Just over two years on from hitting Manchester United for six at Old Trafford, Tottenham looked a world away from that side on Wednesday evening. Falling to a 2-0 defeat following goals from Fred and Bruno Fernandes, Spurs were second best across the park and did not deserve a single thing from the contest.
They were incredibly lucky to have left the Theatre of Dreams having only conceded the two goals given Manchester United's dominance from the very first minute. Hugo Lloris was kept incredibly busy across the 90 minutes and produced some incredible saves to deny the likes of Marcus Rashford, Luke Shaw and the two goalscorers.
On an evening when Lloris was at his very best and did not deserve to be on the losing side, the same cannot be said about his Tottenham teammates. A huge game when every player's output should have increased significantly, the levels instead went the other way which will be rather concerning for Antonio Conte.
READ MORE: Antonio Conte's unsubtle Daniel Levy message, the Bentancur insult and a weird press conference
Far too many of the team dropped way below their normal performance levels and ultimately shrank, culminating in the Red Devils delivering them a footballing lesson. That should not have happened at all in a contest away at one of their top-six rivals.
A large number of Conte's trusted lieutenants, apart from the incredible Lloris, did not perform and made life incredibly simple for the hosts as they turned over the ball with ease time after time. Cristian Romero, who let Rashford run off him far too easily in the first half for his chance on goal, was uncharacteristically sloppy throughout and even reckless at times.
Far from the levels he achieved week in, week out last campaign, at one point late on the Argentina international just ambled back to his position when he was midway inside United's half despite the hosts breaking quickly. Eric Dier was also far from convincing and endured a game he will want to forget in a hurry, with the centre-back poor defensively, ponderous and wasteful on the ball.
Playing a role in United's first with a poor ball to Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg which was easily cut out, his performance was summed up by a simple pass to Matt Doherty in the first half that went straight out of play when he was a matter of yards away from his teammate. Tottenham's midfield were also out of sorts despite switching to a 3-5-2 and having an extra body in there.
Yves Bissouma did not do his case for another start any favours with a poor display on the ball, Hojbjerg could not have a big impact on proceedings as he has done all season and Rodrigo Bentancur's composure on the ball was missing. Towards the end of the first half there was even a moment went Conte berated the Uruguayan for giving the ball away and the midfielder fired straight back at him and wouldn't back down at all.
Going forward, Doherty showed some good early signs in the final third but faded as the game progressed, while Ivan Perisic was unable to have a big say on the game despite his experience of playing on the big stage. Son Heung-min and Harry Kane as a result saw very little of the ball with Tottenham surrendering possession in and around their own box far too easily, with the duo doing very little when they were on the ball in United's half.
Despite faring well away at Manchester City and Liverpool last season, it has been a different story for Spurs when they have travelled to the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United this time around. Appearing that there is a fear factor when Spurs play away at the big clubs, football.london asked Conte in his post-match press conference why the team seem scared.
"You know that in this type of game I think you need to arrive and don't make big mistakes and you need to arrive with great concentration and with great focus ready," explained the Italian. "You need to arrive with a war inside of you, a sporting war. You need to arrive in this way with the war inside of you, ready to fight a war, and you have to know that at the end of the game, you die or your opponent dies.
"I think today, from the start not much under this aspect. We can improve, we need to continue to work, and for sure, it is right with the club also to analyse very well why when we are going to play this type of game where the level is very high, we are struggling. I repeat, we can work a lot on the pitch, but we need to continue to work in many aspects."
The levels dropping rather than increasing tenfold on such a big evening is inexcusable and there must be a response on Sunday when Newcastle United visit Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. While Tottenham have been very good at home this campaign and put teams to the sword, it's on nights like Wednesday when they need to prove their worth and demonstrate that they can more than mix it against the Premier League's best.
Not the case so far away at Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United, Conte is going to need a repeat of the Man City and Liverpool showings when they travel to the Etihad and Anfield later in the season.
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