Tottenham battle to keep out Manchester United in goalless draw
For both sides the unbeaten run goes on - United’s now stretches back nine games and Tottenham’s five – and a draw was probably fair enough after a game in which United had much the better of the first half but Spurs finished far more strongly.
This was a battle of two teams just coming into form after a difficult start to the season, with both sides hoping that an upturn in results signalled that their respective managers’ philosophies were being taken on board. It was a game that sputtered and flickered without really catching light for either team, a game of many moments but limited coherent whole.
Louis van Gaal named an unchanged team for the first time in his spell as United manager – the first time United had played the same team in successive league games since November 2012, 85 league games. That seemed counter-intuitive given it had played only 45 hours but Van Gaal presumably reasoned he had no time to drill another set of players in their specific instructions for a game. He did take off Antonio Valencia at half-time for Rafael, a first concession to fatigue.
Spurs’ season has been even more of a tease than United’s, with gimmers of promise remaining forever unfulfilled. Three consecutive 2-1 wins – albeit none against leading lights of the Premier League - has raised a belief that Pochettino is slowly building something, but there was little fluency here until the final 15-20 minutes.
What has certainly emerged at Spurs over this season is a tenacity, highlighted in two incidents in quick succession midway through the first half. A Juan Mata free-kick flicked the top of the wall and was deflected onto the post, the ball hitting Ben Davies and being deflected goalwards, where it seemed either Radamel Falcao or Robin van Persie were sure to score, only for Vlad Chiriches to slide in and hack the ball to safety. A minute later, Jan Vertonghen made a spectacular overhead clearance off the line – or, trichology suggested, just behind the line - after Hugo Lloris had half-blocked a Phil Jones header; as it turned out, the offside flag was already up.
Lloris made another point-blank save five minutes before the break as Van Persie was picked out by Michael Carrick’s cross from the right but was prevented by a high bounce from getting his shot away with the power he might have liked. Falcao had missed an earlier opportunity as United saw off an early Spurs surge to have much the better of the half, the combination of Michael Carrick and Wayne Rooney controlling the game from the back of midfield.
It wasn’t until the 50th minute that Tottenham won its first corner but that was start of the game’s shift in balance. The positive from Spurs’ period of post-Gareth Bale transition has been the emergence of a number of players from its academy. Three of them started against United – Harry Kane, Andros Townsend and Ryan Mason – and with Christian Eriksen’s battle with Carrick resulting in stalemate, it was the combination of Townsend and Kane that produced Spurs’ best chance of the first half. Kane, though, couldn’t quite get sufficient purchase on Townsend’s cross to beat David De Gea.
Although Spurs staunched the flow of chances after the break, it was initially still United who looked the more threatening – even its distribution from the back continued to be suspect, De Gea too often having to opt for a long pass. Midway through the second half, a Rafael cut-back found Mata in space 12 yards out but he blazed badly over.
Slowly, there was just a sense of Spurs beginning to mount some pressure. Ashley Young, at left-back, was isolated a couple of times by Townsend, and Benjamin Stambouli had a shot saved low by De Gea. Van Gaal responded by bringing Luke Shaw on and switching to 4-4-2.
Spurs, though, had the momentum. Eriksen forced another good save from De Gea with a dipping free-kick before Kane, leading a break, played in Mason with a cleverly disguised pass. Under pressure from Carrick, he shot over.
The draw keeps United third, but surely extinguishes once and for all any fanciful talk of a title challenge. Spurs will probably look on this as a valuable point in the battle for European qualification. For both sides, though, the more important factor is probably the gradual sense of progress being made, of players becoming more used to the shape and style demanded by their managers.
