Manchester United earned a creditable draw against Tottenham and former manager Jose Mourinho but it is likely to be a negative result in the chase for a top four place.

Bruno Fernandes’ penalty salvaged a well-deserved point, but United at times appeared as vulnerable as they were impressive, a theme which you could say underlines their entire season.

One positive aspect to take from the game was the impressive and pro-active attitude taken by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. One could question his selection – more on that in a minute – but this was an ambitious United team looking to get the right result.

After twenty-one minutes, Bruno Fernandes’ cross was missed by the Spurs defence. Maybe it caught Rashford unprepared – the striker lashed a shot but it was straight at Lloris, who saved with his feet.

United’s shape appeared good in the first ‘quarter’, save for one moment where Luke Shaw was caught between a rock and a hard place in his position – and his team were lucky that it was Serge Aurier and not a better, more clinical full-back on the other side. Shaw was the unfortunate victim of an approach which had Marcus Rashford in a role free of defensive discipline on that left.

That lack of protection proved costly. Shaw’s header to Rashford from a Spurs goal-kick was wayward. Bergwijn intercepted and charged forward with the ball. Both Fred and Maguire ought to have done better as the Dutch schemer skidded between them both. David De Gea should have done better as the Spurs player hit a shot in his direction. Four players culpable as Spurs took a lead they scarcely deserved on the balance of play until that point, but a lead they most certainly did going into the break.

Mourinho’s side were comfortable and even closer to a second – soon after the goal, Shaw was caught out of position again and Son’s header from the cross forced De Gea into a superb save, earning some retribution for the Spaniard.

Spurs went narrow and United’s creative influences seemed toothless. Bruno Fernandes was suitably frustrated to shoot from 30 yards just to give Lloris some work before the break.

Solskjaer’s side were positive after the interval. Fernandes had a shot just wide on 54 minutes and then Paul Pogba and Mason Greenwood were introduced, with an instant impact. There was an increase in threat and intensity and Martial should have scored twice within five minutes of the changes – the first effort blocked by Dier, the second saved brilliantly.

With ten minutes to go Pogba won a penalty and Fernandes put it away – this coming soon after a formation shift to 3-4-3 with Matic and McTominay at centre-half. In injury time, Greenwood came close to a dramatic winner with an effort that went just wide. That chance came soon after United had been awarded a penalty, which was overturned – justly – by VAR.

A draw was fair on the balance – United were more adventurous, but again seemed to be punished for their shortcomings.

Formation

Solskjaer surprised most by leaving Pogba on the bench. But Matic, too? There were also two workers in midfield, paying Spurs much more credit for their movement than they perhaps deserve under Mourinho. United were more ambitious than Spurs but less than they have been and probably paid the price for that.

The ironic part of that assessment is of course that a huge price was paid for the blind spot on the left side. It was a game of four halves thanks to the water breaks – the second half was one Spurs took full advantage of, and United were unable to turn the tide the other way, despite some nice proactive moves from Solskjaer.

Selection

So let’s be frank – Paul Pogba was very impressive when he came on. The consequential argument is that he should have started, and if he had, United would have had a better chance of winning the game. Sure – but United were the better team before this, and Solskjaer is on a long-term project with long-term relationships in mind. Was this just a little nudge to say Pogba couldn’t expect to walk back in?

Nemanja Matic could probably say he deserved to start. But, one could reason that Scott McTominay’s goal against Manchester City all those years ago had done enough to earn the start.

Dan James did not have the best game. Luke Shaw’s poor game was probably the manager’s fault more than the player’s. Victor Lindelof did not have the best game but is low on the rank of the emergencies.

United could argue they deserved a little more from the game. They might also have got less. Solskjaer therefore perhaps earns a 6/10.

Roy Keane slaughtered David De Gea on his punditry role for Sky. But it was a little harsh. Maguire and Fred ought to have stopped that run before the shot. Hopefully De Gea is allowed on the bus.

A whole new game

Well, that was our first experience of football that definitely hasn’t been shoehorned into a return for the benefit of one single football club. As a consumer (can we be called supporters or even fans any more), what did I make of the experience? The audio feed for the ‘crowd noise’ was so loud that it was distracting trying to listen to the commentators.

Thankfully that isn’t the case for the players but does it make it better that they are playing in a sterile, quiet environment? All quarters of this game started like it was a training session with players doing things they might not normally do. This is football, but it’s really not.

Is it better than nothing?

All of the changes leave the impression that this is a mini-season within a season. A mini-season where all the prizes that were being fought for in the proper season are now all going to be awarded based on what happens in these next couple of weeks with these proceedings wrapped up and presented to you as though it’s football as normal.

Hey, look – United drew at Spurs, and there’s nothing too extraordinary about that,  and we might have been having all the exact same arguments in normal circumstances. So it’s a means to an end. But is it really worth it?

It’s nice to have football back, but watching it without the fans, you can’t help but feel a little bit of football as we knew it died. You have to have a concern that some people are looking at this as a viable way forward and not worse than a last resort.

Well, I’ll be looking forward to talking to Paul Parker about it on Monday morning – Paul was at the game commentating, and will bring us his views on Talking Devils.

Ratings :

De Gea 6

Wan-Bissaka 6

Lindelof 6

Maguire 6

Shaw 6

Fred 6

McTominay 6

Fernandes 8

James 5

Martial 5

Rashford 6

Subs :

Pogba 7

Greenwood 7

Ighalo N/A

Matic N/A

Bailly N/A