Gallery: Player Ratings – Tottenham Hotspur 0-1 Manchester United

Trippier – 5

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In the middle of the first half, pressed tight on his flank, he gave the ball away one too many times and the goal was all but inevitable from that moment on. United’s whole strategy came together in a moment – defend, press, jump on the error and release pace on goal. Trippier was a major outlet in the second half as United defended the centre of the pitch in increasing numbers.

Match Summary

Was earlier today ‘peak season’, that point when we could still win anything and everything, having flirted outrageously with disaster in the Champions League? Today, did we bow out of the Premier League title race and did we also invite Man Utd to bite at our ankles in the coming months?

We lost by a solitary goal which was clinically taken in a way we never matched on umpteen occasions and let in by a keeper who couldn’t match the strike in the way that David De Gea did relentlessly. Has there ever been a keeper who could cry ‘look, no hands’ as he worked the ball away time after time with feet and legs?

Without any of our ‘stars’ quite coming off or able to apply the coup de grace, it was a fine first half and an even better second where we prompted and probed but faced a United side that cared and worked and shut down the central areas.

It proved, if nothing else, how toxic Mourinho had been. Neither he nor his brand of anti-football should darken the English top flight again. And, hey, United surely need look no further than their current temp for the permanent position.