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Jose Mourinho’s big return to Old Trafford ended on a sour note tonight, as his Tottenham Hotspur team were defeated 2-1 by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Manchester United. It was a strangely flat showing from Spurs that felt more reminiscent of the later reign of Mauricio Pochettino than any of the three games under Mourinho thus far, while for United, this represented a big improvement on their weekend draw with Aston Villa.
Marcus Rashford opened the scoring on 6 minutes, capitalizing on a defensive error from Davinson Sanchez to fire the ball past an unaware Paulo Gazzaniga at the near post. Tottenham were under the cosh for the majority of the first half, but somehow conjured a goal from nothing when Dele Alli was able to flick the ball between Fred and Ashley Young before turning to volley home.
The second half saw Rashford win a penalty after a poor challenge from Moussa Sissoko, and the England international dispatched with ease. From there Tottenham huffed and puffed, but simply couldn’t break United down.
Here are 5 talking points from the match.
1. Has this win saved Solskjaer’s job?
Coming into this match, Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was under immense pressure. His side were disappointing at Old Trafford at the weekend, drawing with Aston Villa 2-2 in a game they could easily have lost, and with Mauricio Pochettino now looking for a new job, a bad loss here could easily have pushed the Norwegian over the edge and out of the hotseat.
Thankfully for the United legend, his side delivered one of their best performances to date tonight. From the very start of the game they were the more aggressive side, harrying and chasing Spurs every time the away side had the ball, and when they attacked, United looked full of menace with Marcus Rashford appearing to be capable of scoring at any time.
The Red Devils might’ve been edged out when it came to possession – 46% to Tottenham’s 54% - but they had more shots, more attempts on target and generally looked like a side who were more up for the game.
Judging by this, United’s players are all behind Solskjaer with no exceptions. Perhaps he really does need more time after all.
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2. What happened to Tottenham?
Tottenham came into this game having won their first three matches under Jose Mourinho, but while their performances in those games were an improvement on the ones produced in the latter Pochettino days, tonight’s showing was a huge step back. For large parts of this game – in the first half in particular – Spurs were terrible.
At times it felt like Mourinho’s first XI had never played together; Lucas Moura and Moussa Sissoko in particular were criminally wasteful in possession in the first half, and while Serge Aurier got himself into decent positions at times, his final ball was woefully lacking and none of his crosses came close to producing goals.
Judging by this performance it seems clear that Mourinho hasn’t quite worked out who should be his first choice team yet; his midfield in particular seems muddled, as Sissoko and Harry Winks were paired in the centre, and despite Winks’ best efforts, they never got a handle on the game, even against a midfield partnership as limited as Scott McTominay and Fred.
If Mourinho wants to get Spurs back to the top of the table, this is an issue he needs to solve quickly.
3. Did United create enough chances?
Fans of Manchester United should walk away happy with this result, but with a slight caveat; for as well as they played, it didn’t feel like they created enough chances to really put Tottenham away, and had Spurs stolen a late equaliser, the Red Devils could hardly have felt aggrieved.
Marcus Rashford – voted Man of the Match on the Amazon Prime broadcast – was fantastic, and looked almost unplayable at times as he ran at Serge Aurier and Moussa Sissoko and tormented both players with his quick feet, but despite having seven shots on target, it didn’t feel like Spurs were being truly bombarded at any point.
Most notably, Rashford’s first goal should’ve been saved by Paulo Gazzaniga, who was beaten at his near post, and his second was a penalty after a very rash challenge from Sissoko. Had Tottenham been able to prevent those two chances, would United have scored? I’m not so sure, and that should give Ole Gunnar Solskjaer cause for concern even in victory.
4. Alli’s goal was another sign of his rejuvenation under Mourinho
Even if Tottenham haven’t quite been firing on all cylinders under Jose Mourinho – despite winning all three games since his arrival prior to tonight – the fact that the Portuguese boss has been able to rejuvenate the stalling career of Dele Alli has been a huge boost for the North London side.
The England midfielder had been struggling under Pochettino, but Mourinho has seemed determined to get the best out of him by putting him back into the position in which he once thrived – playing just behind central striker Harry Kane. Tonight wasn’t his best game – like most of Spurs’ players, he was wasteful in possession on multiple occasions – but his goal was simply phenomenal.
With the ball floating across the box, Alli somehow hooked it over his shoulder and between Fred and Ashley Young, before turning to half-volley home past David De Gea. It was a goal that came largely from nowhere, and while the hope it offered Spurs turned out to be false, it was still a sign that Alli is getting back to his best.
If the resurrection of Alli’s career is the main result of Mourinho at Spurs, few Tottenham fans will be able to complain.
5. Would Hugo Lloris have saved Marcus Rashford’s first goal?
Tottenham got off on the wrong foot from the off in tonight’s game thanks to Manchester United’s aggressive, harrying style, but should they really have gone behind on 6 minutes? In all honesty, probably not – and for the first time, questions now have to be asked regarding the place of Paulo Gazzaniga in the Spurs goal.
The Argentine keeper hasn’t performed badly per say since coming into the starting XI following Hugo Lloris’s elbow injury in October, but he hasn’t covered himself in glory either, conceding 11 goals in his 7 starts, and United’s first goal tonight was entirely avoidable – Marcus Rashford shot quickly and with power, but there’s no way Gazzaniga should’ve been beaten at his near post.
Compare his performance to that of David de Gea in United’s goal – the Spaniard didn’t make any outstanding saves but did what he had to do with an air of calm throughout – and it’s suddenly more understandable why he hasn’t ousted Lloris as Tottenham’s #1. With Lloris’s own issues, perhaps Mourinho needs a new goalkeeper in the summer.
