Tottenham Hotspur beat Manchester United in the most Tottenham of fashion this evening, almost clutching defeat from the jaws of victory… twice. Let’s take a look at the five things we learned from Spurs 4-3 Man United.
Where else can we begin? Tottenham were 3-0 up and cruising when Fraser Forster gave the ball away in his own area with a sloppy five-yard pass to let Man United back in the game. Okay, 3-1. At least Spurs have a two-goal cushion still. Five minutes later, Forster delays on the ball and slams his clearance into Amad Diallo, which ends up in the back of the net. There’s clutching defeat from the jaws of victory and then there’s Tottenham Hotspur. There only looked like one winner after that, and it was only Son’s fluke corner that saw Spurs through to the next round.
The big problem now is, what next for Fraser? Up until tonight, he had been one of Tottenham’s best performers since Guglielmo Vicario‘s injury. Top saves and steady passing, all the worries about Vicario’s absence had gone out the window. After tonight, you can bet that teams will be pressing Forster even harder, taking pot-shots, and the opposition crowds will be on his back all game long. He needs to brush this off somehow, but that may be easier said than done.
We are almost so shellshocked from that game that it’s easy to forget Tottenham did in fact win. That sets up a Carabao Cup semi-final match and a chance to make it into Ange Postecoglou‘s first final at the club.
With Liverpool, Arsenal and Newcastle still left in, it will be far from easy though. Tottenham certainly need to learn how to manage an occasion much better if they have any hope of holding their nerve at Wembley any time soon.
A quick word on how good Dejan Kulusevski was tonight. Quick word over. You could see his reaction at the end of the game, looking up and down the pitch while shaking his head. He is one of the few players on the team who has this natural winning mentality, and he can’t believe how some of his teammates have let that game slip away. On another day, it would have cost them.
We can’t keep expecting Deki to mastermind enough creativity to score four goals per game. There has to be another way once you go 3-0 up in a match. Step one – as we have said before – is giving Dejan Kulusevski a vice-captaincy and more power in the dressing room.
Gary Neville and co were quick to blame Tottenham’s midfield when Man United scored their second to make it 3-2, but I think that was totally unfair. The criticism was that Spurs’ engine room should have controlled the game at 3-0. Well… they were? How are Yves Bissouma, Pape Sarr, and James Maddison meant to account for the goalkeeper making two shocking mistakes while passing out from the back (something Spurs do to start every attack)? After that, it was a case of the whole team being hit with a sense of shell shock, which is understandable. I actually thought the back four and Bissouma had a really good game overall, but were let down by two Forster mistakes.
Unfortunately, one of his best games in a Tottenham shirt will get swept aside due to the circumstances at the back, but Solanke deserves a lot of credit tonight. In recent weeks, most of Tottenham’s play has gone down the wings or involved pull-backs for the midfielders to take shots.
Tonight was the first time we have seen Solanke able to turn and run directly at a defence in a while and he took advantage of that. He was also so alive to the rebound for his first goal, which is exactly what a top-class striker should do. He deserved the Man of the Match award, but hopefully he can build on this heading into the weekend.
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