What Was Manchester United’s Attacking Plan? 3 Things We Learned From United’s 3-0 Loss To Tottenham

Manchester United’s hopes of making it to the UEFA Champions League suffered a massive blow as they were dismantled by Tottenham at White Hart Lane. Tottenham though did keep themselves close to Leicester, who also won in the day.

Spurs scored three goals in six minutes as the game turned on its head, Dele Alli opened the scoring in the 70^th minute and then goals from Toby Alderweireld and Erik Lamela completed the rout for the London side.

Tottenham could still win the league if things go their way but how the side from Manchester capitulated, there would be some serious questions raised regarding Louis Van Gaal and his management. We look back at the game and list out the three talking points:

Timothy Fosu-Mensah’s injury changed the game

The score line might suggest that Tottenham were absolutely brilliant but had it not been for the injury to the young defender, Manchester United were still holding on to the game. Tottenham did have the better chances but they could not score and Fosu-Mensah was the Manchester side’s best player.

Once he got injured and was replaced by Matteo Darmian, they conceded the first goal on this side. Had Fosu-Mensah not been replaced, United could have come out with one point but even that would not have been enough for the Red Devils.

What was Manchester United’s attacking plan?

While Manchester United started with Marcus Rashford up top, he couldn’t really do much right at the top, he was replaced at the start of the second half. So far, so good, after all, you do need someone else leading the attacking if things aren’t going your way.

The man who replaced the English youngster was another Englishman and before you think it was Wayne Rooney, it was actually Ashley Young, yes the same player who was often used as a wing-back. It was a surprise to many, maybe even to Ashley Young and it is no wonder that Manchester United ended the game with just five shots on target.

Tottenham still need a miracle to win the league

Tottenham might have shown that they look brilliant at the moment but their win didn’t really count for much apart from coming close to the Champions League. Leicester won their game in the day and this keeps a seven-point lead from the side based in London.

Tottenham need a minor miracle if they are to claim the Premier League crown and who knows, in this topsy-turvy season, anything is possible but Tottenham have to keep winning and based on their performance tonight, you would bet on them winning a lot more games with relative ease.