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MOTD: Tottenham Hotspur 3-0 Manchester United

By on April 10, 2016

Although Leicester City notched a crucial win over Sunderland to take one step closer to a miraculous Premier League title, Tottenham Hotspur remain hot on the Foxes’ heels as three goals within the space of seven minutes gave them a resounding victory over Louis van Gaal’s discombobulated Manchester United.

The visitors arrived a half hour late to White Hart Lane after their bus was caught in traffic and United were rushed onto the field after a half-baked warm-up, yet they never really showed up. United never managed to impose themselves on Spurs save lengthy spells of possession early on, and a long bright spot by eighteen-year-old full-back Timothy Fosu-Mensah for the Red Devils. Yet the Englishman was forced off from injury around the hour mark with the score goalless. Just ten minutes later, Spurs were up 3-0.

Louis van Gaal has been willing to place his trust in young academy players this season but perhaps this wasn’t quite what he had in mind. Tottenham exposed problems United never knew they had and Van Gaal’s bizarre over-reliance on Mensah was just the beginning of their tactical woes.

At one point in the second half, Van Gaal hauled off the ineffective Marcus Rashford for Ashley Young, but instead of putting Anthony Martial up front and playing Young in his natural wide position, Van Gaal made it a straight up change. Young, whose last goal for United was nearly a year ago, was leading their line. Moments later, he was filtered wide to full-back.

Spurs dominated United on the flanks and all three of their quick fire goals came from the left.

Mensah was the only piece holding things together for United in the first half and even then, his flank was exposed in the twenty-seventh minute while he covered for the centerback. Eric Dier clipped a long ball over the top for Eric Lamela, but the Argentine winger couldn’t find the target with an unmarked header.

United’s only chance of the game came on the hour mark when Martial drove in from the left on a jinxing run and forced a tremendous parried stop out of Lloris. Yet Van Gaal was left to grapple together the positives from a wholly embarrassing result for the club.

Dele Alli converted the first of Tottenham’s three goals, coolly finishing Christian Eriksen’s low cross after the Danish midfielder had found a pocket of space to cross down the left. Moments later, Lamela whipped in a free-kick that Matteo Darmian, Mensah’s replacement, had so clumsily conceded and Toby Alderweireld rose above his marker to finish a towering header.

Finally, Lamela tucked Danny Rose’s low cross into the bottom-left-hand corner of the next with a smart finish and the rout was complete. Tottenham could have had another but De Gea denied Harry Kane’s header with an impressive tipped save. “The performance like today, and the result like today, showed that this team believes,” said Spurs coach Mauricio Pochettino.

And although the season is rapidly coming to a close, Tottenham remain hopeful, and the feeling around White Hart Lane is that this is only the beginning. At the end of a long season, Alli, Kane and Dier continue to drive a nothing if not dedicated team and if Spurs can continue to play like today, there will be many more titles to chase in the future.

Homepage photo credit: Ben Sutherland, via Flickr

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.