Man Utd hosted Tottenham at home with the pressure of needing to win to continue to nurture hopes of chasing the top 4, even Ten Hag's army was pushed down to 9th place in the rankings. Due to injuries to the left-backs, coach Ten Hag let Wan-Bissaka play at left-back, with Dalot on the right.
Tottenham were without captain Son Heung Min as the South Korean travelled to Qatar for the 2023 Asian Cup, but new signing Werner was in the starting line-up. After the opening whistle, the two teams quickly increased the pace of the match.
Hojlund celebrates after scoring (Photo: Getty).
In the 3rd minute, Rashford failed to break through at the top of the penalty area, Hojlund accidentally received the ball, the Danish striker pushed the ball a few more times then fired a powerful shot into the top left corner to open the score.
After conceding an early goal, Tottenham rose strongly. With a good physical foundation, the away team's players quickly overwhelmed and had no difficulty approaching Onana's goal. Tottenham often uses high balls as a powerful attacking weapon when they have many tall players who are good at playing high balls in their squad.
Tottenham's strong attacking pressure paid off in the 19th minute. From Porro's corner kick, Richarlison cut in and headed the ball into the net to tie the score at 1-1. Wan-Bissaka was largely at fault for the home team's loss, as the Englishman failed to keep up with Richarlison, allowing the opponent to head the ball freely.
Richarlison headed in the equalizer for Tottenham (Photo: Getty).
The equalizer gave Tottenham more confidence, but despite the visitors' superior performance to the home team in the remaining time of the first half, they were unable to score a second goal. Man Utd took the initiative with a defensive counter-attacking style of play. In the 40th minute, Rashford and Hojlund exchanged passes accurately, and the home team's number 10 striker skillfully curled the ball to increase the score to 2-1.
After the break, Tottenham rushed forward and found an equalizer just a few seconds after the second half started. In the 46th minute, Bentancur received the ball at the edge of the penalty area, pushed the ball straight down and finished from a tight angle past Onana to equalize the score at 2-2.
Bentancur celebrates after scoring (Photo: Getty).
The equalizer helped Tottenham relieve the pressure early, the visitors continued to control the game and put pressure on the home team in the second half. However, Tottenham did not create as many finishing opportunities as in the first half.
After more than 10 minutes of watching his players being pressured, coach Ten Hag began to adjust his personnel by bringing McTominay and Martinez onto the field, thanks to which Man Utd improved a little. In the 61st minute, McTominay missed a good scoring opportunity when he shot the ball wide from the edge of the penalty area.
The Scottish midfielder continued to miss a good scoring opportunity when he headed over the bar from 5m in the 90+5 minute. Unable to score more goals, Man Utd had to share points at home with Tottenham.
After round 21, Man Utd has 32 points and is ranked 7th on the rankings. Tottenham has 40 points, ranked 5th, 5 points behind the leading team Liverpool.
Source
Comment (0)