The Red Devils were not at their best in their 1-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers on Monday evening, and it appears like Erik ten Hag has failed to excite the team once more.
How did Manchester United do against Tottenham Hotspur?
After a solid start against Brentford last week, new Spurs coach Ange Postecoglou was in charge of his first competitive match at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and his players exploited United’s flaws.
Despite Marcus Rashford leading the line, Ten Hag’s team lacked a cutting edge. The Englishman scored 30 goals last season, but he only had one shot on goal and wasted two huge chances this season, unable to replicate his success from the previous season.
Goalkeeper Andre Onana was perhaps one of United’s better performers, and Spurs could have scored more than the two goals they did.
During the match, the Cameroonian made five saves while taking 39 touches and making 22 accurate passes, indicating that he was at ease on the ball and looking to start assaults from the back.
Mason Mount, another new arrival at Old Trafford, struggled throughout the game and made fewer passes than the goalkeeper.
Mason Mount cost Manchester United how much?
Ten Hag hunted the former Chelsea star for several months before obtaining his services in a deal for up to £60 million.
He struggled to make an impression in his competitive start against Wolves in United’s first league match of the season, taking only 30 touches, surrendering possession nine times, and winning only two duels out of seven contested – and it got worse on Saturday evening.
Against Tottenham, the Englishman was put in a slightly deeper role alongside Casemiro and was expected to get on the ball frequently to create opportunities.
It didn’t exactly work out that way, as he only had 26 touches and executed a pitiful 14 accurate passes.
Onana had more touches and passes than Mount, who failed to finish a single dribble attempt, won only one of six duels, lost possession six times, and was dribbled past twice.
For long stretches of the flight, he appeared to be a passenger and was chastised by journalist James Benge, who said:
“Mason Mount has the fewest touches of any United player on the field for nearly an hour.” When you consider what you’d expect him to offer when he’s playing deeper alongside Casemiro, that stat is quite symptomatic of a lackluster performance.”
For such a large fee and the immense promise that Mount appeared to offer to the Red Devils, this performance fell far short of what Ten Hag would have expected from him before the season began.
United are not in chaos, but another poor performance against Nottingham Forest next week might lead to rumblings of discontent around Old Trafford.
