The game that few were looking forward to ended in a dramatic 2-2 draw, with goals from Mathys Tel and Richarlison for Tottenham, and Bryan Mbeumo and Matthijs de Ligt for United.
On balance, a draw was probably the fair result, but this was a game that left both sets of fans looking for answers as to why their sides were so dysfunctional.
Guglielmo Vicario 4 Sparingly tested, which is probably a blessing – a woeful 66% passing accuracy, which fell to just 18% in the opposition half. Questions will be asked about that late equalising header – just the one high claim. Conceded twice, but still called a solid shot stopper by those who don’t watch football.
Pedro Porro 4 Struggled like hell. A passing accuracy of just 66%. 12 crosses, of which just one found a Spurs player. Tried 7 long passes, only one of them was accurate.
Micky Van de Ven 6 Off the boil by recent standards, but came through well enough, thanks to some strong defending.
Djed Spence 6 Good defensively, but lost the ball 14 times. Out of position, much?
Paulinha 7 Great passing, made 5 recoveries and won 7 ground duels.
Pape Matar Sarr 5 Another duff showing, and people wonder about our midfield.
Brennan Johnson 4 Another masterclass, lost possession 18 times, and wandered about with an ‘Aw, shucks’ look on his face for most of the game.
Xavi Simons 7 One of his best showings yet, underlined by an authoritative 90% passing accuracy, and just 6 unsuccessful touches all game. More, please.
Richarlison 5 Got lots wrong, scored the temporary winner.
Muani 5 Looked out of sorts, subbed at half-time.
Honourable mentions: Amad Diallo (7.8 avg) and Senne Lammens (8.0 avg) for United; Destiny Udogie (7.3 avg) and Wilson Odobert (7.0 avg) for Spurs as impact subs. The match was chaotic in stoppage time, with United snatching a point via de Ligt’s header.
