LONDON — Tottenham Hotspur beat Manchester United 1-0 on Sunday in a game which was dubbed by me many “the Europa League favorites derby” and a tense game highlighted the flaws of both teams.
James Maddison’s first half goal was the difference as Spurs soaked up plenty of pressure in the second half and were thankful both Alejandro Garnacho and Joshua Zirkzee missed big chances.
Ange Postecoglou’s side have now won back-to-back Premier League games for the first time since September.
Meanwhile Ruben Amorim has won just nine of his 21 games in all competitions in charge of United and have just two wins in their last nine in the Premier League.
Below is a look at what we learned as Tottenham Hotspur beat Manchester United in a clash between Premier League underachieving giants.
Bergvall, Maddison bring the quality Angeball needs
To play Angeball at its very best you need to have the ball and Spurs duo Maddison and Bergvall are so good on it and keeping it. They dictated the tempo in the first half and with ageing stars Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes United’s only fit midfielders left, Bergvall and Maddison ran rings around them. When your entire style of play is built on winning the ball back as quickly as possible to attack, you need players who can then keep it and sustain attacks and create some magic. Sarr and Bissouma are good at winning it back but not the best at keeping it and having two cool-headed central midfielders to calm things down and speed things up gives Spurs more control in games. Both came off in the second half with Sarr and Bissouma on for more defensive solidity but it was noticeable how Spurs struggled to keep any control late on. That was because Bergvall and Maddison weren’t around to control things and that duo are key moving forward.
Hojlund continues to struggle as wastefulness highlights Amad’s absence
Rasmus Hojlund looked like a striker who has scored just two times in 19 Premier league appearances this season. The Danish forward is lacking in confidence and that will happen when midfielders are played ahead of you up top, which has happened a lot recently. Others around Hojlund were better, with Alejandro Garnacho and Joshua Zirkzee showing some nice touches and dangerous on the counter. But both wasted huge chances, Garnacho in the first half and Zirkzee in the second. That highlighted the brutal absence of Amad Diallo, who announced on Saturday he has suffered an ankle injury which will keep him out for some time. If the 22-year-old winger was on the pitch at Spurs he would have surely buried one of those big chances. United are missing their top goal contributor in the Premier League (six goals, six assists) and it showed. Bruno Fernandes did his best to get United going in attack but they have lost eight of their last 12 Premier League games and never looked like they believed they could get an equalizer.
Spurs now have a chance to build some momentum
With players like Maddison, Guglielmo Vicario, Brennan Johnson and Wilson Odobert back from injury, plus new signings Mathys Tel and Kevin Danso obviously going to play a key part for the rest of the season, Spurs’ squad now looks so much stronger. Others are close to returning soon too and this win gives Spurs a platform to build from and for some momentum to arrive as they’ve finally secured consecutive PL wins for the first time in five months. They head to Ipswich then host Manchester City and Bournemouth before playing away at Fulham before the international break in March. If they can get through that run of games with three wins, that’s a great return and will likely see them back in the top half of the table. Amid all of that will be their Europa League last 16 clash and all of these players are returning for a key moment in their season. Spurs still have a long way to go but this is a good starting point.