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There's something to be said for ugly football and even more for the glory of carnage. With such reasoning in mind, Manchester United and Tottenham served the greater good more than their own interests in a wonderful and bonkers tango on Saturday afternoon. The barest of facts will cover the gist of it – Ruben Amorim’s side led from the 32nd minute until the 84th and trailed from the 91st to the 96th, by which point they were down to 10 men. That it still finished level is something the marketeers will flog as the magic of the Premier League, when the truth brushes closer to the madness of two teams who cannot be trusted. As neutrals, we shouldn’t take the latter as a criticism. It is beautiful thing to embrace dysfunctionality as a form of entertainment and this engagement had it in spades for those of us without vested interests. For United and Amorim, the pain will be more acute, even if there was a salvation of sorts at the death. They dominated the first half, or rather they were allowed to take control by virtue of Tottenham’s ongoing failure to find a sustainable threat under Thomas Frank. Their lead through Bryan Mbeumo was deserved and, for so long, appeared decisive against a side that managed a dismal three touches in the United area in the first half. But then came the spins and undulations and a failure to build on a promising position – a theme of Amorim’s management distilled into a few chaotic minutes. First, Mathys Tel pulled Tottenham level, which was bad enough, but then it got worse. Benjamin Sesko, who had been dropped and only entered the pitch from the bench after 58 minutes, was taken off injured, by which point United had used all their substitutes. Suddenly, they were forced to hang on, but that plan went to pot when Richarlison, so poor in the first half, deflected a Wilson Odobert drive past Senne Lammens. It appeared to go in off his ear, but for Frank that was irrelevant. For Frank, that did not matter. Given how much grumbling there has been about his side’s style, it was possibly even a vindication of the grubby things in life. Except, there was still another twist and that came in the final minute of the six set aside for stoppages. United won a corner – Tottenham’s single forte this season – and up went Lammens in desperation. Spurs eyes drifted to his presence and none followed Matthijs de Ligt, especially those of Brennan Johnson. A free header at the back post saved the day. With it, United extended their unbeaten run to five, but still it felt like a light accounting. They ought to have been out of sight at 1-0, even if they were less than effective. For now, United will have to settle for lesser symbols of progress. On that front, Amorim achieved one with his tactical adjustments here, which went against notions of his rigidity. Ignoring for a moment the changes that Amorim made to his personnel, which saw three alterations led by the demotion of Sesko, there was a masterstroke buried within a tweak to their configuration. The maligned 3-4-3 remained the same, but it saw Mbeumo shifted from the right of United’s trident to the left and a role that included mentoring duties for Patrick Dorgu. Quite aside from Mbeumo’s instructions to Dorgu, which made for a strong collaboration, Frank’s former hitman at Brentford also had success in his duel with Pedro Porro. That was one area where United prevailed in the first half. The other came from resisting a Spurs attack that was energetic but limited in its imagination, which is something of an ongoing allegation. Frank’s efforts to shift the trend featured three changes to the side that beat Copenhagen in the Champions League, with the upshot that he used Richarlison and Randal Kolo Muani in the same attack for the first time. It proved to be a mixed experiment – Kolo Muani’s movements were again out of sync with those behind him and he was hooked at half-time. Richarlison? He blew Tottenham’s best chance of the first period at 0-0. That move was orchestrated by Brennan Johnson, Spurs’ most lively player, and involved a feint to sidestep Dorgu before he bent a near-perfect cross into the space between Harry Maguire and de Ligt. Richarlison was handed the gift of a free header and botched it royally – contact with the ball came from his shoulder. Coupled with the minor farce of the opening minute, when Lammens allowed a De Ligt backpass to roll under his boot for a Tottenham corner, it initially felt as though United’s day would be characterised by their vulnerabilities. But much like that corner, which was ballooned straight out of play by Porro, Spurs mainly failed to make a dent. Credit to United on that front – they Tottenham’s pressure to come from the wings, as ever, and Amorim’s full-backs were mainly comfortable in handling it. If Frank had more dynamism in central midfield, they may have exploited the weakest area in Amorim’s plan, but that was moot. They dearly miss the collective strengths of Dejan Kulusevski, James Maddison and Dominic Solanke. With the threats against them limited, United were allowed to capitalise, with Mbeumo’s goal tracing to errors in Tottenham’s defence, and most conspicuously from Pape Matar Sarr. Facing his own goal and surrounded, he opted against hacking clear and instead landed Micky van de Ven in a world of trouble by rolling short. With the ball swallowed by a swarm of United shirts, Amad Diallo was eventually free to cross and Mbeumo was given space by Johnson to head past Guglielmo Vicario. By the close of the half, it was the game’s only shot on goal. More damningly, Spurs had only three touches in the United area. Pitiful. Their improvement after the break was understated but clear. Not so much in terms of output, but in a switch of control away from United. The early warning came from a pair of shots of goal within 60 seconds of each other, and the need for Lammens to pull off reaction saves from Cristian Romero and Joao Palhinha. That suggested a change in the game’s flow, helped by Frank’s assortment of substitutions, which laid the groundwork for the fight back. Both Destiny Udogie and Tel were part of the cavalry charge and it was the former’s cross that Tel gathered before spinning De Ligt and firing past Lammens. At that stage, it seemed like the best Tottenham might hope for. But then Richarlison had his moment, which was the first twist. The next, via De Ligt’s header at the far post, was madder still.
