Tottenham 2 Manchester United 2
It’s not often in a premier league match where both teams will feel like they dropped 2 points but that will certainly be the case for both managers following this one. United will feel like they were in relative control following Bryan Mbeumo’s opener in the first half with Spurs offering little but yet again when Casemiro comes off they lose control of the match and had to rely on Lammens to make a number of saves before Odobert’s equaliser. From a Spurs perspective to concede the equaliser in the 95th minute from a 10 man United side following Sesko’s injury will be infuriating for Thomas Frank.
Spurs’ home form continues to be extremely worrying. I think it’s safe to say that at the minute Spurs’ home form is disastrous, 1 win, 2 draws and 3 losses so far at home in the league is relegation form but away from home they’ve won 4 and drawn 1. You could feel the pressure of the home support on Saturday every time the ball went backwards there were boos and groans and maybe this is what Totenham fans are going to have to deal with until they get creative players like Maddison and Kulusevski back.
Manchester United’s game management costs them again. Just like last week against Nottingham Forest, United failed to take the game to Tottenham in the second half, Amorim was happy to sit back with the lead and try to hit Spurs on the counter. This was working up until Frank subbed Odobert and Udogie on which changed the game on that left-hand side, Amorim ended up using all 5 subs bringing on Mount, Dalot, Yoro, Ugarte and Sesko which cost him in the end with United going down to 10 men following Sesko’s knee injury with 10 minutes to go.
Afcon is going to decimate United’s best attacking threat. It’s taken a couple of months but that right-hand side of United’s attack with Amad and Mbeumo is starting to look scary, in the first few matches against Arsenal and Fulham they were getting in each others way to often not knowing where the other was going but over the last month or so that partnership has been the best thing about United’s attack, it will be interesting to see what Amorim’s solution will be over Afcon with Mbeumo, Amad and Mazraoui jetting off in December.
Can Frank find a solution in the attack? It’s interesting that the statistics show that Spurs have scored the 4th most goals in the league but when you watch them there is a real lack of threat in the attack, the frontline of Richarlison, Johnson and Kolo-Muani with Xavi Simons in behind failed to create really any threat until subs were made around the 60th minute, it doesn’t look like Solanke, Maddison or Kulusevski are going to fit any time soon so Frank is going to have to find a solution to how his team can be more creative especially at home.