Tottenham brought new disappointment to Manchester United by winning 4-3 in the quarter-final of the League Cup on Thursday after a completely crazy match where Spurs, who led 3-0, are scared.
Tottenham were invited to the semi-final of the League Cup after a rather crazy match against Manchester United (4-3), who made a formidable comeback without succeeding. The “Spurs” led 3-0, experienced a cold sweat at 3-2, caught their breath in the 88th on a direct corner from Son Heung-min (4-2), then they held it again after the reduction of the score in added time (90th + 5, 4-3). The scenario of the match summed up the irregularity of the two teams, whose defenses were too fragile but whose play was sometimes spectacular.
Amorim regrets eight-minute disconnection
Tottenham will face defending champion Liverpool in the next round. Arsenal and Newcastle will compete for the other ticket to the final. Thursday, Ange Postecoglou had thrown all his strength into the battle, at least those that remained: between injuries (Vicario, Romero, Udogie, van de Ven, Richarlison, Odobert…) illness (Werner) and suspension (Bentancour), “We had ten players unavailable this evening for one reason or another,” he summarized afterwards.
Opposite, Ruben Amorim had launched the No. 2 goalkeeper Altay Bayindir, tried to revive the missing winger Antony, and offered a second start to the young French defender Leny Yoro, injured shortly after his transfer this summer. On the other hand, there was still no room for Marcus Rashford, even on the bench, like Sunday against Manchester City (2-1). The new coach no longer seems to want to sting the attacker, but rather to see him leave.
The “Red Devils”, harmless for a long time, suffered from the high intensity football of the “Spurs” and cracked quite quickly: Bayindir repelled a floating strike from Pedro Porro but Dominic Solanke followed (15th, 1-0). The locals widened their lead at the start of the second period by Dejan Kulusevski (46th, 2-0) then Solanke again (54th, 3-0), seeming to draw a definitive line on the game. But Tottenham is very used to slumps in the middle of a match and Manchester United took advantage of it, under the double effect of Amorim’s coaching and Fraser Forster’s errors.
The English goalkeeper was first guilty of a pass that was too soft, then of a clearance that was too late, and these two early Christmas gifts were exploited by Joshua Zirkzee (64th, 3-1) and Amad Diallo (70th, 3-2), two starters. However, on one of the rare crumbs left by the Mancunians, the “Spurs” managed to regain some air: captain Son Heung-min scored a nice direct corner, after having obtained it himself (88th, 4-2).
Manchester United reduced the gap as the final whistle approached, also from a corner, but it was not enough. “We went offline for eight minutes at the start of the second half and I think we lost the game here,” Amorim said. “We weren’t the better team throughout the game, but I think we were most of the time.”
League Cup quarter-final results:
Arsenal – Crystal Palace 3-2
Newcastle – Brentford 3-1
Southampton – Liverpool 1-2
Tottenham – Manchester United 4-3
