Inside Futbol

Former Tottenham Hotspur star Ramon Vega has urged pundits to give his former side the credit they deserve after a 3-0 win against Manchester United.

After making a shaky start to their season, Spurs have now won their last four games in all competitions.

They picked up an impressive 3-0 win at Old Trafford against the Red Devils on Sunday and Manchester United skipper Bruno Fernandes’ red card in the first half, along with an abject display from the home side, has been the talk of the town.

Vega feels that the pundits and media have completely focused on how badly Erik ten Hag’s side played and he stressed that Spurs fully dominated the match from start to finish.

The former Spurs man asked the pundits to credit his former team for their performance and domination at Old Trafford.

“Why aren’t the pundits acknowledging that Spurs completely outplayed Manchester United?”, Vega wrote on X.

“[Spurs] were dominant, and were unfortunate to not have scored more than 3-0 at Old Trafford?

“Please give some credit to Spurs for once.”

Vega’s former side will be looking to keep their winning run going as they are set to face Ferencvaros in the Europa League later this week.

Scott Minto believes there is a case to say that one of the top sides would have hammered Manchester United in a way that Tottenham Hotspur did not on Sunday.

Ange Postecoglou’s Spurs scored a 3-0 win at Old Trafford, with Bruno Fernandes seeing red for the home side in the first half.

The 3-0 scoreline flattered Manchester United as Spurs were dominant in the contest and never in any real danger.

While the headlines are all positive for Tottenham, former Premier League defender Minto feels there is an argument they were not ruthless enough.

He thinks if an Arsenal or a Manchester City had been in Tottenham’s place, they would have taken Manchester United to the cleaners.

“We could be slightly nitpicking, but I think the top, top teams, like an Arsenal, a City, they would have gone for it, Minto said post match on talkSPORT’s Sunday Session.

“I remember covering a game and it was against Burton in the semi-final of the Carabao Cup and I think City scored nine.”

Postecoglou has been under pressure in recent weeks, but the Australian has now changed the narrative with four wins on the bounce, beating Brentford and Manchester United in the Premier League, and Qarabag and Coventry City in the Europa League and EFL Cup, respectively.

Tottenham next go to Hungary to play Ferencvaros in the Europa League and will be strong favourites to string five successive wins together.

Commentator Sam Matterface has revealed if he was a Tottenham Hotspur fan he would be unhappy with how things ultimately played out at Manchester United.

Ange Postecoglou’s side visited Old Trafford in the Premier League and ran out comfortable 3-0 winners, with Bruno Fernandes being sent off for the hosts in the first half.

Tottenham were completely dominant as Manchester United put in a poor performance which will only serve to increase the pressure on manager Erik ten Hag.

Tottenham had 24 shots at goal and bossed possession, and Matterface thinks they missed a golden opportunity.

He explained that if he was a Tottenham fan then he would have been left unhappy as Spurs blew the chance to really put Manchester United to the sword.

Matterface feels that Tottenham could have won seven or eight nil, had they hit the accelerator.

“If I was a Tottenham fan, I would be a little bit irritated watching this performance today”, he said on talkSPORT’s Sunday Session.

“I would be upset, because this was an opportunity to beat Manchester United 7-0 or 8-0 today and they haven’t put their foot to the floor and done it.

“It’s a great result, Ange Postecoglou will be delighted afterwards, it’s three points, three goals plus in their column and they haven’t conceded and it’s great.

“But they’ve had enough chances to win this game six, seven or eight.”

Tottenham’s win at Old Trafford was their first at the ground since 2020, when they drubbed the Red Devils 6-1.

Premier League star Ashley Young thinks Tottenham Hotspur looked like they were the home side at Old Trafford against Manchester United.

The pressure grew on Erik ten Hag on Sunday evening when his Manchester United side imploded in the Premier League game versus Spurs.

Brennan Johnson put Tottenham ahead with just three minutes on the clock, while Bruno Fernandes was then sent off for the hosts just before half time.

Spurs scored two more goals in the second half through Dejan Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke as they made light of missing Heung-Min Son.

Manchester United could have been on the end of a heavier beating and former Red Devil and current Everton man Young thinks Spurs looked like the home team.

Young admits Manchester United did not even trouble Tottenham as he said on Sky Sports: “Manchester United didn’t give anything. There was no effort, no workrate, no leaders on the pitch. It was disjointed, there were individuals all over the pitch.

“Everything was bad from start to finish. They didn’t lay a glove on Tottenham.

“Spurs had so many chances they looked like the home team.

“The United fans will be disappointed and rightly so.”

Manchester United spoke to other managers in the summer before telling Ten Hag he could carry on as boss.

The jury is now out on how much longer the club will continue to keep the Dutchman at the helm.

Fixture: Manchester United vs Tottenham Hotspur

Competition: Premier League

Kick-off: 16:30 UK time

Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou has picked his starting eleven to go up against Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United side at Old Trafford this afternoon.

Spurs won 3-0 in the Europa League against Qarabag in midweek, despite having Radu Dragusin sent off early in the game.

Postecoglou would love a similar result today, but he will have to break a bad run for Spurs to achieve it as the club have only won three away games in the league since November 2023.

If Spurs can go to Manchester United and win today then he would move them up to eighth in the Premier League table.

Tottenham have Guglielmo Vicario in goal today, while a back four of Pedro Porro, Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven and Destiny Udogie is selected.

In midfield, Postecoglou picks James Maddison and Rodrigo Bentancur, while Dejan Kulusevski, Brennan Johnson and Timo Werner support Dominic Solanke.

The Tottenham manager has options off the bench if needed and they include Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall.

Heung-Min Son misses out today due to inury.

Tottenham Hotspur Team vs Manchester United

Vicario, Porro, Romero, Van de Ven, Udogie, Maddison, Bentancur, Kulusevski, Johnson, Solanke, Werner

Substitutes: Forster, Spence, Dragusin, Gray, Bissouma, Bergvall, Sarr, Moore, Lankshear

Big money Tottenham Hotspur signing Archie Gray has admitted he is ‘really grateful’ to be playing for Ange Postecoglou at Spurs.

Postecoglou snapped up Gray for a deal worth £40m in the summer transfer window, beating off competition from Brentford to land him from Leeds United.

Brentford thought they had the deal in the bag and booked Gray in for a medical, but Spurs swooped in and tempted him to north London.

Postecoglou started Gray in Tottenham’s Europa League clash with Qarabag in midweek and the defender-midfielder put in a strong display full of running.

Gray admits he is happy to have a manager like Postecoglou, who has signalled he has big trust in the 18-year-old.

“I’m really grateful to have the manager we’ve got. I’m a big fan of him”, Gray was quoted as saying by the BBC.

“I’m grateful to have him here and to learn so much off him, it’s a big opportunity for me.

“To hear stuff like that from him, it makes you trust yourself even more and have more confidence to go out there and be fearless.

“That’s what he wants from us and hopefully we can go out and do that every game we’re trusted to be in.”

Losing Gray was a huge blow to Leeds, not least due to his family’s association with the Whites, but the Elland Road outfit felt they could not turn down the cash on offer.

If Leeds win promotion this season then that would mean an emotional return to Yorkshire next term in the Premier League for the youngster.

Former Tottenham star Jamie O’Hara has identified the real reason behind Radu Dragusin’s early sending-off against Qarabag on Thursday.

In the Romanian’s third game of the season, he was sent off after just seven minutes for bringing down Qarabag’s Juninho in a one-on-one situation.

O’Hara gave an explanation of the incident, insisting that the real issue which caused it was that Dragusin has a lack of match sharpness.

According to the former Tottenham star, Dragusin was only brought in by Ange Postecoglou as a backup.

As he has not played so frequently for the London-based side he was undone by the Qarabag player.

“He was bought as backup, a player that was available, an international”, O’Hara said on talkSPORT’s Sports Bar post-match.

“He gets done tonight and that’s probably down to match sharpness, he hasn’t played and he gets done.”

Dragusin was signed by Tottenham in January this year as a backup to Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven, who had both suffered injuries.

He has managed just 12 appearances since then, being on the pitch for 611 minutes.

Former Premier League defender Jason Cundy believes that expectations over one of Tottenham Hotspur’s stars should be tempered.

Spurs are looking to put together another tilt at a top four spot in the league this term and they worked over the summer to reinforce their squad.

Ange Postecoglou did not make any big changes to his centre-back options, where he continues to trust Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven, with Radu Dragusin offering cover.

Dragusin started on Thursday night against Qarabag in the Europa League, but only lasted seven minutes before he received a straight red card.

Qarabag star Juninho was racing clear to go one on one with the goalkeeper before being brought down by Dragusin.

Cundy is in no mood to judge Dragusin harshly though as he feels that the defender is a work in progress.

He insists that expecting Dragusin to be as finished an article as Van de Ven is unfair.

“He’s a bit to work on, Dragusin, I don’t mind him”, Cundy said on talkSPORT’s the Sports Bar post match.

“Not everybody is going to be Van de Ven are they?”

Spurs still went on to win the game 3-0 despite playing for the majority of the match with ten men.

Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou has predicted new signing Archie Gray will become a significant contributor to the club in the near future.

Gray got his first taste of European action on Thursday, playing the full 90 minutes of the Europa League match against Qarabag.

After Spurs went a man down in just the seventh minute, Gray did a decent job along with his partners in defence to prevent the opponents from scoring and hold on to a clean sheet.

Gray’s manager was impressed with what he saw from the Leeds United academy graduate and predicted him to be a significant contributor for them going forward.

“I see him in a Tottenham shirt and playing good football”, Postecoglou said at a press conference.

“I thought he was great last night. A different challenge for Archie, his first European game and having to play 10 men for the whole game.”

Praising the teenager for the multiple roles he performed on the pitch, Postecoglou added: “He had to do a couple of different roles.

“As I said from the outset, from the moment he has arrived he has looked like a real mature young man.

“He has a great focus on the career he wants to have ahead of him.

“He has had a couple of games at right-back for us, pre-season he played a few different positions.

“What I do know is he will be a significant contributor for us.

“He already has been and I was really proud of him last night the way he handled everything.”

Tottenham managed to beat the Azerbaijan side 3-0 in the end, despite having to play most of the match with ten men.

They will now have Manchester United in front of them in their next match on Sunday in the Premier League.

Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou has assured new signing Lucas Bergvall that he and the rest of the coaching staff trust him and he will get plenty of opportunities to play.

The 18-year-old has already played six games for the north Londoners and even got the opportunity to start the Europa League game against Qarabag.

However, the match ended prematurely for Bergvall due to Tottenham going down to ten men after just seven minutes.

Postecoglou replaced the young playmaker with Destiny Udogie but made sure that he did not demoralise the player.

Ahead of their Premier League encounter against Manchester United on Sunday, the Tottenham manager assured Bergvall that he will get plenty of opportunities to play.

“Lucas is another one I said before the game we’re really keen to expose him to European football”, Postecoglou said at a press conference.

“Unfortunately it ended prematurely for him and he was obviously disappointed.

“But we trust him and he’ll get plenty of opportunities to play.”

Despite playing most part of the match with ten men Tottenham won the match 3-0 to start their European campaign on a positive note.

Their next match in the Europa League will be against Hungarians Ferencvaros next Thursday.