Man Utd 1-1 Spurs: Ten men, one point, no excuses

Spurs came to Old Trafford with two league goals all season and left with a point after playing the last quarter of an hour with ten men. That's the result. Everything else is detail, and none of the detail is good.

United are on six points from six games, the worst start since 1986, according to the Guardian. The only league win this season came against Ipswich.

Seventy minutes of not much

For most of the afternoon this was a slog. Carrick wants his teams to control games. There was close to none of that.

Senne Lammens almost gifted Spurs a goal early on, a loose pass picked off by Lucas Bergvall and rolled to Dominic Solanke, who did what Spurs strikers have done all season and failed to finish. Lammens dawdled again later when Lisandro Martínez tapped the ball back to him on his own line, before finally hoofing it clear.

Youri Tielemans waited for a ball to bounce in midfield and Spurs were suddenly away. Leny Yoro, picked at right-back, had to slide in to save us. Archie Gray hit the post.

Honestly, Spurs were the better side for long spells.

Then a moment of quality

On 73 minutes, Luke Shaw fed Matheus Cunha down the left, Cunha crossed, and Bryan Mbeumo spun and finished. Old Trafford responded with chants about Manchester City's legal troubles, and for a few minutes everything felt fine.

It didn't last. Shaw chased a Bruno Fernandes pass, Rodrigo Bentancur launched a scissor challenge at him, and Shaw went after him. The Guardian's Jamie Jackson thought Shaw was lucky to escape a red himself for the shove. Bentancur put his head into Shaw's and was sent off; Shaw and Jan Paul van Hecke were booked.

Ten men. A goal up. Fifteen minutes to see it out.

And then this

In added time Sandro Tonali floated a cross in from the left. Martínez should have cleared it. Solanke outmuscled him and headed past Lammens, who watched it go in.

It was only Tottenham's third league goal of the season.

One bright spot

Carlos Baleba came on for his debut around the hour mark and, almost straight away, spun and flicked a pass into Fernandes's path. Nobody else in that midfield had tried anything like it all afternoon. Small thing. It stood out.

Verdict

You can't lose control of a game against ten men who can't score and call it bad luck. That's two points thrown away, and it set up a week that only got worse in Madrid.

Carrick called himself "massively disappointed" afterwards, per the Guardian. He wasn't the only one.