Tottenham 3 - 0 United

DDG

Fosu-Mensah(Darmian) Smalling Blind Rojo

Carrick Schneiderlin

Mata(Memphis) Lingard Martial

Rashford(Young)

Despite our record at White Hart Lane, you’d have to be a tad deluded if you thought we were going to beat a high flying Tottenham team. We’re 5^th and they’re 2^nd for a reason; they’re simply better than us. Having said that, I thought we held our ground for 70 minutes. Yes, even before the 70^th, they had better chances than us but what did you expect? They were playing at home and have the title in sight. Surely that’s enough motivation to attack. As for our team, I thought we had a good first half but things got a bit messed up after the break. LVG managed to baffle me one more time when he decided to play Ashley Young as a striker. I have absolutely no idea what was the intention behind that move. It’s simply not fair on Ashley, he looked clueless up front.

We won’t get in next season’s Champions League after today’s loss BUT there are a few positives:

1.      LVG will not save his job if he won the FA Cup (we’re getting eliminated this Wednesday by West Ham....mark my words).  Perhaps not getting into the Champions League is a bit of a blessing; LVG must go after this season’s final game. The people directing Manchester United evidently do not care about anything else other than money. Missing out on a Champions League campaign will hit the Glazer’s pockets hard. They will act and LVGs head will be the first to go. We never really had any luck with the Argies but I really like Simeone as a manager, what he’s done and is still doing at Athletico is impressive. Oh, and add Pochettino, another Argentinean, to the list of managers I like. 
2.       Fosu-Mensah is a beast. His positional discipline is still quite poor but he’s got other parts of the game right. This might only be a coincidence, but as soon as Darmian replaced the Dutchman we conceded three goals; two of them were the result of a cross from Darmian’s side. If I was a betting man, I’d bet a grand on Fosu-Mensah making it at Manchester United. I’ve said it before; I’m still not convinced about Rashford and Lingard but I am convinced about Fosu-Mensah. He’ll become a very good player.
3.     In a flash of brilliance, Martial showed us that he’s capable of changing/winning games. Early in the second half, he got the ball and did ever so well to get past three or four players. His shot, however, was straight at the keeper. He’s 19, he’s bound to improve. If he gets better in front of goal, then we have a real match winner in our side. If he finished that chance, we’d be probably praising LVG for deploying his team excellently away from home. Football is a funny old game...
4.     No matter how much criticism I read online, I still think that we weren’t as atrocious as some of our own fans said we were. There were some spells during the first half when we were better than them. We went to sleep for 6 minutes and paid the price. Tottenham fully deserved to win but a 3-0 score line isn’t just and does not reflect entirely what happened during the game.

Don’t let past campaigns blind you, Tottenham have become a very good side and we’ve decreased our level; some people just don’t want to accept that. That’s the beauty of supporting this great football club; it’s a rollercoaster of emotions that make you feel alive and I wouldn’t want to have it any other way. We’ll experience past riches again, no doubt, today’s pain will only make future successes feel even sweeter.

West Ham away next; our only hope to save this season. West Ham will be up for their big day and I don’t really expect us to go through but I’d be absolutely buzzing if we did. I was only 13 when I last saw United win the FA Cup. Come on United!