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Manchester United and Tottenham finish in a 1-1 stalemate

Date: June 19, 2020

By: Joe Cammarota

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Kevin Quigley/Daily Mail

As soccer begins to return to the Premier League, the second game of match week 30 was played as Manchester United traveled to an empty Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to take on Spurs. The match ended 1-1 as both teams began to reacclimate to full paced soccer.

Both teams started off in a 4-2-3-1 formation, which places a lot of emphasis on each side’s midfield and strikers. The midfield made a much stronger difference in the game than both united and Spurs strikers did. The game began with Manchester United starting of strong and controlling the possession, but nothing of note really happened in the first 10 minutes.

Tottenham sat back throughout the game and played for the counterattack, which is what it seems Spurs new identity might be under new manager Jose Mourinho. Spurs received most of their chances on long balls where they attempted to use the speed of their wingers to create chances.

In the 21st minute of the game the first big chance occurred a poor headed clearance from Davinson Sánchez led to the ball to fall right to Manchester United’s clinical winger Marcus Rashford. Rashford put the shot on target with his first touch, but Spurs keeper Hugo Lloris was able to make the save with his boots.

Shortly after that Tottenham struck as right back Serge Aurier played a perfect ball through to Steven Bergwijn who used his lightning pace to beat the United center backs and power a shot right through keeper David de Gea. It was arguably a shot that de Gea should have saved but nonetheless Spurs were on the score sheet 1-0 in the 27th minute.

The goal shifted all the momentum to Mourinho’s Tottenham side. Shortly after the goal Spurs saw another chance come as this time Bergwijn sent in a beautiful cross to Spurs left winger Son Heung-Min who put a header on target but was ultimately denied by an acrobatic save from de Gea. The end of the half saw United almost get on the board as their attacking midfielder Bruno Fernandes shot a knuckle ball shot from outside the box that almost scooted past Lloris.

As the teams returned from halftime, the game took up a similar feel to the beginning of the first half as Manchester United controlled play once again. United had the ball in the box early on and threatened, but Spurs attacking midfielder Lamela tracked all the way back to win the ball back.

After weathering early United second half attacks, the Spurs began to push the pace and create some danger similar to the first half. Once again Bergwijn created danger on a through ball to him, but Luke Shaw tracked back and knocked the ball out of play before he could gain possession.

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær made a change that flipped the game around: he brought on Paul Pogba and Mason Greenwood for Daniel James and Fred in the 62nd minute. The two subs made an immediate impact on the game as they applied tons of pressure to the Tottenham back line.

United striker Martial had an incredible chance to equalize but was denied as Dier was able to get his foot on the shot which deflected into the arms of Lloris at a slow pace. The once again in the 65th minute of play Martial had another chance, but Lloris made an incredible lunge to barely get his hand on the shot and push it over the crossbar.

It was clear that United had all the momentum again so Mourinho decided it was time for a change. In the 69th minute he subbed two central midfielders, Gio Lo Celso and Gedson Fernandes, on for Lamela and Bergwijn to try and relieve pressure on the back four. These substitutions gave Tottenham a bit of an offensive push as they were able to create a flurry of chances but were unable to convert on any of them.

With the new rules in place due to COVID-19, clubs can bring on five subs in a game. Solskjær used this to bring on extra fresh legs to pursue an equalizer. United brought on striker Odion Ighalo to replace Martial up top and attacking midfielder Nemanja Matić for Victor Lindelöf. Soon after this United once again had a lot of pressure on the Tottenham back line which resulted in Paul Pogba using his technical skill to skirt past Dier in the box which caused Dier to concede a penalty to Pogba. Bruno Fernandes stepped up to the spot and slotted the ball into the left corner of the goal as Lloris dived right to even up the match 1-1 in the 81st minute.

The remainder of play resulted on hectic action as both teams attempted to secure all three points from the fixture. Spurs had multiple free kicks from dangerous areas but failed to convert on both. In the 88th minute it seemed that United may have a chance to take the lead as another penalty was conceded by Dier as Bruno Fernandes went down in the box, but the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) intervened and ruled that there was no penalty and that Bruno went down too easily.

The game concluded shortly after as the teams remained deadlocked at 1-1. The match was extremely exciting and the score line was well deserved. Both teams remain in their place in the table with Manchester United holding 5th and Tottenham holding 8th place.

Manchester United returns to action Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time when they take on Sheffield United. Tottenham returns Tuesday at 3:15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time as they play in a London Derby against West Ham United.

Joe Cammarota can be reached at joseph.cammarota@student.shu.edu.

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