- Brennan Johnson scored early in first period after fine Micky van de Ven run
- Goals from Dejan Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke put pressure on Erik Ten Hag
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A dread of ordinariness, and an even greater dread of losing to ordinariness, had clung grimly to the build-up to this game all week.
For a fallen giant such as Manchester United, a club at a stage in its history when it is caught between hope and fear, there is always escape in losing to a side like Liverpool, as United did heavily on the first day of this month.
But United versus Tottenham is not a match that sells alibis. Not for anyone. Not for the beleaguered Dutchman or for the new Ineos minority ownership group, led by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, that decided, incomprehensibly, to keep him in post this season.
Lose to Spurs, who were only one defeat from a kind of crisis themselves, and Erik ten Hag knew that the emptiness at the core of this United team that he has built would be laid bare. The 3-0 defeat that his side suffered at Old Trafford left no doubt about that emptiness.
The truth is that Ten Hag is out of excuses. His time is up. There is no hiding place for him any more. His boasts about winning minor trophies are worthless when his team plays like this.
Let’s be honest about what United stand for as we enter the autumn of the year: no philosophy, no identity, no discipline, no guile, no pattern, no determination, no adventure, no belief, no subtlety, no desire, no intent, no plan. Apart from that, everything’s fine.
United’s attitude stinks. Entitlement runs through them and Ten Hag simply cannot eradicate it, however big he talks and however tough he acts.
United are a team going backwards and they weren’t starting from an advanced position in the first place. Insults are easy to throw but both Ten Hag and his United team were an embarrassment against Tottenham.
Don’t be fooled by any suggestions that United lost this because they were reduced to 10 men before half time when their captain Bruno Fernandes was shown a straight red. Ten Hag’s side were well beaten by then. Spurs were running rings around them.
There have been some dire performances since Sir Alex Ferguson left the club in the summer of 2013 but there are very few that were worse than this. Spurs are far from title contenders and yet they outclassed United in every single department.
That includes the coaching, by the way. In fact, it means the coaching most of all. Ange Postecoglou has his critics but he has built a creative, attacking, technically adept side in north London that is brilliant to watch.
As poor as United were, there was so much to admire about Spurs. James Maddison was at the heart of everything creative Spurs did. United could not get close to Dejan Kulusevski, Brennan Johnson was superb on the right flank. Micky van de Ven was majestic at the back.
Here’s the other sobering thing: Spurs were playing without the injured Son Heung-min. If he had been in the starting line-up, this would have been an even greater humiliation for Ten Hag and the rabble he has assembled here.
Manuel Ugarte made his full debut after his move from Paris Saint-Germain. He did not have a good afternoon. He looks, in fact, like yet another dud that one of Europe’s elite clubs has gratefully unloaded on the gullible paymasters at Old Trafford.
It is hard even to say United tried. Ten Hag and Christian Eriksen admitted United didn’t want it enough in their insipid draw with Twente in the Europa League in midweek and this was even worse. United’s players look like complacent prima donnas with no steel in their hearts.
The teams had started the match with an identical record, becalmed in mid-table, but after this result it seems clear one of them is heading in the right direction and the other is on the road to hell.
United started sloppily. Fernandes turned into trouble on the edge of his own area, Lisandro Martinez gave the ball away cheaply as United were hurried out of their stride when they tried to play their way out of defence.
Ten Hag’s team looked loose and when Marcus Rashford overran the ball inside the first three minutes, Van de Ven dispossessed him easily deep inside the Spurs half. Van de Ven is one of the fastest players in the Premier League but when he set off on a forward run, United seemed utterly unprepared for what was coming next.
Van de Ven exposed an old United failing under Ten Hag of being vulnerable to teams counter-attacking them and Van de Ven sliced through them as he sprinted forward. Ugarte, Noussair Mazraoui and Matthijs de Ligt trailed in his wake and when Van de Ven got to the goal line, he crossed it for Brennan Johnson who tapped in for his third goal in four games.
Spurs might have gone further ahead soon afterwards when Maddison played a one-two with Kulusevski and ran in on goal. Maddison tried to lift the ball over Andre Onana but Onana blocked the ball with his body and it looped away to safety.
When De Ligt dived in on the touchline midway through the half and missed his tackle, Spurs sensed another opportunity. Destiny Udogie fed the ball inside to Kulusevski who helped it on to Johnson. His fierce cross shot beat Onana but cannoned off the face of the post.
United finally fashioned their first chance of the half when Kobbie Mainoo crossed for Joshua Zirkzee. Zirkzee stretched to reach it and diverted it goalwards but it did not quite have enough power or direction to beat Guglielmo Vicario.
‘They may as well be statues,’ Gary Neville said of United’s players on Sky Sports and he was right. United were desperately poor. They were second to everything. They looked semi-detached and semi-interested. They played without guile, without vision and, apparently, without any kind of plan.
Even if he was misfiring, Rashford did at least keep demanding the ball and having the courage to take on his man. It was from his cross eight minutes before half time that Alejandro Garnacho smashed a fierce volley against the post.
A minute after that, though, Spurs missed another golden opportunity to take a two-goal lead. Spurs caught United hopelessly open, again, on the counter and Timo Werner ran clean through on goal.
United were lucky the chance fell to the Germany forward who is not known for his clinical finishing. He clipped his shot straight at Onana, who saved it comfortably.
United sought new misfortunes. And found them. A few minutes before half time, Maddison eased past Fernandes, who slipped as he prepared to challenge him. Fernandes raised his studs as he fell, partly as a reaction to losing his balance but partly as an attempt to stop Maddison.
He raked his studs down Maddison’s shin and referee Chris Kavanagh showed him a straight red card. It felt harsh but it also felt as if Fernandes brought the decision on himself. He gave Kavanagh a decision to make.
Ten Hag reacted by sending on Mason Mount for Mainoo. Mount had only been on the pitch for a couple of minutes when he scythed needlessly through the back of Maddison and was shown a yellow card.
Ten Hag made another change at half time. He had to. He brought on Casemiro for Zirkzee and switched Rashford to playing down the middle. It didn’t make any difference. Two minutes after the break, Spurs doubled their lead.
United looked bland and uncertain in a battle for a second ball near the half way line and Spurs won it. Johnson dashed down the right, unchallenged, and when his cross was deflected, it looped into the path of Kulusevski, who leapt high and flicked the ball past Onana as if he were karate-kicking it.
Spurs should have gone 3-0 up when Kulusevski shrugged off a weak challenge from Ugarte and threaded a ball through to Werner. Faced with only Onana to beat, Werner, once again, was found wanting. Onana saved comfortably. If Son Heung-min had been fit, it would have been a rout.
Martinez, who had had a poor game, did at least show some stomach for the fight. He lofted a clever ball over the top of the Spurs defence for Casemiro and the Brazil midfielder’s half volley rolled just wide of Vicario’s right-hand post.
But there was no way back for United and 13 minutes from the end, Dominic Solanke, who had had a fine match, put them out of their misery, sticking out a foot to divert a header from Pape Sarr past Onana.
