Bentancur Inexcusible as Tottenham Stars Rated and Slated After Man Utd Draw

· GiveMeSport

Roberto De Zerbi should have been celebrating his first win of the season after dominating Man United but had to settle for scrambling a late point.

Tottenham came away thankful for a late point from their 1-1 draw at Manchester United despite dominating most of the match before self-destructing.

There was only one side that looked like they were rooted to the bottom of the Premier League table coming into the game, still searching for a first win of the campaign, and it wasn't Spurs . The visitors took charge of proceedings from the off and really should have made it count.

Lucas Bergvall cut out a sloppy Senne Lammens pass after just a couple of minutes to put it on a plate for first-time Tottenham captain Dominic Solanke to slot home unmarked in the centre of the area, but as United defenders converged, he failed to get it past the recovering keeper to even trouble the man on the line.

Further Spurs chances went begging for Mohammed Kudus and Conor Gallagher, before Solanke missed another guilt-edged opportunity after the break following good work from Savio down the left.

Having allowed United back into the match, Bryan Mbeumo looked like he had struck the winner on 77 minutes, and substitute Rodrigo Bentancur's mindless red card in a clash with Luke Shaw seemingly condemned Roberto De Zerbi to yet another defeat, before the profligate Solanke finally opened his account for the season in added time to snatch a draw out of nowhere and lift Spurs off the bottom.

The late goal showed admirable fight in dire circumstances, but on a day where Tottenham were by far the better side for much of the 90 minutes it still has to be considered a disappointing result.

A largely satisfactory performance in the Spurs net and arguably let down by his defenders for the space afforded to Mbeumo to score.

Solid outing for the most part and willing to push forward to support the attack. Finishing isn't his main responsibility but the Italian was one of many to miss an inviting chance when played through on goal in the second half.

Decent day in defence for the former Bournemouth man and created a couple of chances at the other end as well.

Gave Mbeumo too much space to turn and shoot to put United ahead after what had otherwise been a decent showing at the back until then. Seemed to lose concentration as the team faltered late on and may have played a role in the red card with a lunging tackle of his own seconds before Bentancur's.

Very impressive early, snapping into tackles to catch United players unaware. But he failed to keep up that intensity in the build up to the opener as he neither closed down Shaw, nor got back quickly enough to assist Savio in stopping Matheus Cunha's ball to Mbeumo.

Industrious work in the middle which caught the hosts cold and should have resulted in an early opener when he seized on Lammens' loose ball to create a glorious opening for Solanke. Had that chance been converted it surely would have been a very different evening.

Players can't actually help the price tags they arrive under but more might have been expected from a £100 million player when those around him are performing so well for the first hour. Crucially, however, the Italian kept going right to the end while teammates' were starting to become ragged, crossing to assist Solanke's leveller in added time.

Went the closest of anyone during a positive attacking display in the first 45 minutes, skewing a shot narrowly wide, and was a big part of the threatening early moves that pinned the hosts back.

The former Chelsea favourite is known for his industry but in the midst of a performance in his image from the visitors as a whole he needlessly hamstrung himself by getting booked within minutes of kick off for a cynical foul on Harry Maguire. Should have scored just before the half but failed to get a shot off under pressure when bearing down on goal from close range.

Probably the pick of the attackers throughout a much-improved team performance for an hour or more and, but for some wayward finishing from teammates, might have been credited with the assists in a morale-boosting win. Threatened down the left throughout the first half, albeit without the decisive end product on a few too many occasions.

Handed the captain's armband by De Zerbi the Englishman really should have made Spurs' early domination count when he was handed an opportunity on a plate by Bergvall. For all the money thrown about by Tottenham in the post-Daniel Levy era they still lack a presence up front that comes close to replacing Harry Kane. Solanke produced some decent link-up play, but his first priority is to put the ball in the net, and had he done so inside the first few minutes the visitors might have been out of sight by half time. Passed up another huge chance in the second half to make Tottenham's supremacy count when found by Savio, before finally finding the net at the death once any advantage had been lost. Ended up a hero of sorts when he should have made that indisputable earlier in the match.

Hard to overstate how poor the Argentinian's contributions were in the circumstances when he lasted 12 minutes on the pitch, barely touched the ball, then lost all composure to get sent off after his side had gone behind. Having flown in with both feet on Luke Shaw just minutes after United scored he was shown red by Stuart Attwell for leading with his head as the defender squared up to him in anger over the initial challenge. If the sending off had condemned Tottenham to a defeat the sequence would look even worse, but it will be no surprise to see Bentancur out of the side for the foreseeable future as De Zerbi surely thinks twice about relying on him during the ongoing struggles any time soon.

Precious little attacking contribution in around half an hour of action. Really should be pushing the goal-shy Solanke up front but didn't help his case here.

Did what he would have been asked to do as part of a defensive swap when De Zerbi was forced to switch up and chase the game.

Arriving into the fray in a difficult situation, the Englishman didn't provide much of a creative spark.

Spurs may be forced into a difficult decision

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