Opinion: Five things we learned from Tottenham’s 2-0 defeat to Man Utd

Tottenham Hotspur put in their most uninspiring performance of the season last night at Old Trafford as they lost 2-0 to Manchester United. 

Let’s take a look at the five things we learned:

Conte’s opinion on the 3-5-2 – Conte tried to make everyone think he was playing a 3-4-3 and in the end… he probably should have. You can see why the Spurs boss is hesitant to dive head-first into the 3-5-2 hype train like us fans. Tottenham are not as well drilled defensively in this system, because they have spent so long with the 3-4-3, and as such were just suffocated by Man United last night.

Late substitutions – As we saw last season, perhaps another sign that Conte is not completely happy with the depth of his squad. 2-0 down to Man United and clearly not offering anything in attack, or defence for that matter… and he waits until beyond the 80th minute to put on two defenders, a holding mid, and Lucas Moura. Yes, Kulusevski and Richarlison are out injured, but Conte only appears to trust around 15 players with meaningful game time at the minute.

Round of applause for Hugo – Only one player can leave Old Trafford with some respect and that is Hugo Lloris. He survived an early scare when he misjudged a shot from range and spilt it wide, only to put in a superb performance. So many good stops and a few great ones too, particularly from Marcus Rashford and a Bruno Fernandes free-kick. Absolutely let down by his teammates.

Underperfoming against the big teams – Tottenham have had a rather fortunate start to the season in terms of who they have played and where they are in the table. Yes, they have picked up a lot of good wins, but Spurs also seem to come unstuck against big clubs… especially away from home. The games at the Emirates and Old Trafford were so poor from the Lilywhites, and you can’t challenge for a title without taking points off your rivals. The real test will be whether Spurs can remain within three or four points of the lead by the time the World Cup break rolls around.

Premier League table – Tottenham don’t move up or down the table, and are still looking good in third, but last night was a clear chance to overtake Man City and make up ground on Arsenal with the table-toppers not playing this week. Instead, Spurs are sucked back into the race for fourth, for the time being.

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