(Football news) It was a tale of two halves at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as Manchester United squandered a two goal lead from the first half to draw 2-2 against the hosts. Jadon Sancho opened the scoring in the 7th minute while Marcus Rashford doubled the advantage in the 44th minute to put them in control. Spurs had a point to prove after their 6-1 thrashing by Newcastle and managed to pull a goal back through Pedro Porto in the 56th minute and scored the equaliser through Son in the 79th minute.
Manchester United’s failure to convert opportunities cost them two points on this occasion, especially when Bruno Fernandes’ effort hit the underside of the bar. The result meant that Spurs are now fifth, six points behind Manchester United who have played two games fewer and Erik ten Hag’s side will now need to work towards qualifying for the Champions League for next season. In team news, Ryan Mason reverted to a back three and gave Richarlison an opportunity to replace Dewan Kulusevski. Fraser Forster replaced injured goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.
Speaking after the match, Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag said in his press conference “We have the worst schedule also in the Premier League, that will not change. You have to take that. You can’t use it as an excuse. The time is enough time to recover, so our players are in demand to be ready. Today they were not ready. We thought 90 per cent is enough, that’s why we gave balls away. And when you don’t do your jobs in positioning, you concede goals.
“After half time there was a difference, we lost control because we are not all secure. Then you have to go into the fight. When you lose the battles, don’t have possession and don’t have chances to concede goals. That’s what happened. Then you have to be satisfied and take that point. It has to be [100 percent]. You have to bring it every time. I know that they are not robots and it’s a tough schedule. But we can’t accept it when you are playing for Man Utd and you are wearing this shirt.
“You have to give [100 percent] in every occasion, every game. And as a team, you have to manage the game, get the win, and that makes everyone happy and satisfied. But the basis is always to give everything, and that’s how you have to prepare as a player, that you are ready for the game, for the battle, for the fight.”
Tottenham interim manager Ryan Mason said “Big character, big personality, stuck together, kept believing, acted as a team throughout the whole game. That pleases me after what happened at the weekend because we probably didn’t have that as a group. Off the back of how the first half went, in terms of the scoreline, to go out and stick together, fight for each other and really get the fans involved – and I felt like they helped us massively – is pleasing.
“It proves a lot to me that I already thought about this group but to see it on the pitch is a good feeling. We created many chances in the second half, in the first half as well. Maybe if we were a bit more clinical, the flow of the game would have been different. But in the second half we kept pushing, we had some really clear openings. Maybe if we had got the second goal earlier, we could have kept pushing. I felt like, once we scored the second, the lads had invested so much energy that we went a little bit flat. But to come off 2-2 after being 2-0 down at half-time is a positive.”
