Manchester United 2-2 Tottenham Hotspur

Thanks to John Ellis for his comments and this picture

How times have changed! For many years to come away from Old Trafford disappointed with a draw would have been unthinkable. With a patched up side, missing twelve players, shorn of its entire midfield of earlier in the season, top goal scorer and right winger, Spurs passed United off the park.

Throughout the match Spurs looked very good between the penalty areas. They were though prone to needlessly giving away possession with Hojbjerg being particularly culpable but Porro was also at fault on several occasions.

Having scored two goals it may sound harsh but there was a distinct lack of creativity as well as a cutting edge.

In the first half, Manchester United looked very threatening every time they broke forward and especially down the Spurs right. Rashford gave Porro a torrid time. His runs caused mayhem with Hojlund benefiting from one such run to score a fine opener.

Spurs gradually clawed their way back into the game and throughout the first half looked dangerous from almost every Porro corner. Richarlison continued his good goal scoring run from one corner and Romero crashed a header against the bar right on half time.

In between those efforts Rashford had given United a 2-1 lead. The United game plan of breaking Spurs high line with long diagonal balls from deep worked in the first half and at 1-1 Udogie headed fortuitously against his own post which could easily have been an own goal.

Udogie though had an excellent game and it was his press to win the ball from which Spurs won the corner to equalise.

The second half saw Spurs grab the initiative and a well worked move involving a fine Skipp pass to Werner who made his first assist in a Spurs shirt for Bentancur to run through and smash home for a second equaliser.

Towards the end, Spurs' back line was disturbed firstly by Radu Dragusin coming on for his debut which changed the formation to a back three. Almost immediately thereafter Van de Ven limped off hopefully with just cramp for Royal to come on. With these changes, United almost made Spurs pay with McTominay being left unmarked in a central position in the box. He should have scored but his unmarked header thankfully went over the bar.

A special mention for the returning Romero and Van de Ven who both after lengthy spells out injured, after a difficult opening, settled down to form their formidable partnership.

As a fellow fan said during the match, Romero is one of the best readers of a game to have turned out in Spurs colours.

Van de Ven's rustiness saw him uncharacteristically caught in possession early on but thereafter he was his normal composed self with one trademark tackle being notable in the second half when his slide tackle put the ball safely into touch. Whereas Spurs' corners looked threatening in the first half, United dealt with them comfortably in the second half.

Werner had a tidy debut showing good link-up play and a turn of pace. He had three efforts off target. Skied the first one, snatched the second one wide and his third was a decent volleyed effort over the bar. His efforts were appreciated by the fans who applauded the exhausted player off the pitch when substituted.

Johnson had an infuriating game where little went right for him. His few crosses were overhit or played blindly rather than looking for a colleague and his general play was weak and inadequate at this level. Patience is needed as he will surely come good.

Richarlison gave a man of the match performance. He worked his socks off tirelessly pressing in attack as well as in defence with a tremendous headed clearance. His link up play is improving and he topped off an excellent performance with another goal to herald the call of Son for players to step up.

Gil came on and gave a much better performance than last week.

The number of players missing is quite remarkable... Davies, Sessegnon, Perisic, Sarr, Bissouma, Maddison, Lo Celso, Solomon, Kulusevski, Veliz, Scarlett and Son. Twelve players out - nine through injury and illness plus three on international duty from of a squad which many felt at the start of the season was short of numbers.

The substitutes bench had a paucity of midfield and attacking options. Three of the starting eleven in Van de Ven, Romero and Werner have had no game time for several weeks.

Postecoglou has created a fantastic team spirit in the club to not accept these as excuses and find a way to get a result with three creditable draws away to Arsenal, City and United.

A special word for the three thousand travelling fans today who sang loud and proud and made infinitely more noise than the 72,000 home fans.

It won't be too long before many of the players are back and when they do return, Tottenham will without doubt launch an assault on the top four places as a bare minimum.

Exciting times!

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