Manchester United missed the chance to extend their advantage on the Champions League hopefuls in the Premier League table as they let a two-goal lead slip at Tottenham Hotspur.
Erik ten Hag’s men dominated proceedings in the first half, deservingly going into the break with a two-goal cushion after neat goals from Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford.
The hosts grabbed a stranglehold of the game after the interval, however, and when Pedro Porro reduced the deficit to one goal, it was always a matter of time before the equaliser came.
United remain comfortably inside the top four and still have the chance to climb to third if they win their game in hand, with Newcastle temporarily occupying the third place after their win at Everton this evening.
Speaking after the game on Thursday evening, manager Ten Hag delivered his verdict on what he saw on the pitch.
“Of course, when you’re two-nil up then you are a little bit disappointed when you draw. That’s quite obvious. But we have to take that. we had the chance after 2-1 to score the 3-1 and we didn’t. Then we conceded a goal but after all, in this week, 2-2 is a good draw,” the manager told BT Sport.
“We had to score the second goal just before half-time but to be honest, they could have made the equaliser just before half-time just before we scored.
“We were not that good over 90 minutes, also not in the first half, we didn’t play brilliantly for me. We were up 2-0. After half-time, we had to score another goal.
“The same after half-time. It was the same as before half-time. We lose control and we conceded the goal, you could see it coming. I already prepared the sub and I was a little bit too late.”
SN’s verdict…
As Ten Hag points out, drawing after going two goals to the good is never a nice feeling but with roughly four weeks left of the season, the focus will still be to finish in the top four and United have their fate in their own hands.
United do, however, have a tough run of fixtures coming up and they cannot afford to be as complacent as they were in the second half against Tottenham.
Away from home, there has been a pattern of letting the home side dictate the tempo far too much when United have taken the lead and that is something Ten Hag will be keen to address sooner rather than later.