Manchester United’s Anthony Martial rises to occasion to sink Spurs

Even without Harry Kane, Tottenham retained the lead for much of the match, though Manchester United is not under the command of Jose Mourinho and they remained steadfast in their task of getting a big win with a goal of Anthony Martial. This is not to say that the game was disappointing, but without a goal for 82 minutes, was not as useless as the United draw at Anfield a fortnight ago, but two good teams canceled other until that the Spurs were defeated by a long ball in the back. .

United has not yet conceded a goal in five league games here. If they had done it with Kane on the ground, it's a matter of debate, but it's not that Marcial is an effective substitute. For the fourth time this season, he came to score, this time winning the match in his 20-minute cameo. There were audible grunts when Marcus Rashford had to give in, but, as Mourinho explained, both players have different qualities. "Marcial feels more comfortable falling between the lines to help lead the ball and not just attack the space," he said. "I told him to do that and play with Lukaku, which he did."

The teams used similar formations with three in the back, although Tottenham was a little better playing this area of ​​the field. The visitors made better use of the ball throughout the first half with Christian Eriksen, Dele Alli and Harry Winks possessing a subtle and passing invention that most of the local team did not have.

However, there was little danger that the impasse broke before the interval. Eric Dier made a good stop in the area to stop Rashford from the beginning and when the ball broke Romelu Lukaku, the goal failed dramatically, whether his intention was a shot or a cross. Rashford recorded United's best try in the first half, significantly with a free kick from a distance, and although Hugo Lloris threw himself to his right to save the ball, he seemed to leave the post anyway.

At the other extreme, the orderly Spurs approach tended to be when he reached Heung-Min Son, initially deployed as an attacker, although Dier finally managed to save David de Gea at the breakup with a weak attack. shot hit. From Gea's goal had been more in danger a few minutes earlier when he collided with Phil Jones to claim a cross and overturned the ball to Moussa Sissoko would fail to exploit his chance and sent his Stretford End shot.

United applied more pressure in the second half and managed to keep the Spurs stopped for a while, though the final result was just a fiercely defeated Antonio Valencia shot from the edge of the area that still cleared the crossbar.

The Spurs sent Mousa Dembele to try to restore control of the midfield, United replied with Jesse Lingard for Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Martial for Rashford. The latter was somewhat surprising, since Rashford probably caused the most problems in the Spurs' defense, although Martial was almost instantly involved to help establish an opportunity for Lukaku and the favor would be returned before the end.

When Valencia entered the dive book in search of a penalty kick, he began to look like a goal never come on a wetter afternoon of Manchester, however, both sides played their part within 10 minutes. Alli simulated a delicious Eriksen diagonal ball by what appeared to be a potential winner, but could not put the foot in the right position to beat De Gea closely, then at the other end Lukaku hit the post with a head of Lingard's cross.

I would still have put money in a draw without annotation, but at the last moment, United designed a manual route with a winner. De Gea threw the ball on the field, Lukaku beat Toby Alderweireld in the first header, allowing Martial to run into the area to shoot Lloris. Who needs camp centers anyway? As Mourinho has shown repeatedly, there are many ways to win a game.