Manchester United vs Tottenham: Jose Mourinho to take responsibility as Toby Alderweireld and Lucas Moura shine

Manchester United 0-3 Tottenham: Spurs clinch their biggest win at Old Trafford in 46 years as Mourinho's problems pile up

Jack Watson
Monday 27 August 2018 22:00 BST
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Manchester United 2018/19 Premier League profile

Manchester United's troublesome start to the season continued against as defensive shortcomings were exposed in their 3-0 defeat against Tottenham.

Harry Kane added to his first August strike with a powerful header which was followed by Lucas Moura's effort from the edge of the area.

United came back into the game and had a handful of half-chances, but Lucas sealed the three points for Mauricio Pochettino's side late on.

Jose Mourinho will now have more questions to field as he tries to avoid his typical 'third season' at United.

Here's five things we learned from Old Trafford.

1. Mourinho can no longer blame individual mistakes

This, Jose, is your doing. After the Brighton defeat Mourinho lamented United’s many individual errors, and with good reason, however, this excuse cannot last longer than one game.

For all United’s bright early play, it’s worth remembering that Ander Herrera started as part of a back three in team that spends hundreds of millions of pounds on players. The exciting attacking play always came with the concern that Tottenham were easily able to hurt United when they got forward.

Mourinho used to be so good at preparing teams that would not be beaten, however it seems like there’s a magic touch which he has lost as United continued to look like an unorganised mess in defence.

Jose Mourinho during United's game against Spurs

2. Lucas finds joy alongside Kane

So much of much of Lucas’ ability has been untouched since his January move from PSG. However, against United Pochettino started him in a central role alongside Kane instead of using him as a bit-part winger.

Lucas was initially making some promising runs and caused the United defence problems with his movement, however this rendered Kane redundant and the England forward was struggling to get on the ball.

After half time Lucas dropped a little deeper and occupied the channels before darting in-field. This opened up space for Kane and allowed the Brazilian to make use of his new found freedom.

The ultimate reward for his play came shortly after Kane opened the scoring when he ghosted into space on the edge of the box and guided Christian Eriksen’s cross into the bottom corner.

One goal became two late in the game when he linked up with Kane before take on Chris Smalling and firing beyond David De Gea.

Kane and Lucas had a good partnership

3. United and Spurs suffering from World Cup hangover

Tottenham and Manchester United were some of the biggest suppliers of players to the World Cup, especially on the final weekend, and have only had some of their star players back for a couple of weeks as they return from their extended breaks.

Both teams took it in turns to make individual errors in an exciting to start which was laden with mistakes and let offs. Danny Rose under-hit a back pass to Hugo Lloris which Romelu Lukaku intercepted, rounded the goalkeeper then missed an open net.

It made for an entertaining watch, but Mourinho and Pochettino will be keen to rein in the mistakes.

There were plenty of mistakes being made 

4. New United identify gets fans excited

This match was billed as one which Mourinho would approach with caution, a ‘must win’ if you will. He will have therefore perhaps been excused if United came out and took their time to play themselves into the game and put the onus onto Spurs, who were under pressure to improve their poor record at Old Trafford.

Instead, United came out with a real intensity and looked a completely different side that lost to Brighton, even the team of last year looked a thing of the past.

“It’s probably the quickest I’ve seen United play off the ball, in terms of intensity, for the last six years,” said former Manchester United defender Gary Neville. “It’s been brilliant to watch.”

​5. Alderweireld key to Spurs success

It was only right that Toby Alderweireld’s best game in a long, long time came against United, the club that should have tried so hard to sign him in the summer. The reports suggest that Ed Woodward believed that he would not be a significant enough upgrade on Chris Smalling or Phil Jones to warrant paying the large transfer fee that Spurs would have asked for.

One hour into the game, with the score at 2-0, United were beginning to battle their way back into the game and were itching to begin their comeback. Jesse Lingard was played through on goal and was waiting for the ball to come down before he would surely strike past Lloris. As he pulled the trigger, Alderweireld heroically got his toe onto the ball in the nick of time to prevent a certain goal.

A moment like that could have been the difference between Spurs taking three points or one, the difference between United coming away with a draw rather than a loss.

Given the disaster that has been United’s central defence this season, any fee paid for Alderweireld would probably be worth it.

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