PREMIER LEAGUE
WEDNESDAY 19TH OCTOBER,2022
(8.15PM)
MANCHESTER UNITED 2(0) TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 0(0)

Scorers:-
Fred, 47
Fernandes, 69

Attendance:- 73,677

Referee:- Simon Hooper
Assistants:- Ian Hussin, Adrian Holmes
Fourth official:- Andy Madley
VAR:- Michael Oliver
Assistant VAR:- Dan Robathan.

Teams:-
Man Utd (4-2-3-1):- De Gea; Dalot, Varane, Martinez, Shaw; Casemiro (sub Eriksen,87), Fred; Antony (sub McTominay, 76), Fernandes (Capt.), Sancho (sub Elanga, 87); Rashford

Subs not used:- Heaton; Lindelof, Malacia; Pellistri, Garnacho; Ronaldo

Booked:- Casemiro (foul on Hojbjerg)

Spurs (3-5-2):- Lloris (Capt.); Romero, Dier (sub Sanchez, 82), Davies; Doherty (sub Sessegnon,82), Bentancur (sub Skipp,890, Bissouma (sub Lucas Moura, 82), Hojbjerg, Perisic (sub Spence, 89); Kane, Son

Subs not used:- Forster; Tanganga, Lenglet; Gil

No bookings

Spurs did not compete

Thanks to Andy Park for the picture

Spurs cast their best-ever 10-game Premier League start to one side and fell to a Manchester United side who had a terrible start when they lost their first two games of the season to Brighton and Brentford. United are a rising force now, having lost just one other game to their City rivals, and must be seen as true challengers for a top four place. Spurs were outplayed in every outfield department, and only a string of saves by Hugo Lloris kept the scoreline down to one of reasonable proportions. Spurs fell to their 24th Old Trafford defeat in 31 Premier League visits. Now, that is so predictable.

Antonio Conte went with the 3-5-2 that had closed out Saturday’s game against Everton, but it didn’t work here against a United team which closed us down everywhere, taking full advantage of our predictable game where we play so slowly from the back and regularly concede up to 40 yards of territory with backward passing. Conte’s name was sung with gusto by the travelling fans at the start of the game, but he has to be held as accountable as his players with a failure to make changes before the 82nd minute, by which time the game was lost. It was as if Antonio’s priority, as at Arsenal, was to keep the score down to an acceptable level.

We are still in third place, and thankfully Chelsea only drew at Brentford, but next up on Sunday are Newcastle, and they are challenging the top four too.

Amazon Prime are covering this round of midweek games, hence the 8.15pm kick-off. It was a long, sad, and late drive home for most Spurs fans, who deserved a better display from their team.

Spurs, of course, had no Richarlison, or Kulusevski. We are desperate to see the latter back in action on the wing. Erik Ten Hag benched Ronaldo again, and the Portuguese and World football star stomped off down the tunnel even before added time, in the knowledge he was not going to see action. A resurgent Marcus Rashford led United’s four-man attack which was supported ably by Casemiro and Fred. Our front two were marked very tightly – particularly Kane by Martinez, whilst our midfield struggled to control or pass the ball efficiently. Ivan Perisic was probably the best of our outfield players.

Spurs kicked off and played towards The Stretford End. After only three minutes, Dier made a mistake outside his box and the ball reached Antony whose shot was blocked by Perisic. Spurs had one of their very few chances a minute later after Son fed the ball out to Doherty. He passed inside to Bentancur, who entered the area and tried a shot across de Gea, but it was also past the far post.

Lloris made a bit of a fumble but did manage to push out another Antony shot for a corner, following which the Spurs keeper tipped over a shot by Fred. Casemiro headed over this corner by Fernandes. Another left-footed shot by former Ajax man Antony beat Lloris but went out of play off the outside of his right post.

Kane found Perisic tohis left, but after entering the United area, Ivan over-hit the ball which ran out for a goal kick. Kane found Doherty with a great long pass, and the wing-back made it into the box, but hit a left foot shot wide. Rashford had a shot very well saved by Lloris and after the corner, Romero fouled Fred in a dangerous position. Hugo made another great save from Fernandes’ free kick. United were already 5-0 up in terms of corners after another Rashford shot was deflected over the target. Even the United fans were fired up by their team and I don’t hear too many anti-Glazer chants these days.

Dalot was everywhere for United and recognised by home fans. After his long cross-field pass, a shot by his opposite full-back Luke Shaw was tipped over by the busy Spurs keeper. A Fernandes shot was well over. United had hit 13 shots already and were approaching their best return of the season at this stage of the game. Casemiro hit a shot just outside the post after approach play by Shaw and Fernandes.

Son collected a long pass by Romero but hit his right-footed shot over the target. Son was disappointed not to have been awarded a foul in the Spurs half after 36 minutes and Fred’s ball into the danger zone was cleared by Lloris. It wasn’t long before Fred was trying a shot, but that passed wide. A powerful shot by Dalot was blocked full in the face by Dier, who needed treatment after play was stopped by referee Simon Hooper regarding his head injury.

By now, Kane was getting very little room for manoeuvre by Martinez, who has settled in well after his, and United’s dodgy start to the season. Kane did manage a shot which was saved at his near post by De Gea, before United broke out and Rashford had United’s 19th shot of the half, as opposed to 5 by Spurs, only one of which had been on target.

United kicked off and within four minutes had scored the first goal. Antony had passed the ball across the edge of the Spurs area and sancho passed back inside to Fred whose shot was deflected past Lloris by the unfortunate Davies. Hugo soon had to save from a left foot shot by Rashford, who soon had another shot blocked on the other side of the box.

A left footed shot by Kane took a deflection and won Spurs a corner, after which Son tried a left foot shot from distance, but this was too weak.

Casemiro was shown the one yellow card of the night for a foul on Hojbjerg in midfield. Antony pulled a shot wide after a good pass by Fernandes and Sancho had a shot well-blocked by Romero. Varane took a ball off Hojbjerg and fed it to Antony who won a corner with his shot.

Perisic tried to get Spurs going at the other end . After his cross was headed on by Davies, Kane’s shot was blocked, but he had been offside anyway.

Spurs went two down in the 69th minute. A shot by Fred rebounded off Dier to the feet of Fernandes who gleefully put the ball in the net. It was very surprising that Conte made no immediate change to try and get back into the game.

Lloris held another shot by Fernandes after Casemiro’s strength took the ball off Son. Hugo made a great left hand save from Rashford after Romero had struggled inside his area towards the right.

It was Ten Hag who made the first change with McTominay replacing Antony. Fernandes had the ball in the net after a Rashford pass across the field, but he had clearly been offside. At last Conte did made changes with Lucas Moura an attacking option after he replaced Bissouma. Sessegnon played on the right in place of Doherty. Other changes preceded added time, but it was all too late, and Spurs could not make a break-through.

Conte said after the game:- "This was not the first time for us this season,” he said. “The table is good but when we play a high-level game we struggle. For sure when the level is high, we are going to struggle…Sometimes I hear we are a title contender, but we need time. In 10 months’ you cannot go from ninth place to being a title contender."

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