Manchester United beat Tottenham Hotspur 3-0 in the Premier League. It was a good comeback for United after their humiliation against Liverpool last week. Cristiano Ronaldo opened the scoring in the 39th minute of the match, assisted by Bruno Fernandes. United doubled their lead through Edinson Cavani in the 64th minute of the match, assisted by Ronaldo and Marcus Rashford scored the third goal of the match in the 86th minute, assisted by Nemanja Matic. United face Atalanta on Tuesday evening, then Manchester City in the first Manchester derby of the season next weekend.
It was a mixed start against Spurs with United seeming cautious rather than playing a pressing game, which saw them defeated 5-0 by Liverpool so I guess that is why United were not pressing. The said. it did not take Spurs long to get into the game, pressing United. To be fair, United did well under that pressure but this was not going to be a swashbuckling comeback from the devastating defeat last week. Spurs had a fair few chances in the first half but did not seem to be able to taken them, which is the story of their season so far. United had an ideal match to regain some confidence against Spurs, but it was not going to be easy.
United seemed to continue the caution approach throughout the first half but Spurs found a goal late in the half with Christian Romero tapping in at the far post but the flag was then raised with the goal being disallowed by VAR. United, minutes later, attacked Spurs with the players preying in the final third, passing the ball around before Bruno Fernandes lofted the ball over the defence into an onrushing Cristiano Ronaldo, who opened the scoring for United in their first match after the despicable defeat to Liverpool. It was a positive half for United, even better that Solskjaer’s side were in the lead at the break. This was not over though.
There were not changes at the start of the second half for either team. Ronaldo did score a second goal for United early in the half, but he was offside and the goal was ruled out. It seemed to have been a good game plan for United at this stage in the match, but a second goal should be pushed for with United needing this victory more than anything else in the world right now. There will be some so-called supporters of this club that will have been upset to see United score and in the lead at the end of the first half. These people are not supporters of the club, they just have an agenda that they just want to be correct.
United doubled their lead in the 64th minute of the match with Ronaldo playing Edinson Cavani through on goal, finding the back of the net. It was a cushion for United, but this Spurs side seem to be dejected to a point, which is where United were against Liverpool last week. Solskjaer made his first substitution in the 71st minute of the match, with United 2-0 up. Marcus Rashford replaced Ronaldo. Straight after this, Fred was booked for a challenge, minutes after being let off for something similar. Solskjaer made his second substitution in the 76th minute of the match, bringing Nemanja Matic on for Fernandes – it should have been Fred though.
Solskjaer made his final substitution in the 82nd minute of the match with Jesse Lingard replacing Cavani, which left Fred on some dangerous group if he was to get himself booked again. United should have enough talent on the pitch to grind out this victory – which has not been the most entertaining match this season, but a win is a win and United can start getting back to work after their poor period of results. Solskjaer will need to keep players fit for Tuesday’s match against Atalanta in Italy, then the Manchester derby at Old Trafford next weekend – which is an important match for United to get another good result in.
United scored a third goal of the game through Marcus Rashford in the 86th minute of the match. Matic assisted the goal, which shows that Solskjaer chose the right players, formation and tactics today and more importantly, chose the right substitutions as this team has risen above Spurs, in their own backyard, showing them who the boss is. There will still be people calling for Solskjaer to be sacked as their own ego’s will be pressing for that as it is so important for them to be right – even though they have been made to look wrong for the time being. If you support Manchester United, you want them to win, not lose.
Three minutes were added on at the end of the match but United were in a great position to guarantee all three points in this match. It was a good win for United and a better on for Solskjaer. There is still a lot of work to be done at United to get this team firing again but this victory came at the right time. United will face Atalanta on Tuesday evening in the Champions League, before welcoming Manchester City to the Theatre of Dreams on Saturday, which will then see the third international break of the season and the last of 2021, ahead of another important run of matches for United and Solskjaer.
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Goals: Cristiano Ronaldo 39′, Edinson Cavani 64′, Marcus Rashford 86′
Assists: Bruno Fernandes 39′, Cristiano Ronaldo 64′, Nemanja Matic 86’
Manchester United: De Gea; Lindelof, Varane, Maguire; Wan-Bissaka, Fred, McTominay, Shaw; Fernandes (Matic 76′); Ronaldo (Rashford 71′), Cavani (Lingard 82′)
Substitutes Not Used: Henderson; Bailly, Dalot; Van de Beek; Greenwood, Sancho
Bookings: Ben Davies 78′; Luke Shaw 19′, Harry Maguire 22′, Fred 73′
Written by John Walker
