Football Features

    Marvelous Marcus mangles Mourinho: Full player ratings as Man Utd beat Spurs 2-1

    By Muhammad Butt

    Published: 22:01, 4 December 2019

    In a one-sided night of football, Manchester United beat Spurs 2-1 at Old Trafford.

    The match was José Mourinho’s first at Old Trafford since leaving United almost one year ago, but the Portuguese coach came unstuck against his previous club as The Red Devils scorched their visitors with a blazing display.

    Here’s how the players rated at Old Trafford:

    Manchester United

    David de Gea – 6 – Saved well when called upon and commanded his area. Could do nothing about Dele’s goal.

    Aaron Wan-Bissaka – 7 – Once again allowed no penetration down his flank.

    Victor Lindelof – 7 – A solid outing for the Swede. Marshalled Harry Kane quite well.

    Harry Maguire – 7 – Dominant against a lacklustre Spurs defence. Made 4 clearances, a team-high.

    Ashley Young – 7 – Selected to “do a job” in a big game and delivered as he always seems to do. Didn’t do much in attack and his defending for Spurs’ goal was a bit odd but was good for the most part.

    Scott McTominay – 7 – Patrolled the area in front of his defence superbly, cutting off several Spurs counters. His passing could charitably be described as “alright” and his limitations are obvious, but as a pure enforcer he does the job.

    Fred – 9 – Ran midfield with an incredible confidence. Oozed serenity every time he touched the ball, passing it well and keeping United constantly in flow. He gained possession more than any of his team-mates and is finally looking like a £50m midfielder. More touches (86), more passes (49/61) and more interceptions (3) than any of his team-mates.

    Jesse Lingard – 7 – Vibrant and energetic in a way he hasn’t been in literally months. Created more chances than anyone else in the game (4).

    Daniel James – 6 – Worked hard but looked a little bit lacking for quality.

    Marcus Rashford – 9 – A rocket of a strike to give United the lead. Completely bamboozled Gazzaniga with a dipping thunderbolt on more than one occasion. The first was the goal, low and in at the near-post; next was a high-shot that scraped the Argentine’s palm before cracking the underside of the bar.

    A relentless force all game long, absolutely brimming with confidence. Scored the game-winner from the spot with unerring confidence – his 12 goals this season is just one shy of his career-best and he’s only played 20 games. Finally coming into his own as a mature and consistent striking presence for The Red Devils. A true talisman.

    Mason Greenwood – 7 – A very smart selfless display from Greenwood. Pressed wonderfully and displayed excellent movement to open up space for his team-mates and was full of lovely touches to keep attacks flowing.

    Substitutes:

    Andreas Pereira (for Greenwood 80′) – 4 – Did little but give the ball away.

    Luke Shaw (for Lingard 87′) – 5 – One nice pass.

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    Spurs

    Paulo Gazzaniga – 6 – Completely outfoxed by Rashford for the opening goal. Made a series of semi-impressive stops after that to keep the score down (and one stunning save to deny a Rashford rasper).

    Serge Aurier – 3 – Was crucified by Marcus Rashford all night long. Made an impressive amount of tackles and interceptions (6 and 6, both game highs) but was constantly having to be bailed out by team-mates. Didn’t even use the ball well to make up for it.

    Davinson Sanchez – 6 – Should have been more authoritative clearing the ball ahead of Rashford’s opener but was otherwise Spurs’ best defender. A game-high 6 clearances kept United at bay.

    Toby Alderweireld – 5 – Did fairly well but didn’t look as comfortable as he would have liked.

    Jan Vertonghen – 7 – Coped well with Daniel James’ pace and movement. Rarely beaten down his flank.

    Moussa Sissoko – 4 – Foolish and needless tackle to give away a penalty so soon after half-time but in his defence he did spend most of the helping the right-back out.

    Harry Winks – 5 – Worked hard defensively and distributed the ball fairly well. Wasn’t at his most expansive, however, and picked up a knock necessitating his substitution in the second half.

    Dele Alli – 7 – Pulled Spurs level out of nowhere with an utterly outrageous goal. His flick to leave Fred and Young for dead was otherworldly, and to cap that with an equally composed finish was sensational. Four in four under José Mourinho.

    Lucas Moura – 4 – A complete and utter non-factor for his 64 minutes on the field. Simply couldn’t get going.

    Heung-min Son – 4 – Barring one superb bit of dribbling he was kept quiet as United simply starved him of service.

    Harry Kane – 3 – A couple of lovely passes couldn’t disguise the fact that Kane was yet again a major disappointment at Old Trafford. Kane is England and Spurs’ best player without a doubt but his record against United is poor (2 goals in 12 games) and his big weakness that he can often be too reliant on service becomes a real problem in games where Spurs are struggling.

    All strikers need service of course, but most of the truly elite strikers are capable of creating their own chances out of very little. And whilst Kane can turn half-chances into goals as well as anybody in the world, in big games particularly it’s rare to see him conjure something from nothing in the way that Dele Alli did tonight. It’s not that he’s bad, but given his ability he is judged on a different scale than everyone else. More is expected of him than any other Spurs player but tonight he delivered less than everyone else.

    Substitutes:

    Christian Eriksen (for Lucas 64′) – 5 – Did nothing.

    Tanguy Ndombele (for Winks 70′) – 7 – Was instantly Spurs’ best player on the night in his 20 minute cameo. Will be a guaranteed starter when he’s fully fit because the difference he makes is palpable.

    Giovani Lo Celso (for Sissoko 85′) – n/a – n/a

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