From fragile to fierce, how Tottenham changed their story against Manchester United
Losing 3-0 at home made this understandably a Manchester United story but it may well prove equally as significant for Spurs
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Your support makes all the difference.Having watched his team kill the match, Mauricio Pochettino was completely unwilling to kill the man.
The Argentine just would not engage in any criticism of Jose Mourinho after his side’s 3-0 win. Even when it was put to him the Manchester United manager had said his side were “tactically” and “strategically” superior - something that usually provokes a response from any manager’s sense of pride - Pochettino diplomatically said he might actually agree.
Some of this is undeniably down to the good relationship between the two men - the Spurs boss going so far as to say Mourinho was one of “only a few managers like Marcelo Bielsa… who were so inspirational for me when I started my career” - but it’s similarly difficult to deny that some of it was the manager wanting to remind everyone that this was all about Tottenham Hotspur and their strengths, too.
The scale of the defeat and nature of the night meant that this is obviously primarily a Manchester United story, but it was another important step in the story of this Spurs’ team too. Mourinho was forced to appeal to history and point to his past titles won because Tottenham had just gone and made history themselves.
It was yet another ceiling smashed by Pochettino at this club. He claimed his first goals and points at Old Trafford as Spurs boss, and ensured they came away from this stadium - one the club have lost at more times than any other Premier League club has lost at any other way ground in the division since 1992 - with their biggest win since 1963, all while inflicting Mourinho’s biggest ever home defeat in the league.
What a way to break that ceiling, especially since they had been so poor in the first half.
And while Spurs’ sloppiness and the fact they were not punished has rightfully made this even more of a United story, those elements themselves only emphasise why this was so important a performance for Pochettino and his team. They show why that ceiling was not just broken, but smashed to pieces and stamped on.
Because, for so long in this match, it did seem like this was going to fall into the same old pattern; the same old story.
Although everything seemed to be set up for a Spurs win against a United there to be got at, the visiting side started the match as meekly as they always do at Old Trafford. They were panicky and patternless, the decisions to throw Danny Rose and Toby Alderweireld back into the side particularly mistaken, and the midfield entirely misshapen.
All instead seemed set up for the usual 1-0 defeat at Old Trafford.
Not so. This time they rallied.
By way of explaining their previously appalling record at this stadium, Harry Kane had argued that they always seemed to come to Old Trafford when they were in the middle of a dip. There is some truth to that, especially since the last three visits have come in the first half of the season, when this Spurs side have become renowned - and feared - for impressively going into overdrive in the second half of the season.
They went into overdrive in the second half of the game here. They got themselves out of the dip.
Having somewhat fortuitously survived a few knife-edge moments - not least the hapless Romelu Lukaku miss after that haphazard Rose backpass - it as if they saw these as a sign something was on rather than an indication that United goal was coming.
They were still having problems, but they were beginning to catch United out at the base of midfield - particularly pouncing on Nemanja Matic - and ended the half with as many good chances, as well as a legitimate penalty claim.
In short, rather than dwell on their own psychological vulnerabilities at this stadium, they sensed United’s and just went for them.
All the negatives of the first half became positives, all the more so because of the transformation. Fragility became fierceness.
The recovery from performing so badly only emphasised this show of strength, and belief.
Alderweireld suddenly became imperious, Rose rampaging. Mousa Dembele was back actually in the middle of midfield rather than out of form, and Christian Eriksen quickly recovered his verve to personify how cutting Spurs were.
Kieran Trippier continued his brilliantly productive and thrusting form from the World Cup, while again displaying how devastating he is from dead balls, and Kane showed that if he is “spent”, it’s going to be a real worry for the Premier League when he gets his energy back.
Then there was the player that really brought the game to a head, and may now be coming to a head in his career: Lucas Moura.
His prolific and pulsating form right now is such a boon for Spurs, and may genuinely negate that non-buying summer window. He looks a different player, now comfortable in the Premier League after a full pre-season, who can go to another level. He gives Spurs another level by virtue of how he offers something different to Kane in attack.
Pochettino made sure to praise the scouting team who advised him to sign the Brazilian.
And that was the story for Spurs on the night. It was not about criticism of the opposition for folding. It was about praise for everyone there for growing.
Given their history at this ground, that really isn’t to be dismissed. Instead, they just dismissed United.
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