Tottenham came from two goals down to hold Manchester United to a draw and show signs of life after a miserable week.
On Sunday, Tottenham sacked Cristian Stelliniafter the 6-1 thrashing by Newcastle on Sunday. The sacking initially appeared to have made no difference as United went in 2-0 ahead at the break. But the home team improved dramatically in the second half and fought back for a deserved point.
Jadon Sancho got back to business after a largely frustating season. The Englishman had failed to gather much momentum in a stop-start season and is still failing to complete 90 minutes with regularity. However, in the match, there were signs his confidence might be returning.
Porro gave him way too much time and space as well as Cristian Romero who did not close him down once he stepped inside his right foot. But the style with which he stuck the ball into the bottom corner brought back memories of his best days at Borussia Dortmund.
Sancho played off the left wing in this game – the position so frequently cited as Rashford’s favourite . He and Antony on the opposing flank were able to cut inside and threaten the goal. Once again he didn’t last the game. Although he brought off in the 61st minute, Ten Hag will be happy with what he saw.
With Casemiro behind them, Fernandes and Christian Eriksen had total licence to dominate against a Spurs team sorely lacking in confidence and quality. The intensity of Tottenham ’s press dissipated quickly and the intelligence of the United duo saw them picked apart.
Fernandes and Eriksen ran the show in the first half. They diced the home team with incisive passes and constantly threatened. Fernandes finished the first 45 minutes with an assist, pinging the ball over the top to allow Rashford an unfair fight against Dier.
He should have added a goal in the second half, but could only hit the bar after wriggling his way through. That miss turned out to be an important one.
On the other hand, Spurs did create chances. But the simple things that should be non-negotiates in a good side were sorely lacking – and were punished. Dier was far from the only culprit, but his attempt to stop Rashford was akin to asking politely from a distance.
Pedro Porro made the exact same mistake for Sancho’s opener. They were much improved after the break, but the first half was still worrying.
There were plenty of loud chants in north London, with the Spurs fans’ protests against chairman Daniel Levy and owners ENIC chief among them.
However, one from the away end stood out: ” Harry Kane, we’ll see you in June!” Kane is still fighting for Tottenham for now. But the sense is very much that he will be leaving his boyhood club this summer, with United among those interested in his services. Kane’s contract is up in June 2024 and now feels like the time for him to move on. But he is still giving everything for now.
In truth, he was not heavily involved in this game until midway through the second half when his influence grew and grew. His creativity was there for all to see when he set up Son for a clear sight at goal and he kept going to set up the equaliser with a trademark run and cross.
With the crowd roaring Spurs on, and the team kicking towards the gigantic kop end, the home team were a completely different beast in the second half. Ten Hag reacted with two double substitutions, bringing on Anthony Martial and Fred for Sancho and Eriksen before bringing on Wout Weghorst and Tyrell Malacia for Antony and Aaron Wan-Bissaka. They did not have the desired effect.
Fred was wasteful with the ball, Weghorst was isolated up front and Malacia went missing for the Son goal as Kane ran in behind. It was a rare instance of Ten Hag failing to influence things.