da brdice： Manchester United suffered a poor 2-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur during their first away Premier League fixture of the 2023/24 campaign.
da casino： The Red Devils weren’t at their finest during their narrow 1-0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers on Monday evening, and it looks as though Erik ten Hag failed to inspire the side once again.
How did Manchester United perform against Spurs?
New Spurs coach Ange Postecoglou was taking charge of his first competitive match at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium having got off to a solid start against Brentford last week – and his team exploited United’s shortcomings.
Ten Hag’s side lacked any sort of cutting edge, despite Marcus Rashford leading the line. The Englishman netted 30 goals last term, yet he had just one shot on target during his spell on the pitch and missed two big chances, failing to reproduce the form displayed last season.
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Goalkeeper Andre Onana was arguably one of United’s better performers, and if it wasn’t for him, Spurs could have scored more than the two they managed.
The Cameroonian made five saves during the tie while taking 39 touches and completing 22 accurate passes, suggesting he was comfortable on the ball while looking to start attacks from the back.
There was a player for the Old Trafford side who struggled throughout the match and made fewer passes than the ‘keeper – fellow new arrival Mason Mount.
How much did Mason Mount cost Manchester United?
Ten Hag pursued the former Chelsea gem for a couple of months before finally securing his services in a deal which could be worth up to £60m.
He failed to impress during his competitive debut against Wolves in United’s first league tie of the season, taking just 30 touches, losing possession nine times and winning only two duels from seven contested – and it got even worse on Saturday evening.
Against Spurs, the Englishman was deployed in a slightly deeper role alongside Casemiro and was expected to get on the ball often to make things happen.
It didn’t quite work out that way, as he managed a paltry 26 touches and completed a woeful return of 14 accurate passes.
Onana recorded more touches and passes than Mount, while the midfielder failed to complete a single dribble attempt, won just one duel from six, lost possession six times and was dribbled past twice.
He looked like a passenger for large durations of the tie and was criticised by journalist James Benge, who said:
“Through nearly an hour, Mason Mount has the fewest touches of any United player on the pitch. Considering what you'd expect him to bring when he's playing deeper alongside Casemiro, that stat is pretty indicative of an insubstantive game.”
For such a high fee and the vast promise that Mount looked like he could bring to the Red Devils, this performance was far from the standard that Ten Hag will have demanded from him before the season began.
United aren’t in disarray, but another shoddy display during their next tie against Nottingham Forest next week could see murmurs of discontent start to ring out around Old Trafford.