Peter Schmeichel has admitted that Tottenham Hotspur would have ‘taken Manchester United apart’ yesterday if Ange Postecoglou had his first choice eleven available for selection.
Postecoglou was without club captain Heung-min Son who is currently on international duty with South Korea at the Asia Cup, while Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr are both representing their countries at AFCON.
Dejan Kulusevski was forced to sit out the 2-2 draw at Old Trafford after struggling with illness and joined the likes of James Maddison, Giovani Lo Celso, Alejo Veliz, Manor Solomon, Ben Davies, Ryan Sessegnon, Ivan Perisic and Dane Scarlett on the sidelines who were all absent with respective injury issues.
Despite United having led twice in the fixture, it was Tottenham who dominated proceedings with Postecoglou admitting after the final whistle that his side deserved to have taken all three points against the former Premier League champions.
He told the BBC: “You always want to win games but I couldn’t be prouder of the players. They have had to deal with a fair bit this week and to put on a performance like that… I thought the way we handled the game was outstanding.
“They are a good team on the counter. For the most part we dealt with it OK. Our response to both of their goals was outstanding and I thought in the second half we were the better side and deserved to win.
“We’ve had a rough week with some illness in the camp. Credit to the players they kept going to the end. It was an outstanding effort.
MORE SPURS STORIES
“Timo had two training sessions and played 60 minutes for the club. He was outstanding.
“We have 10 days until the next game, hopefully get some players back and at least some training into these boys. We will give them some time off because they have earned it.”
Spurs should have beaten Manchester United
Schmeichel was full of praise for Tottenham and believes that if the likes of Son and Kulusevski were on the pitch, they would have been an easy victory for the away side.
The former United goalkeeper told Optus Sport: “They bossed Manchester United at Old Trafford. Honestly, when I saw Spurs’ line up, I thought in here ‘we’re winning’, but they deserved to win.
“Every time we watch Spurs we question if they can keep playing like that for the duration of the Premier League season and in the beginning I said ‘no way, the depth in the squad is not there and once they get injuries…’
“Yes, they had a little blip and a few games they didn’t win but then they picked it up again.
And when you see their second team come out today and do that, you think maybe they can go on and be that top-four team. Kulusevski, Son, if they were there today they would have taken Manchester United apart.
“It left like everyone was out there for themselves for Manchester United, ‘I want to be the hero.'”
SpursWeb Opinion
Injuries and suspensions have been a major thorn in Ange Posteoglou’s side this season, but they have faced the adversity head-on and taken the challenge by the scruff of the next.
Considering all of the squad are new to Ange’s tactical demands and many fringe players are out there performing at a high standard is a testament to the Australian and his backroom staff.
Keep up to date with all the latest Tottenham news and opinion by following SpursWeb’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.
