According to a report from Manchester Evening News, Jose Mourinho asked Serge Aurier and Sergio Reguilon to press high up the pitch against Manchester United on Sunday in order to exploit the defensive shortcomings of Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood.
The report claims that the Tottenham staff correctly guessed United’s starting XI on Sunday while the Man Utd’s staff did not know until Saturday night when Son had travelled to Manchester that the South Korean would be staring for Spurs.
It is also revealed that Mourinho knew that Rashford and Greenwood would not offer Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Luke Shaw much defensive protection and thus wanted his full-backs to exploit this.
The Spurs boss is said to be well-aware of Shaw’s tendency to abandon his station, having also pointed it out during his time as a TV pundit.
Two of Tottenham’s goals came down Shaw’s side, with Aurier getting on the scoresheet as well as assisting one for Son.
The report claims that Spurs insiders believe their decision to give Aurier and Reguilon the freedom to push high up the pitch, “killed” Ole Gunnar Solksjaer’s side.
Spurs Web Opinion
With Hojbjerg and Sissoko covering for Aurier and Reguilon when they went forward, our system worked perfectly on Sunday to stifle United and gave their defence a lot of problems. While the red card obviously had an influence on the game, we could have easily been three or four up by the time Martial received his marching orders.
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