(Football news) The pressure continues to pile on Erik ten Hag’s shoulders following the hosts’ 1-1 draw with FC Twente, while 10-man Spurs put three past Qarabag without reply on Thursday evening.
Manchester United midfielder Christian Eriksen made on and off-field headlines during the Red Devils’ Europa League opener with Twente, firstly opening his side’s continental account for the season with a 20-yard rocket, before conceding that the visitors to Old Trafford “wanted” victory more than Ten Hag’s team in a highly worrying admission.
Eriksen’s thunderbolt preceded a 68th-minute equaliser from Sam Lammers as Manchester United were condemned to successive underwhelming stalemates following last weekend’s goalless affair with Crystal Palace, where Dean Henderson and Andre Onana were the only players to truly do themselves justice.
Whether the INEOS regime will finally bite the bullet and give Ten Hag the boot in the coming weeks only time will tell, but the Dutchman has hardly justified Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s decision to stick rather than twist over the summer, as his side sit in the bottom half of the standings after five games.
It is not all doom and gloom in Manchester, though, as the 1-1 with Twente did see the Red Devils extend their unbeaten sequence to four matches, but only Southampton have under-performed their Expected Goals (xG) total more than Ten Hag’s wasteful unit this season.
Indeed, Manchester United have found the net five times from an xG of 9.6 – the third-highest figure in the top flight – and Ten Hag’s men could do with taking a leaf out of Tottenham’s attacking playbook after Ange Postecoglou’s men rediscovered their attacking mojo again.
Creativity was in extremely short supply for Spurs only a couple of weeks ago, but Postecoglou’s crop have reverted to type in the final third with eight goals in their last three games, hitting both Brentford and Qarabag for three in the top flight and Europa League.
After emulating Manchester City against Brentford, coming from behind to prevail after conceding in the opening 30 seconds, Tottenham’s continental opener with Qarabag had the potential to be a banana skin thanks to Radu Dragusin’s early sending-off, only for the Azerbaijani side to miss gilt-edged chance after gilt-edged chance.
Spurs punished their visitors for their wastefulness in the delayed kickoff through Brennan Johnson, Pape Sarr and Dominic Solanke to get their European campaign off to a flyer, and that three-goal success also marked a third successive victory for Postecoglou’s revitalised troops.
The Tottenham faithful could be forgiven for dreading away days, though, as their side have only triumphed in two of their last 12 Premier League matches on the road while losing four of their last six, only defeating relegated Sheffield United during that dismal spell.
However, the North London giants managed to steal a point off of Manchester United at Old Trafford in last season’s 2-2 thriller, extending their unbeaten record against the Red Devils to three top-flight matches, and the Theatre of Dreams is certainly no longer the feared fortress it once was.
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