Alex Keble reviews Manchester United's thrilling 2-2 draw at home to Tottenham Hotspur and analyses how the match unfolded.
Overview
The final action of a breathless 2-2 draw at Old Trafford was a neat tableau to sum up the match: Alejandro Garnacho’s cross a moment of brilliance; Scott McTominay’s header a clumsy repudiation.
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Spurs were the better team for long periods and considering the length of their injury list, a hard-earned point at Man Utd is a good result, but they, too, are a rickety and unreliable side.
None of these two teams' respective strengths and weaknesses – the talents and the flaws that make for such wonky, entertaining football – are new. We have seen it before and we saw it coming today.
United are strong counter-attackers and capable of stunning individual actions, yet their midfield can dissolve on contact and their wingers leave much to be desired from a defensive standpoint.
Spurs buzz with tactical complexity but their high line and wild full-backs mean they are always on the edge of collapse.
Predictably, we saw the best and worst of both and, entertainingly for the neutral, every weakness complemented an opponent’s strength.
Porro, Udogie, & Bentancur lead midfield domination
The main pattern of the match was suffocating Spurs control and occasional Man Utd breaks, thanks to Ange Postecoglou’s midfield-heavy formation overwhelming the central column of the pitch.
With Destiny Udogie and Pedro Porro dipping infield, United’s 4-4-2 left just Kobbie Mainoo and Christian Eriksen to defend against as many as five Spurs players operating in their area of the pitch.
Spurs' second equaliser was scored by passing too easily through the middle, and while United were simply too decompressed, this was a direct result of having been pulled around by Postecoglou crowding the centre.
They were distracted, as ever, by the full-backs.
Erik ten Hag’s midblock would ordinary have been able to squeeze space between the front and back lines, therefore minimising the impact of all those Spurs midfielders.
But the visitors' secret weapon was using Rodrigo Bentancur almost like a right winger, he constantly moved out of the middle to take possession and feed back inside, thus pulling United out of their congested shape.
Bentancur was exceptional. His intelligent passing under pressure and constant movement into space defined Spurs' shape-shifting formation, setting a tone that Porro and Udogie followed.
Garnacho & Rashford excel behind marauding full-backs
A brittle midfield is Man Utd’s biggest flaw, while overwhelming the centre of the pitch with full-backs is Spurs’ biggest strength. Fortunately for United, their main strength – pace out wide on the counter-attack – happens to correlate with Spurs' main flaw.
Garnacho and Marcus Rashford were persistently set away down the wings because Udogie and Porro were so often missing from those parts of the pitch.
Although assisted by Spurs' gung-ho attacking approach, which meant United counters met little resistance, both Man Utd goals were indirectly the result of this mismatch on the flanks.
For the first goal, Porro was unable to sprint back into position in time, allowing Rashford to steal a march as Bruno Fernandes launched a counter-attack.
The second was a more straightforward head-to-head between Rashford and Porro, but the very fact the latter struggled with the one-two is because he is not a full-back by trade.
Such is his commitment to attacking football and No-10 style-play from his full-backs, Postecoglou is using an attacking wing-back in a deeper role and without real support from a winger.
Here, Cristian Romero comes across to help because Brennan Johnson has not, which in turn frees Rasmus Hojlund to set up Rashford’s goal.
Rashford and Garnacho battles still backfire on United
The standout battles of the match were between Rashford and Porro, Garnacho and Udogie, and neither side truly won.
That’s because for all United’s good work on the counter, both Rashford and Garnacho were too slow tracking back whenever the ball was turned over and Spurs had a chance to break.
Timo Werner enjoyed a solid debut because he had so much room on the left behind Garnacho. In fact, it was a very simple move down the left, via Werner, that won Spurs the corner from which they scored their first goal.
It’s been a problem for Man Utd all season. In the desire to have three fast forwards in high positions, ready to counter-attack, Ten Hag sacrifices defensive strength in the wide areas.
Tiredness and injuries prevent Spurs from winning
On another day, that flaw – the inverse of United’s strength – would have ended in a Spurs winner, but the visitors visibly tired towards the end and had few attacking options on the bench.
Johnson wasn’t on top form having just come back from injury, which let United off the hook, and Spurs just didn’t have their killer instinct without James Maddison, Son Heung-min or Dejan Kulusevski.
It stopped them winning today, and it might do so again over the coming weeks.
Incredibly, today’s match was the first time Spurs have started a Premier League fixture without Harry Kane and Son in the XI since March 2020. They haven’t won any of the last five in which neither player started.
That record continued today, yet Spurs will be the happier of the two teams; even without several first-team players they largely controlled the contest at Old Trafford.
Spurs are flawed, just like United. But there is no doubt Postecoglou’s side are the more coherent and cohesive of the two.
