Tottenham lost their visit at ‘Old Trafford’ last night 2-1 to ruin Jose Mourinho’s return to his previous club. This also marked Jose’s first loss as manager of Tottenham.
Poor away form for Tottenham continues
Marcus Rashford gave United the early lead (6′) with a long shot that beat Gazzaniga in his near post. Spurs equalized shortly before half-time when Delle Alli dribbled superbly and outclassed the opposition defense.
It was again Rashford who won the three points for the ‘Red Devils’ by winning and scoring a penalty four minutes into the second half (49′).
Speaking after the match, Jose Mourinho admitted United were the much better side on the pitch
“For 30 minutes United were not just better than us, they were much better than us. They were much better in the intensity, in the aggression, they were winning first balls, second balls, 50-50 duels. But we were lucky, and in the last 15 minutes of the first half we were us, and United were in trouble.”
“We scored a goal and I thought we were going to win it in the second half after the adjustments we made at half-time, but the second goal was not an easy one to process because everyone says it is a penalty, I prefer to say it was a throw-in because the penalty was later. In the first minute of the second half, it was a throw-in, and that for me was really hard.”
“You want to start at 1-1 and go for the three points, but then we arrived in the second half and they played the game they wanted to play. They dropped the blocked, defended, had a couple of dangerous counter-attacks. We had the ball in the final third, the goal could have happened, but it didn’t, and they deserved the victory.”
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer also praised his team
“One of the best performances of the season, definitely. We’ve had spells against Liverpool, Chelsea, and Leicester but the first 40 minutes were excellent today. But the reaction after they scored was good at the start of the second half.”
“That is always the concern because this season we’ve been winning, gone to a draw and then stayed at a draw. But the players never gave in, trusted themselves and we deserved to win.”
With the three points, Manchester United now stands 6th in the league with 21 pts., while Tottenham dropped to 8th position – 20 pts. Both Sheffield United and Arsenal play tonight, so there may be further adjustments to the standings.
The other results from last night’s Premier League games:
Chelsea – Aston Villa 2-1
Leicester – Watford 2-0
Southampton – Norwich 2-1
Wolves – West Ham 2-0
Liverpool – Everton 5-2
