Tottenham secured a place in the final four of the Carabao Cup following a 4-3 win over Manchester United on Thursday evening. Fresh from last weekend’s win over Southampton, Ange Postecoglou made two changes to his Tottenham team as Pedro Porro and Yves Bissouma came into the XI in place of Destiny Udogie and Lucas Bergvall.
Spurs made the best possible start to proceedings as Dominic Solanke gave the team the lead on 15 minutes. The striker was in the right place to convert after Altay Bayindir couldn’t gather Porro’s deflected drive from distance.
Spurs gave their opponents a mountain to climb eight minutes later as Solanke helped himself to a second goal of the game with a low finish. It was the frontman at his very best as he found space inside the box with some impressive movement to drill the ball beyond Bayindir.
Tottenham did give United a glimmer of hope just after the hour mark as a short pass from Fraser Forster resulted in Bruno Fernandes squaring the ball for Joshua Zirkzee to score from point-blank range. Spurs were then given an almighty scare in the 70th minute as another Forster error saw Amad Diallo reduce the deficit even further to set up a tense finale.
Despite Ruben Amorim’s men pushing on for a late equaliser, Spurs gave themselves some breathing space in the dying minutes with Son Heung-min’s corner floating all the way in to relieve the pressure inside the stadium. However, there was to be a further goal seconds before the end as Jonny Evans headed home a corner at the near post.
Here are five things we spotted in the game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium:
Goalkeepers galore
There was to be no Udogie in the Tottenham squad for Thursday evening’s Carabao Cup clash against Manchester United following his early exit last time out against Southampton. Postecoglou did mention in his pre-match press conference that there was no injury for the Italian international but he would only feature in one game this week after having very little rest so far this campaign.
Udogie’s absence meant that Djed Spence was rewarded for a really good showing at St Mary’s last weekend with a second successive Spurs start. There was to be another notable absentee from the Tottenham squad as Timo Werner was not part of the matchday 20.
Rather than call-up another youngster to the squad, Postecoglou opted to go with two goalkeepers on the bench as Alfie Whiteman joined Brandon Austin in the squad. Spurs have been extremely short on numbers in recent games but prior to Thursday evening Postecoglou had never decided to select both shot-stoppers on his bench in a domestic game.
It very much highlights the lack of numbers available to the Australian right now.
Two shots, two goals
Chances were at a premium for Solanke in Tottenham’s last meeting against Southampton. The stats had the striker down for one shot on goal during the 5-0 win but it’s not exactly clear if he did indeed have an attempt seconds before Kulusevski scored.
Working extremely hard for the team and making a big difference in the final third with his play, there have been quite a few games this season when opportunities on goal just haven’t come his way. Spurs’ fellow attackers need to be doing so much more for their teammate in the final third as he has demonstrated in previous seasons that he does know where the back of the net is.
Amid his woes at Southampton, Solanke only needed one chance to net for Tottenham against Manchester United. The England international did what all good strikers do as he followed up Porro’s attempt that goalkeeper Bayindir parried to find himself alone in the box to convert and spark wild scenes inside the stadium.
As impressive as his first goal was, which was very reminiscent of former Spurs striker Harry Kane, his second was even better as he collected Spence’s pass, cut inside Lisandro Martinez and fired low beyond the goalkeeper to give the hosts a healthy three-goal cushion. It was indeed Solanke’s second shot of the game, thus highlighting just how important it is to supply him in the right areas as he can do so much damage.
Moments of madness
It all looked to be going so good for Tottenham following Solanke’s second of the game. The visitors had created some openings on goal across the first 60 minutes but had failed to force Forster into action.
Near flawless since replacing Guglielmo Vicario in goal, the shot-stopper gave the visitors hope seconds after producing an incredible one-handed save to stop Zirkzee from scoring a header. Attempting to play a short pass to Radu Dragusin inside his six-yard box, the pass didn’t have enough on it and it resulted in Fernandes putting the ball on a plate for Zirkzee.
Worse was to follow seven minutes later as Foster was once again at fault with his feet. Taking too long on the ball with Amad racing towards him at some speed, the experienced goalkeeper dallied for too long and his kick struck the sliding attacker and hit the back of the net.
Spurs were once again their own worst enemy by conceding sloppy goals to let United back into the game when moments earlier it had looked dead and buried. From then on Forster looked to go long with his kicks, which is not the way Postecoglou wants his team to play, and it resulted in their opponents swiftly regaining possession a number of times.
A number of Tottenham players including Dragusin and Archie Gray did go straight to Forster at the full-time whistle, with the injured Vicario also doing the same as he made his way onto the pitch. The Italian, who is currently on crutches, stopped his teammate as he made his way off, put both hands on his face and said a few words to him before they went their separate ways.
