What a masterful performance by Spurs…and a disaster class by Man United. Spurs proved that the Ange Postecoglou era will be nothing like the past failures as Tottenham blitzed Man United to death with a 2-0 victory, sending them into the Top-5 of the Premier League.
Spurs might ACTUALLY be a dangerous Top-4 contender…while Man United look like relegation fodder.
Despite having widely different offseasons and endings to last year’s Premier League campaign, Spurs and Man United couldn’t have looked more unlike their last season’s form as Tottenham was the one who came out with an easy, ruthless 2-0 victory. And, if you’re a Man United fan, you should be terrified for the season to come (and delighted if you’re a Spurs fan).
Now, to be fair to Man United and not just launch into another early-season rant on these phonies, they were a little hard done by the score as the game was WIDE OPEN in the first half as both teams could have scored 2-3 goals.
Antony fired a shot over the bar after 2 minutes, Christian Romero got away with a handball at the 25th minute mark, Pape Matar Sarr fired a shot STRAIGHT AT Andre Onana at the 30′ just a few yards outside of the 6-yard box, Bruno Fernandes missed a WIDE OPEN header on the 35′ that he HAD TO SCORE (he was literally wide open in front of Guglielmo Vicario’s net), and then Pedro Porro nailed a shot off the right corner crossbar and then Luke Shaw nearly deflected the ball into his own net (it also went off the post) on the 40th minute.
It truly was beautiful, wide-open, fast-flowing football being played before two of the traditional Top-6 teams for that opening 45 or so minutes, which was just a delight to watch when considering how AWFUL Antionio Conte’s football for Spurs last year. I know I was strongly against Spurs firing Conte last year as I thought it was these players who couldn’t play good, winning football, but I see now that it was Conte who couldn’t manage it.
I’m not saying Spurs are going to go on and win the Premier League under Postecoglou this year, but this whole team from back to front plays a cohesive, attacking, and free flowing football that only the likes of Man City and Liverpool on their day can rival.
And that free-flowing football eventually gave Spurs the lead through P.M. Sarr as he drilled home a deflected cross into the top corner of the United net to give Spurs a 1-0 advantage just after halftime. It really was a well-deserved goal for Spurs as they started the second half with far more tenacity and fight than Man United, who looked like beaten lambs for the entire game (but more on that in a minute), and a goal was more than rewarding for their attacking play.
Yet, in the rare bit of fight Man United put up in the match, they came roaring back with three MASSIVE chances in Antony’s shot that came crashing off the post on the 50th minute, Casemiro’s point-blanker header on the 55th minute…which was saved in mid-air by Vicario, and Bruno Fernandes’ saved one vs. one by Vicario on the 58th minute.
You never can truly know the outcome of a game if a few missed chances go in, but if Vicario didn’t stand on his head for that 1o-minute stretch, Spurs would not have won the game 2-0. I don’t even think they would have came away with a win at all.
But, due to this United team being mired by a group of dogshit cowards, Spurs ended up doubling their advantage in the 82nd minute as a cross to Ben Davies somehow managed to skim off both Davies AND Lisandro Martinez (who had a dreadful day as he was the one who deflected the cross for the first Spurs goal) to dribbled past a wrong-footed Andre Onana and into the United net to the delight of the Spurs crowd as they held onto the victory.
Okay, now for the rant we’ve all been waiting for…I honestly, wholeheartedly, and completely believe nothing about Man United will change until the club GROWS A DAMN BACKBONE and “scalps” a few of these players.
That probably sounds a lot more violent than I’m intending, so let me explain. There are currently ten United players (Luke Shaw, Anthony Martial, Eric Bailly, Marcus Rashford, Scott McTominay, Victor Lindelof, Diogo Dalot, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Harry Maguire, Mason Greenwood {if he ever comes back…which I hope he doesn’t}, and Bruno Fernandes) who have played the last three years of their career consecutively with the club and have at least 100 appearances.
These players are also the very same ones who have been at the forefront of the demise of Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Ralf Rangnick, and now potentially Erik Ten Hag as his rope is getting ever tighter with how poor United are looking. If you want my opinion, AT LEAST SEVEN of these guys have to be sold/sacked within the next year for anything to change as it’s clear THESE PEOPLE ARE THE PROBLEM.
You can’t have four managers, over $1B invested in terms of transfers, and dozens of new systems and players added (such as Varane, Casemiro, Martinez, Onana, Garnacho, Antony, Eriksen, Pellistri, Sancho, etc.) added to the squad and still be unable to win a damn FA Cup!
If I was in charge, I would sell Maguire, Lindelof, Bailly, Martial, Shaw, McTominay, Greenwood, AND Marcus Rashford over the next year as these players have not only been here the longest, but they also are the ones that have been the most inconsistent of the bunch. Plus, there’s no doubt in my mind there has been hard-ingrained cliques formed in that locker room, and I’m convinced these players are the ones most involved in them.
I could be wrong, but that’s usually the case with older players compared to the younger (in terms of time spent with the club).
We’ll have to wait and see where Spurs and United finish at the end of the season, but I think this game could be a massive indication as to how great Spurs will be under Postecoglou and how bad United will be under Ten Hag and these cowards masquerading as players.
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