Tottenham Hotspur were held by Manchester United in the Premier League after Matthijs de Ligt beat Guglielmo Vicario deep into stoppage time to cancel out Richarlison’s deft flick moments earlier.
A real spectacle of a match. But this is more of the same for a Spurs side struggling for form at home and unable to produce the kind of creative performances to sustain a spot at the top of the league ladder.
Premier League 25/26 – xG Leaders
Club
Position
xG
Crystal Palace
9th
18.2
Man City
2nd
17.8
Man United
8th
17.5
Chelsea
7th
17.1
Arsenal
1st
16.9
Tottenham
3rd
10.1
Data via FBref
Expected Goals (xG) is a metric designed to measure the probability of a shot resulting in a goal.
The season, of course, is still young, but Thomas Frank has much to chew on, having watched his side toil for much of their clash against
the resurgent Red Devils.
Spurs’ performance vs Man Utd
Tottenham’s creative issues were on display once again as Man United took control in the opening half. Things improved as Frank made tweaks at the interval, and the late flurry to turn the clash on its head nearly sealed a springboard of a win for the hosts, but a defensive lapse left the club with just one home win from five in the Premier League.
Without the injured Mohammed Kudus, Tottenham were always going to be up against it, and Richarlison and Brennan Johnson largely flattered to deceive down the wings.
Frank’s attacking experiment didn’t pay off, with Richarlison pushed out wide to accommodate Randal Kolo Muani as the central striker. The French loanee was hooked at half-time, and while Richarlison scored late on, it was not his finest overall performance.
Post-match, the Danish coach opted to draw the positives from the performances, but when he sits down in the tactical room and assesses Tottenham’s performance over the international break, he will be sure to settle on some changes.
One of which could be the tough call to drop one of the side’s mainstays. This is a player who is among the most talented down N17, and one whose fragilities were exposed against the Red Devils.
Frank must finally drop Spurs “disaster”
Few would argue against Pedro Porro being one of the most talented and creative full-backs in Europe, but his defending is questionable at times, and when he struggles to make things work on the ball, this is accentuated.
And this was the case against Manchester United.
Bryan Mbeumo scored his customary goal against the Lilywhites, heading home inside the area following Amad Diallo’s whipped cross. The Cameroonian swerved in behind Porro to score the goal.
Moreover, the 26-year-old was culpable of some questionable decision-making and positioning throughout the contest, altogether isolated from the role Frank had hoped he would perform against a team desperate for success and finding their feet.
Hooked after 67 minutes, Porro had struggled to impose himself against the United forwards and lacked his trademark playmaking quality, having lost the ball a shocking 29 times despite not creating a single chance. He attempted 12 crosses and found the mark with only one (data courtesy of Sofascore).
Polish journalist Michael Okonski even called the accuracy of his deliveries a “disaster”.
Football.london handed him a 5/10 match rating and brought to attention these issues, and now Frank must seriously consider making a tactical tweak.
Spence struggled to support the forwards from his unnatural berth on the left, and given his growth both in maturity and confidence in the Premier League over the past year or so, it might be worth moving him into Porro’s space and relegating the Spaniard to the bench.
