Read on Twitter
I think the result last night has a huge bias, and people on Twitter often ignore the value of gamestates which is so valuable. 0-0 often paints the best picture in regards to executions.
Tottenham Hotspur were not good at 0-0, it's that simple. They weren't handling the rotations, Bruno was finding pockets with ease, Utd were constantly outnumbering them in MF, etc. Mourinho was going ballistic during the 1st half water break before the goal for crying out loud
United didn't create enough clearcut chances, but you can't tell me they weren't stamping their authority in pretty much every department until the final action at 0-0. Spurs got their freak goal which they never looked like scoring through a series of individual errors, and...
...United failed to continue as they did before the goal (not composed enough, kept trying outside balls to the flank, etc.). Spurs settled shape was overrated too, but United didn't capitalize on that until they brought on Pogba.
Got the penalty & forced the game open up; something José hates. Although tbf to José, he also knew a Pogba-less United side doesn't particularly like having floods of possession, but I'm still not giving him too many compliments because as said, he didn't counter particularly..
...cleanly (it improved second half) and it was still relatively straight forward for Utd players to pull away from defenders between the lines (I think Martial was the only one who was followed/man-marked by Dier when dropping) & receiving positions despite having 10/11 men..
..back there, just lacked 0-0 level composure to find them. It was on the mentality of United players for not getting back into it much earlier than they did, not some sort of José classic. Goals change games, quite simple.
I think United still need a CM who personifies composure in deeper central areas. They have so many aggressive/quick tempo passers but no passer that embodies calmness. Nobody to start at 0 and work the way up to 100; everyone wants to pass at 100 from the off. Chill, pick passes
(Matic is probably the closest to this & did well when he came on)
