Erik Ten Hag and his Manchester United team had a bad day at the office. A first-season defeat in just two game weeks was not on many United fans’ to-do list at the start of the season.
Given our two performances thus far, this is a concerning sign. Tottenham played well, but United failed to compete. Things must alter rapidly.
The first goal was an excellent example of guys turning off at critical times. One player did not present himself in the best light for the first game.
Alejandro Garnacho is to blame for the first goal Pape Sarr’s first goal in a Tottenham shirt came as a result of some really sloppy defense from Manchester United, particularly Alejandro Garnacho.
On the right side of the pitch, Dejan Kulusevski was afforded all the time and space he needed to dance into the box and drag the ball back across, resulting in the first strike.
It was a bad performance from both Garnacho, who just did not track his man well enough. On the post-match coverage, MUTV analyst Ben Thornley picked up on this.
“You talk about the word desire, and we didn’t see that from Garnacho to go and close down Kulusevski for the first goal,” Thornley said. “If he had done that, things might have turned out differently.”
“It’s a tough pill to swallow because it’s the polar opposite of Monday when our performance wasn’t great but we got the three points.”
He wasn’t the only one to blame…
Despite the fact that Garnacho was clearly not following his man, it’s also fair to say that Luke Shaw should have been closer to the Swedish winger as well.
While commentating for Sky Sports, Gary Neville noticed this:
“I’m not sure why Luke Shaw and Garnacho get it so wrong on this side, just to allow Kulusevski to run in almost towards goal, about 10 yards from goal.”
It was pretty perplexing to observe and cost us the game. Next week’s game must be much better.