Premier League

TOTTENHAM 2 (Sarr 49, Martinez 83 og)
MANCHESTER UNITED 0

TOTTENHAM and the phrase “transitional season” are all too regular bedfellows. But this term perhaps the new coach, new ideas excuse won’t be needed.

This evening (Saturday) Spurs, on Ange Postecoglou’s home debut as manager, were exceptional.

They outclassed Manchester United right across the pitch, earning a 2-0 win courtesy of a neat finish from Pape Matar Sarr and an own-goal from Lisandro Martinez.

Tottenham, who for four years have been the purveyors of an acute form of miserable football, played with invention, aggression and belief. In a few short weeks Postecoglou has changed the script.

Perhaps the tools were in place when Antonio Conte was in charge, and the club just needed the right mechanic to put them to good use.

The new Spurs boss had chosen Sarr ahead of Oliver Skipp – and his decision bore fruit as the Senegalese 20-year-old put in a barnstorming display.

“He’s been great from the moment I arrived,” purred Postecoglou. “He has a great energy about him but he has quality too. He’s one of these midfielders who really causes issues for opponents. He has a great temperament, he was outstanding.”

Sarr’s work-rate was mimicked across the board. His teammates out fought, as well as out thought, their opponents.

Postecoglou added: “It was good. We looked a bit nervous at the start, which was not surprising, considering we had a couple of 20-year-olds out there.

“United had the better of the chances at first, but we worked our way into the game and in spells showed the type of team we want to be. There’s a long way to go but I liked the resilience and bravery.”

Sarr – who cost Spurs in the region of £14million – was up against United’s £65m summer signing Mason Mount. Mount, alongside Casemiro, aimed to give United some chunk and heft in the middle of the park, but they could not get anywhere near Tottenham’s dynamic trio of Sarr, James Maddison and Yves Bissouma.

As Postecoglou noted, United began faster with Bruno Fernandes at the heart of their threat. But the home side quickly found their bearings and grew into the game.

Spurs were looking sharp, and on 24 minutes Heung-Min Son motored past Aaron Wan-Bissaka. The Tottenham captain was fouled as he went through, but still managed to find Sarr, who in turn tee’d up Dejan Kulusevski. His low shot was smothered.

The north Londoners went even closer on 39 minutes when Pedro Porro hammered an effort against the United crossbar – the rebound also then being turned against a post.

From the ensuing scramble, Richarlison was poised to bring the house down as the ball fell loose, but in a sequence similar to goal-shy forward Roberto Soldado’s bad luck up front, it bounced awkwardly away from his boot.

Tottenham did not let up. Minutes after the restart, Maddison took the ball out and then checked, came back across the pitch and altered the direction of play. Kulusevski got down the line and his cross fell for Sarr to smash home.

The opener gave the home team added confidence and they ran United ragged. The scoreline, however, remained respectable through a mixture of hurried finishing, good defending and luck.

United never really threatened. When Spurs added a second – this time from an Ivan Perisic cross that evaded Ben Davies’s air-kick but took a nick off Martinez – it was all their performance deserved.

This victory felt like it signified the genuine end of the Mauricio Pochettino era. Harry Kane has gone, Eric Dier was not in the squad and Hugo Lloris is on his way out of the club. The only players left are Son, Davies and Davinson Sanchez.

It feels like the players know it’s time to create new heroes – Bissouma has, for example, in two games stamped his place on Tottenham’s season. It feels like the midfielder’s form is going to be a season barometer.

Above all, there is a collective ethos that bodes well, and the difference to Conte’s scared-of-their-shadows football is off the scale.

Tottenham: Vicario, Porro (Royal, 87), Romero, van de Ven, Udogie (Davies, 69), Sarr (Hojbjerg, 75), Bissouma, Kulusevski (Solomon, 87), Maddison, Son, Richarlison (Perisic, 69)
Substitutes not used: Forster, Sanchez, Lo Celso, Skipp

Manchester United: Onana, Wan-Bissaka (Dalot, 66), Varane, Martinez, Shaw, Casemiro, Mount (Pellistri, 83), Antony, (Eriksen, 65), Fernandes, Garnacho (Sancho, 65), Rashford (Martial, 85)
Substitutes not used: Henderson, Vitek, Lindelof, McTominay