Manchester United 0-3 Tottenham Hotspur: 5 Talking Points
The setting has been weighed and it is now most certain. Gloom can descend upon Old Trafford and at this point in time, there is no saying how long it's going to stay. The cliche holds though. Football is a game of two halves.
If Manchester United started off brightly, they were as dead as doornails by the time the Lilywhites were done hammering them. Harry Kane's looping header earned Pochettino's men the lead. It was swiftly followed up by Lucas Moura who made it 2-0 inside 2 minutes.
It seemed as though Manchester United's defensive woes were making the most of the limelight that was afforded to it as a stumbling Chris Smalling clutching at Lucas Moura, as the latter was darting past him, before slotting it past David de Gea has to be the perfect symbolic rendition of what exactly Jose Mourinho was seeking in the transfer window.
There's a heck of a lot to discuss and let's get right to it.
#5 The Herrera experiment fails
There had been plenty of speculation regarding Manchester United's defensive setup in a match as important as this. It was expected that Jose would ask Nemanja Matic to play as a centre-back. However, it was Ander Herrera who was deployed between Chris Smalling and Phil Jones.
While Herrera's recovery was decent, his positioning was pitiable, to say the least. It's not something that comes naturally to him and he should not be nailed to a cross for that. It was his terrible positioning that led to Dele Alli almost going clear in the first half. Later, Spurs' second goal of the night, struck by Lucas Moura, also came after Herrera's confusion caused chaos at the back.
Whether this was Jose Mourinho sending a harsh message to the board or if it was him playing the ponies, it did not work out. Maybe Eric Bailly should be given another chance.