Kyle Walker’s own-goal gifted Manchester United an opening day win over Spurs at Saturday lunchtime.
The right-back converted the ball into his own net whilst attempting to dispossess Wayne Rooney in-front of goal, and that was all that was needed to give Louis van Gaal a win on his 64th birthday.
Christian Eriksen and Nacer Chadli were the visitor’s most potent threats, but United were rarely tested and probably deserved their slender victory after a resolute defensive performance that will be encouraging to the Old Trafford faithful after last year’s woes at the back.
Instead, it was the other end of the pitch that offered reason for concern after just one shot on goal, but likewise for Spurs, stand-in captain Harry Kane was unable to produce the form of last season, and with the inconsistent Erik Lamela as Pochettino’s only response that could be offered from the bench, United held out for a narrow win.
Most of the pre-game build-up had been surrounding a new-look Manchester United side that was handing debuts to as many as four summer signings, but it was infact the familiar faces of Spurs who started off the better.
Kane found Eriksen with a delightful scooped ball over the United defence on four minutes, but the Dane’s chip could only find the roof of Sergio Romero’s net in what was probably the North London side’s best chance of the game.
Walker then found himself beyond the host’s back four after getting on the wrong side of Luke Shaw, but the right-back’s first touch let him down and allowed Romero to close the shot down.
It would not be the first the England international’s touch would let him down, except on 22 minutes, the outcome would be much more calamitous and costly to his side.
The 25-year-old did well to make up 50 yards of space after a stray ball allowed Ashley Young the opportunity to find Wayne Rooney free in the box, but Walker’s last-ditch tackle on United’s captain only diverted the ball into the corner of Michael Vorm’s goal.
It was undoubtedly a turning point as United then became the aggressors, but efforts on goal were limited and Juan Mata’s half-volley was as good as it got for the remainder of the half with van Gaal’s team content to sit on what was probably an undeserved lead.
Pochettino opted to introduce Tom Carroll in the early stages of the second half with the hope of recapturing the spell that saw them dominate the early stages, but the game instead became scrappy with United more than happy to use every trick in the book to see their way through the game.
Bastian Schweinsteiger came on and was booked almost instantly after a reckless tackle to prevent Chadli breaking, before Ashley Young earnt a questionable free-kick with an effort that would perhaps look more in place at an aquatic centre.
But credit to United, after being given what was perhaps an undeserved lead, they defended impressively with debutants Matteo Darmian and Romero virtually faultless, and nulled the threat of Harry Kane, which was always going to be key to any victory the hosts would earn.
The high-pressure game that created much of Spurs’ joy in the opening twenty minutes became more and more ineffective as the Englishman – who has just two pre-season games under his belt – began to fatigue, and in the end it was relatively straight-forward for the hosts.
Reduced to pot shots, Eriksen’s piledriver in the closing stages was as close as they came to breaking van Gaal’s resolute wall, but today, it proved unbreakable, and United earnt a win that their manager will be delighted with.
Despite the loss, Pochettino will be reassured by what he saw in spells, but the ineffectiveness of his man men in the second half underlines the lack of depth at the club.
Whether deals for Charlie Austin or Saido Berahino can be thrashed out remains to be seen, but today’s showing proves that attacking reinforcements remain a necessity and the Argentinian needs to open his cheque book sooner rather than later to avoid falling too far behind in the race for a top four spot.
