Tottenham 1-0 Man Utd (Maddison 13′)
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR STADIUM — On a day when scores of Tottenham fans demanded change off the pitch, they saw something a bit different on it too.
Ange Postecoglou’s teams don’t generally deal in 1-0s but this narrow nail-biter was much-needed against another “Big Six” side mired in mid-table. The quality on show was indicative of where these two teams find themselves, not that Spurs will mind too much.
Back-to-back league wins have them looking up, albeit from a low vantage point of 12th in the table.
Postecoglou has been adamant that Spurs would be an “outstanding team” once they have all their key players back.
Significantly, their two game-changers against Manchester United were both making their returns from the treatment room.
James Maddison scored the winner and Guglielmo Vicario’s saves prevented a United equaliser.
Minutes after Diogo Dalot had spurned a chance to put Manchester United in front from a goalkeeper parry, Maddison converted a similar opportunity for the hosts.
Andre Onana dived to his left to prevent Lucas Bergvall’s low strike from trundling into his bottom corner but succeeded only in pushing it into the returning Maddison’s path to tap into an empty net.
The playmaker pulled out his imaginary dart in celebration, before bringing his index finger to his lips and making a chatting motion with his hands. Roy Keane was presumably the focus of Maddison’s attention after he made disparaging comments about him on The Overlap last week.
“People say, “Maddison’s the man”, but when is he going to step up to the plate?” Keane questioned exasperatedly.
“He got relegated with Leicester [City] and [looks like] with Spurs! Maddison isn’t bad but if you think he’s going to come back and get Spurs top six, you’re in cuckoo land.”
If a rebuke from Keane is all it takes to ignite some fire in bellies, perhaps Postecoglou should try and tempt the boyhood Spurs fan onto his coaching staff.
“People will have their opinions,” Maddison said after. “Nobody is more critical of me than myself.”
United responded well to going behind with Alejandro Garnacho wastefully blazing an attempt into the south stand when faced only by Vicario.
Maddison took it upon himself to make things happen. His searching ball in behind Dalot found Son Heung-min who teed up home debutant Mathys Tel to fire on goal.
Of the five players back available to Postecoglou after injury, Vicario and Maddison were the only starters, but the rest of the team looked fresher too, benefiting from a first full week off since the second week of November.
Son looked more like his old self, while Bergvall and Rodrigo Bentancur took turns to charge forward. Even when not decimated by injury, Postecoglou has struggled to find the right balance in midfield. Maddison, Bergvall and Bentancur performed well in the first half before all being peeled off as the game wore on.
The second half was end-to-end, an exhibition in unconvincing counter-attacking. Tel and Son were wasteful at one end, Joshua Zirkzee and Rasmus Hojlund toothless at the other.
United had their chances to level but found Vicario impossible to bypass. He made two excellent stops from Garnacho to preserve the lead and provided an assured presence behind a makeshift back four. He ended up making six stops in total, impressing on his first appearance since November.
Antonin Kinsky started well enough after signing from Slavia Prague but has made some glaring errors in recent matches and will probably benefit from some time out.
Postecoglou even had the luxury of reintroducing Brennan Johnson and Wilson Odobert in the second half, with Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr also brought on. That strength in depth has been painfully absent of late: Spurs are finally healing.
It was Ruben Amorim’s turn to fill his bench with academy lads. For once, Spurs were less depleted than their opponents and a first win in eight home matches in the Premier League suggests that was important.
It was an unusual day all around. Protests against Enic and Daniel Levy began on the High Road, continued in the concourse and finished in the south stand at the end of the game.
“We want our Tottenham back,” chanted some. This wasn’t the Tottenham they have become used to, but a winning team is what they crave more than anything. In that regard, this was a step in the right direction.
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