray in Tottenham’s Europa League clash with Qarabag in midweek and the defender-midfielder put in a strong display full of running.

Gray admits he is happy to have a manager like Postecoglou, who has signalled he has big trust in the 18-year-old.

“I’m really grateful to have the manager we’ve got. I’m a big fan of him”, Gray was quoted as saying by the BBC.

“I’m grateful to have him here and to learn so much off him, it’s a big opportunity for me.

“To hear stuff like that from him, it makes you trust yourself even more and have more confidence to go out there and be fearless.

“That’s what he wants from us and hopefully we can go out and do that every game we’re trusted to be in.”

Losing Gray was a huge blow to Leeds, not least due to his family’s association with the Whites, but the Elland Road outfit felt they could not turn down the cash on offer.

If Leeds win promotion this season then that would mean an emotional return to Yorkshire next term in the Premier League for the youngster.

Former Tottenham star Jamie O’Hara has identified the real reason behind Radu Dragusin’s early sending-off against Qarabag on Thursday.

In the Romanian’s third game of the season, he was sent off after just seven minutes for bringing down Qarabag’s Juninho in a one-on-one situation.

O’Hara gave an explanation of the incident, insisting that the real issue which caused it was that Dragusin has a lack of match sharpness.

According to the former Tottenham star, Dragusin was only brought in by Ange Postecoglou as a backup.

As he has not played so frequently for the London-based side he was undone by the Qarabag player.

“He was bought as backup, a player that was available, an international”, O’Hara said on talkSPORT’s Sports Bar post-match.

“He gets done tonight and that’s probably down to match sharpness, he hasn’t played and he gets done.”

Dragusin was signed by Tottenham in January this year as a backup to Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven, who had both suffered injuries.

He has managed just 12 appearances since then, being on the pitch for 611 minutes.

Former Premier League defender Jason Cundy believes that expectations over one of Tottenham Hotspur’s stars should be tempered.

Spurs are looking to put together another tilt at a top four spot in the league this term and they worked over the summer to reinforce their squad.

Ange Postecoglou did not make any big changes to his centre-back options, where he continues to trust Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven, with Radu Dragusin offering cover.

Dragusin started on Thursday night against Qarabag in the Europa League, but only lasted seven minutes before he received a straight red card.

Qarabag star Juninho was racing clear to go one on one with the goalkeeper before being brought down by Dragusin.

Cundy is in no mood to judge Dragusin harshly though as he feels that the defender is a work in progress.

He insists that expecting Dragusin to be as finished an article as Van de Ven is unfair.

“He’s a bit to work on, Dragusin, I don’t mind him”, Cundy said on talkSPORT’s the Sports Bar post match.

“Not everybody is going to be Van de Ven are they?”

Spurs still went on to win the game 3-0 despite playing for the majority of the match with ten men.

Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou has predicted new signing Archie Gray will become a significant contributor to the club in the near future.

Gray got his first taste of European action on Thursday, playing the full 90 minutes of the Europa League match against Qarabag.

After Spurs went a man down in just the seventh minute, Gray did a decent job along with his partners in defence to prevent the opponents from scoring and hold on to a clean sheet.

Gray’s manager was impressed with what he saw from the Leeds United academy graduate and predicted him to be a significant contributor for them going forward.

“I see him in a Tottenham shirt and playing good football”, Postecoglou said at a press conference.

“I thought he was great last night. A different challenge for Archie, his first European game and having to play 10 men for the whole game.”

Praising the teenager for the multiple roles he performed on the pitch, Postecoglou added: “He had to do a couple of different roles.

“As I said from the outset, from the moment he has arrived he has looked like a real mature young man.

“He has a great focus on the career he wants to have ahead of him.

“He has had a couple of games at right-back for us, pre-season he played a few different positions.

“What I do know is he will be a significant contributor for us.

“He already has been and I was really proud of him last night the way he handled everything.”

Tottenham managed to beat the Azerbaijan side 3-0 in the end, despite having to play most of the match with ten men.

They will now have Manchester United in front of them in their next match on Sunday in the Premier League.

Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou has assured new signing Lucas Bergvall that he and the rest of the coaching staff trust him and he will get plenty of opportunities to play.

The 18-year-old has already played six games for the north Londoners and even got the opportunity to start the Europa League game against Qarabag.

However, the match ended prematurely for Bergvall due to Tottenham going down to ten men after just seven minutes.

Postecoglou replaced the young playmaker with Destiny Udogie but made sure that he did not demoralise the player.

Ahead of their Premier League encounter against Manchester United on Sunday, the Tottenham manager assured Bergvall that he will get plenty of opportunities to play.

“Lucas is another one I said before the game we’re really keen to expose him to European football”, Postecoglou said at a press conference.

“Unfortunately it ended prematurely for him and he was obviously disappointed.

“But we trust him and he’ll get plenty of opportunities to play.”

Despite playing most part of the match with ten men Tottenham won the match 3-0 to start their European campaign on a positive note.

Their next match in the Europa League will be against Hungarians Ferencvaros next Thursday.

Former Premier League defender Scott Minto was left disappointed with an early substitution made by Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou against Qarabag.

Spurs’ Europa League opener against the team from Azerbaijan was delayed and only kicked off at 20:35 on Thursday night.

There was early drama as Spurs defender Radu Dragusin was sent off just eight minutes into the game and then Brennan Johnson scored just minutes later.

Postecoglou reacted to the sending off by bringing off Lucas Bergvall and bringing on Destiny Udogie, making Tottenham more defensively solid.

That decision disappointed Minto, who was looking forward to seeing the Swedish midfielder in action, especially after his outing in the EFL Cup against Coventry City.

“You know what, it’s a real, real shame”, Minto said on talkSPORT 2.

“I was really looking forward to seeing him play.

“We know the talent he has, how well he played in that Coventry game in what was very difficult circumstances in that players around him that are more senior than him weren’t playing very well.

“He didn’t even get a chance to touch the ball very much in the first ten, eleven minutes.”

There are high expectations attached to Bergvall, who snubbed the chance to join Barcelona to make the move to Tottenham.

The Swede will now be waiting to see when his next chance comes along.

Fixture: Tottenham Hotspur vs Qarabag

Competition: Europa League

Kick-off: 20:00 UK time

Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou has picked his starting eleven to entertain Qarabag in the Europa League at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this evening.

Postecoglou has eased some of the pressure on him of late and will now try to guide Spurs to a bright start in Europe.

Visitors Qarabag arrive sitting top of the Azerbaijani top flight, having won all five of their games so far.

They dropped into the Europa League after being knocked out in the Champions League qualifiers by Dinamo Zagreb.

Between the sticks this evening for Tottenham is Guglielmo Vicario, while the back four is Archie Gray, Radu Dragusin, Micky van de Ven and Ben Davies.

Midfield sees Postecoglou pick Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr, while Lucas Bergvall is also selected. Brennan Johnson and Heung-Min Son support Dominic Solanke.

If the Spurs boss wants to try to influence the game with his substitutes he has options available and they include Pedro Porro and Timo Werner.

Tottenham Hotspur Team vs Qarabag

Vicario, Gray, Dragusin, Van de Ven, Davies, Bissouma, Sarr, Bergvall, Johnson, Son, Solanke

Substitutes: Forster, Austin, Maddison, Udogie, Werner, Kulusevski, Porro, Bentancur, Lankshear, Moore

Tottenham Hotspur attacker Heung-min Son has drawn reference from his time with Manchester United legend Ruud van Nistelrooy to insist that he wants to be that go-to guy for his young team-mate Mikey Moore.

Moore was handed his senior debut by manager Ange Postecoglou, who introduced him in the 88th minute of the 3-1 win over Brentford, last weekend.

Being an academy product, Son insists that there is even more of a need to look after Moore as making the step up to play with the senior team can often be difficult for a youngster.

Son admits though that Moore is showing his personality in the senior squad and is also putting in the hard yards on the training pitch.

Giving his assessment of Moore, Son said at a press conference: “Yes, he’s a fantastic boy and obviously, I mean, he’s coming from the academy.

“You as a club, you look after him even more. Everybody is so welcoming and looking after him.

“So do I, because he’s such a lovely kid and working hard every single day, coming with the first team with that age it’s not easy, you know, like sometimes you’re very shy.

“But he’s showing good personality and working hard, which is very important to me.

“When you see the young players are working hard in the first team and you just want to help, you just want to help him.”

The Spurs attacker recalled his time as a young player at German side Hamburg, where he was taken under the wing of then veteran striker Van Nistelrooy.

“You know that as well when I was young, and now he’s coaching at Manchester United, Ruud van Nistelrooy, he was helping me a lot in my Hamburg time.

“Now I want to be that guy as well, you know, just having him around me and just talking about things,

“Because we are playing in a similar position that if I can help him a little bit with advice, then I’m always open to it.”

Son revealed that out of all the senior Spurs stars, Moore comes to him the most and that is something he likes.

“Mikey is also coming to me most of the times and asking questions, which is very fun. I enjoy talking to him.

“He’s a fantastic boy and then I’m definitely sure that he can be a fantastic player.

“There’s no doubt because he has such amazing quality.

“As we always say about young players, let’s don’t give him too much pressure on his shoulders.

“Just let’s enjoy how he develops, how he improves every single day, every single season and as a fan, as supporters, we should just enjoy watching him and he will be, I think, one of the top players.”

Son is now 32 years old and into his tenth season at Tottenham.

Having become the team’s talisman following the departure of Harry Kane, Son will be keen to do all he can to help Moore and the club’s other talents to fulfil their potential.