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Spurs did a Mourinho on Mourinho


Spurs did a Mourinho on Mourinho

Spurs-did-a-Mourinho-on-Mourinho

Mourinho at Chelsea produced teams that were solid and waited for you to make a mistake and they would punish you. It happened to us time and time again, not just us though.

At Old Trafford on Monday night, Spurs did a Mourinho on Mourinho and punished the Manchester United mistakes.

Former Manchester United manager Ron 'Big Ron' Atkinson, from 1981-86 won the FA Cup twice and the Charity Shield. His win rate as Man U manager was 50%.:

"I wish Lucas Moura was playing for United, what a player he looked, sharp, bright and he's laid in with two goals and was always a threat.

"The lad up front with Kane has given them an added dimension. They're a bigger threat now than I would have thought before the season started."

Manchester United legend Pat Crerand, winner of two league titles, a European Cup and the FA Cup in his eight years at the club as a player. he was also assistant manager for four years.

"Spurs were the better team, they deserved to win. Spurs got better and better as the game went on and finished up deserved winners."

Lou Macari played over 400 games for Manchester United between 1973 and 1984 winning the FA Cup,Charity Shield twice and the Second Division title.

"When you miss a few chances it's possibly not going to be your night and if there is a team to punish you, it'll be Spurs. They're good enough to punish any team in the Premier League."

Former Scotland and Everton striker and former Sky Sports presenter Andy Gray:

"Manchester United beaten by a brighter, more organised, more cohesive, more talented team tonight, in all departments. They were better than Manchester United in all departments.

For the first goal, Gray described that Manchester United were man-marking instead of the zonal defence of Wolves and Manchester City. There were also two on the screen at the front of the goal to head away a short corner.

He went on to say that both were looking at the ball but because Harry Kane is a better player than Phil Jones, he picked up the flight of the ball quicker and was able to drop behind him and take up a great position. He still had a lot to do, a lot to do.

Jones was beaten before the ball came into the box. Jones was intimidated that he was marking Harry Kane. The centre-half should be stronger. It's a stunning header, superb bit of movement world class, top header. That's one of the best against one of the best goalkeepers in the world.

For Spurs second goal the whole of the back four, as it was at the time, were out of position, Luke Shaw, Phil Jones, Chris Smalling and Ander Herrera.

If Luke Shaw had been closer to Trippier he could have cut off the pass. Smalling knows where the two in front of him are, he plays offside and raises his hand but Herrera is miles behind him playing everyone onside. 

Smalling can't know what is happening behind him, he ought to realise he has a midfield player playing as a centre-back and that there may be runs behind him from someone like Dele Alli, so to step up to try and play offside is amateurish.

He has just assumed everyone is in a line. Why wasn't captain Valencia shouting at Herrera to step up in line with everyone else? Was there no communication in the United defence?

Eriksen made the same run he had made earlier in the game to have acres of space, this time he picked out Moura who fired home under a pathetic challenge from Herrera.

The third goal, well Fred, who cost £56m couldn't even work out the bounce of the ball. Harry Kane read it and backed off. Fred jumped and missed it, he was nowhere near it. Kane quickly got his head up and looked for Moura. 

The pass was on and he played in Moura quickly giving him the time and space to run at and destroy Smalling. The Man U centre-back tried to tackle with the wrong foot and paid the price.

Former Tottenham midfielder and one of the better pundits on TV Jermain Jenas felt Lucas Moura should have had a penalty in the first half and Dele Alli was way to honest and should have gone down, that was another penalty and the Harry Kane pulling off Lindelof at the back stick, that was another opportunity there.

He went on to say he didn't feel it was one of the typical Spurs performances, popping it around, beautiful on the eye, but they dug in. He thought Alderweireld, Vertonghen were brilliant at the back, he thought Dembele put in a shift as well.

Jenas questioned whether Jones and Smalling are even capable of playing in a back three and that having Herrera in there totally destroyed any understanding there might have been.

In a back three, you have to know when to squeeze up, at what time you squeeze up, when to drop off and they are used to playing in a back four so had their wires crossed.

1 comment

  1. I would only say that, to be fair, the challenge on Lucas in the first half was probably not a foul challenge. Very strong certainly, but it seemed to me a shoulder to shoulder. Others will disagree I'm sure.

    It's a shame that Dele should need to go down in order to be awarded the penalty. Particularly when you consider how much trouble he's been in over recent seasons for being considered to have dived. Many times when the trajectory of his fall is simply a clear illustration of exactly how badly he was fouled. Many others simply exaggeration in order to convince refs who otherwise simply don't have the bottle to award the free kick or penalty that they should.

    I would have thought that the referees would be looking to ensure the rules are applied evenly and fairly - rather than always looking for ways to make their mistakes somebody-else's fault. A very clear and obvious error when De Gea tripped Dele and caused him to miss by tripping him after the ball was …