Tottenham beat Manchester United 3-0 at Old Trafford
Tottenham Hotspur bagged a historic result at Old Trafford on Sunday as they beat Manchester United 3-0 on matchday six of the Premier League. One goal apiece by Brennan Johnson, Dejan Kulusevski and Brennan Johnson gave the Lilywhites a comfortable win away from home.
Spurs were tactically superior to Manchester United from start to finish with their comfortable success over the Red Devils likely to pile on Erik ten Hag’s misery. Ange Postecoglou, on the other hand, has coached the team to four straight wins in all competitions.
The fixture list is not going to get any kinder for the team as Tottenham face Ferencvaros next in the Europa League before a visit to the Amex Stadium to face Brighton & Hove Albion, who are unbeaten at home. Before that, here is a look at the talking points from the game.
1. Johnson and Solanke pass their toughest test yet
Brennan Johnson and Dominic Solanke were on target in Tottenham’s win over Manchester United. The Welshman scored for a fourth successive match in all competitions, whereas for the English international, it was a third straight game with a goal.
The two players came under severe pressure for failing to perform at the start of the season, with Johnson even deactivating his Instagram account in the midst of all the abuse directed at him. However, the results produced lately deserve a lot of credit and show immense mental fortitude.
For Johnson and Solanke, the United game was the toughest test of the season, perhaps more so than the Arsenal match as this was a trip away from home, and it is fair to say that they delivered when it mattered most particularly with Son Heung-min also absent.
2. A familiar problem for Spurs
Tottenham Hotspur had 24 shots on goal during the match, of which 10 were on target. They scored three goals but the scoreline could, and ideally should have been far more comfortable. It would not be remiss to think that they may have scored five or six goals too.
In a win that was mostly filled with positives, the team’s lack of efficiency in front of goal was there for all to see and the players need to start burying more chances to ensure that missed opportunities don’t come back to haunt them later in the campaign and in harder fixtures.
It had looked like Spurs’ poor finishing was a thing of the past given their recent results but the United game exposed a gaping hole that needs to be filled sooner rather than later. With another international break on its way, time is on Postecoglou’s side to find a solution.
3. Werner fails to take his chance
With their captain Son Heung-min absent, Tottenham Hotspur opted in favour of using Timo Werner as their left winger. It was a rare opportunity for the former Chelsea forward, whose career at the club has not exactly taken off the way he would have liked.
As per data from Fotmob, Werner completed just 71% of his passes and had only two shots on target, both of which were classed as having been big chances missed. While he did track back to help out defensively, Noussair Mazraoui outdid him for most of the game in United’s final third.
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It will be interesting to see just how much patience Postecoglou continues to show in an underperforming player, but with the Australian seemingly ready to give most players a long rope, Werner still might have some hopes of finding his feet in north London.
