Roberto De Zerbi 'In Disbelief' At Solanke Amid Chaos in Man Utd vs Tottenham

· GiveMeSport

Tottenham looked set to throw away a golden opportunity for a first three points and the Spurs boss couldn't believe what he was watching.

Roberto De Zerbi couldn't believe what he was seeing at Old Trafford as his Tottenham side laboured to throw away a golden opportunity for their first win of the season at Manchester United .

Coming back off the international break rooted to the foot of the Premier League table and without a victory in five this term, Spurs could have fooled most observers into thinking it was the hosts who were propping up the top flight.

An energetic team performance from the outset caught Michael Carrick's men on the hop, and it seemed inevitable that Tottenham would capitalise on the home side's own struggles to kickstart their season at long last.

Bryan Mbeumo ultimately made the visitors pay for not punishing United while they could by scoring the opener after 77 minutes, derailing the improvements Spurs showed on the day, with Rodrigo Bentancur's late red card only compounding matters.

Dominic Solanke then nodded a late equaliser in injury time to show some vital fight from the 10 men of Tottenham, but the striker had arguably been as responsible as anyone for squandering a clear shot at three points.

A much-changed line-up from De Zerbi saw the Italian name Solanke as captain for the first time, and the England international had a golden opportunity to put his side ahead in the opening exchanges, but failed to find the net before Mohammed Kudus and Conor Gallagher also went close in what proved to be a frustrating first half that ended goalless.

There was a sense that Spurs, hardly in position to be charitable with their chances, might have let United off the hook in allowing them to reach the interval without conceding, and the Red Devils duly improved after half time.

But it was still Tottenham who were creating chances and failing to take them when an illusive first three points was seemingly there for the taking.

Solanke only managed to draw a save from Senne Lammens two minutes in when Lucas Bergvall had intercepted the Belgian keeper's slack pass and found the striker unmarked in the middle of the United box. Had he made the most of it then the psychological effect on both sides could have seen the visitors three or four up by the break.

Unfortunately for De Zerbi the striker failed to make up for that early miss when confronted with another, trickier but still hugely-inviting, chance in the second half, firing high over the bar 10 minutes after the break when running onto Savio's ball across the penalty area.

Solanke's manager was visibly shocked on the touchline when the opportunity went begging. Reacting live on the World Feed commentary of the game [10 October 18.38pm], former Liverpool defender Jim Beglin noted De Zerbi's attitude towards the man he'd shown faith in with the captain's armband.

> I think he's in disbelief at him.

Where the Italian goes from here is unclear when his preparations for this game appeared to have been close to spot on in an opening 45 minutes where his side were well on top, and for three quarters of the action looked likely to secure a win.

But for all the millions spent this summer to strengthen , there is still no real goalscorer to fill the gap that was left by Harry Kane, and then Son Heung-min in recent years.

Richarlison is in limbo, and Omar Marmoush is yet to get off the mark since arriving from Manchester City, so Solanke is the obvious main man up front, and his first goal of the season in Manchester was certainly a case of better late than never.

But it surely should have been the third in a glorious hat-trick, as part of a heavy defeat of Man United. The hosts might not be the force of old right now, but they were made to look second best for much of the day, and yet Tottenham were ultimately left feeling grateful for a late point.

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