Premier League

MANCHESTER UNITED 2 (Fred 47, Fernandes 69)
TOTTENHAM 0

ANTONIO Conte was quick to criticise his players after Tottenham’s tepid away form this season continued tonight (Wednesday) with a 2-0 defeat at Manchester United.

Goals from Fred and Bruno Fernandes were enough to settle the tie and condemn Conte’s men to their second defeat this term – and if it were not for the brilliance of Hugo Lloris in the Spurs goal, it could have been a much heavier defeat as United ran their visitors ragged.

“You can lose this type of game but at the same time we have to show much more,” said Conte afterwards. “I think we can do much more than today. We have to be honest and say United deserved to win, they started well and created chances to score.

“Instead, on our side, we didn’t start the game. It was really difficult also because we made a lot of simple mistakes.

“I have to be honest, this was not the first time for us this season. The table is good but every time we play a high-level game we struggle. Against Chelsea we drew. Against Arsenal we lost. Today against United we lost.

“For sure, when the level is high we are going to struggle. This means we have to continue to work to improve.”

Reflecting on Tottenham’s title chances, Conte added: “There is only one way to try to work. The approach of the game, we were a bit scared and we showed this. I do not like this.

“The table is good for us but in our mind and the mind of our players we need the ambition to play this game in a different way, with more personality, and to not miss stupid passes.

“Sometimes I hear we are title contenders. I think we need time. In 11 months you cannot pass from ninth place to a year later title contenders.”

Yet the trip to Old Trafford all started well for Tottenham, with United’s defence looking unsure and tentative in the first 10 minutes. Spurs had plenty of the ball in dangerous areas, but would later rue their wastefulness.

Any early optimism in the away end soon disappeared as United got into gear. Winger Antony went narrowly wide early on from distance in United’s first coherent attack.

It quickly became one-way traffic. Lloris got down well to a Marcus Rashford effort on 20 minutes, and then moments later, Fred was bundled over by Cristian Romero centrally and Fernandes fired in a free-kick on target that Lloris had to acrobatically tip over.

Then Luke Shaw tried his luck with a volley, and Lloris once more got to it, completing three great saves in three minutes.

Lloris had been by far the busier keeper but there was little he could do about the opener from Fred early in the second half. The shot looked pretty harmless until it took a huge deflection off Ben Davies, leaving Lloris wrong-footed as the ball trickled into the far corner.

Up the other end, Tottenham almost replied immediately, with Harry Kane getting off a shot from distance that was defected wide. It was a rare moment of attacking intent from the north Londoners.

Spurs spent much of the game pressed back in their own half, but it was immediately after Kane had seen a close range effort blocked by David de Gea that United doubled their lead.

On 68 minutes, Fernandes hit a spectacular second for United when he pounced on a loose ball and curled a shot beyond Lloris’s despairing dive.

Tottenham looked like they knew they were beaten from the moment the first goal went in – and after the second, it felt very much like damage limitation.

United will not meet more out of sorts opponents this season. It was a disappointing night: flat, sloppy in possession and without any genuine attacking threat. Erik ten Hag’s team were worthy winners.

Manchester United: De Gea, Shaw, Martinez, Varane, Dalot, Casemiro (Eriksen, 86), Fred, Fernandes, Antony (McTominay, 75), Sancho (Elanga, 86), Rashford
Substitutes not used: Lindelof, Ronaldo, Malacia, Heaton, Pellistri, Ferreyra

Tottenham: Lloris, Romero, Dier (Sanchez, 81), Davies, Doherty (Sessegnon, 81), Bentancur (Skipp, 88), Bissouma (Moura, 81), Hojbjerg, Perisic (Spence, 88), Son, Kane
Substitutes not used: Gil, Forster, Tanganga, Lenglet