Immediate collapse or how it all went wrong for Manchester United at Wembley

Hello guys!

On wednesday Manchester United played against Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley. A game which was hyped up as it should've been but a game which was a dissapointment for me. I wanted to take time and talk about the game and explain what I saw.

So the game at Wembley, like any game that takes place at the biggest stadium in England, had a lot of hype around it. Both teams had to be prepared mentally and physically.
1st minute, long ball up top, Spurs are 1-0 up. A shocking start for United to which they responded immediately, well at least for the next 10 minutes. United were all over Spurs but couldn't score and fell back and everything started to go wrong from there. A lack of pressure from Mourinho's side ended up with countless opportunities for Spurs and Harry Kane. It is fair to say that Harry Kane didn't have his shooting boots on but he didn't even need them. A constant pressure from Spurs led up to a Phil Jones own goal, a goal which was coming. 1st half over, game over. So how did United lose?

Weak tactics from Mourinho

Before the game started Jose Mourinho sent the United side onto the pitch in a 4-2-3-1 formation. In a formation which has 2 deep lying midfielders and an attacking midfielder. For United the deep lying midfielders were Matic and Paul Pogba. It is known that Paul Pogba, despite his fantastic ability on the ball, can not play in double pivot midfield with Nemanja Matic, especially in the big games. A poor positioning from Pogba left a lot of space for Spurs in the midfield on which they capitalized and controlled the midfield for the entire game. Gaps which even could not be recovered by Nemanja Matic who also had an arguably worst game of his United career. With losing the midfield battle to Spurs United's midfield had no connection to their front 4 and it wasn't a surprise that United's best moments came from individual highlights instead of a well worked build up plays.

Disasterclass from Paul Pogba

It is fair to say that the game against Spurs will slot into Paul Pogba's worst games of his career so far. Going against the strong midfield of Tottenham Matic and Pogba needed to win the battle in the midfield. Yes, Paul Pogba did not play in his preferred position but at the end of the day he is a midfielder and should have the ability to play every position in the midfield. A bad decisions and horrible positioning from the frenchman cost United the space in midfield.

Bad calls from Jose

To add to Jose Mourinho's bad tactical preparation for the game, Jose made even worse substitutions. After being 2-0 down at the half time, United needed a spark for the 2nd half and a formation change was needed. Anthony Martial needed to get substituted for Ander Herrera and United needed to change their formation into a 4-3-3. Mourinho made 0 substitutions at the half and the game didn't see any changes in the gameplay. Mourinho's bad night got a worse turn when he subbed Fellaini on for Jesse Lingard and Juan Mata for Paul Pogba. Losing Lingard meant that United didn't have the ability to press Spurs centre backs anymore since Romelu Lukaku's pressure was non-existent. Losing Pogba, despite his terrible positioning, meant that United lost an ability to hold the ball in their possession and to create chances. To add to that Marouane Fellaini got immediately injured and needed to get subbed. In came Ander Herrera whose input didn't impact the game.

Thanks for reading, these were my thoughts about the game and I do think that if United wants to compete on the higher levels then Jose can not let these things happen again. It is fair to say that United lost the game before it started.