5 things that went wrong for Manchester United in their 2-0 defeat against Tottenham

Tottenham convincingly beat Manchester United 2-0 in what was one of the most dominant performances in this season's Premier League. While Tottenham's brilliance was undeniable in their Wembley victory, United's performance was absolutely appalling.

Spurs' win over Manchester United has now most certainly handed Manchester City the title, as the Citizens continued their marvellous campaign by defeating West Brom 3-0 at the Etihad.

Tottenham, on the other hand, took advantage of the failures of the fellow top six sides. Pochettino's men only trail Liverpool and Chelsea by two points now and have increased the gap with sixth-placed Arsenal to six points.

While the simple answer to the question "what went wrong for United?" would be "everything", we take a detailed look at the various factors that played a role in the Red Devils' worst performance of the season.

---

#5 Conceding after 11 seconds

Admittedly, Kane set off a little early on the Spurs' kick-off but what on earth were United doing? A simple Sunday League move- Vertonghen boots the ball up the field, Kane wins the header against Jones, Alli flicks the ball into the centre of the box and Eriksen has one of the easiest finishes of his career.

Mourinho's sides pride themselves in not conceding easy goals, but this just proved to be an indicator of what was to come United's way at Wembley. Their game plan was thrown out of the window after less than a minute and the Red Devils had to leave themselves vulnerable to Tottenham's dangerous counter attacks.

Spurs haven't lost a game when they've gone 1-0 up this season, except for their Carabao Cup collapse against West Ham, and they once again showed why they're so difficult to play once they're ahead.

#4 Phil Jones

His own goal was just the icing on the cake

Phil Jones never ceases to amaze at the heart of Manchester United's defence. He performs well until you start to think that he might finally develop into the player Sir Alex Ferguson had envisioned him to be. And then, he either gets injured or performs the way he did at Wembley.

Jones's performance at the back was absolutely diabolical and his intended 'clearance' that landed in the back of his own net was just adding insult to injury. The England international was never in control of Harry Kane and looked a nervous wreck for the majority of the game.

While Jones has been fairly solid at the back in recent games, he was found out by Tottenham's lively attack and United will be hoping that Eric Bailly will be back from his injury sooner rather than later.

#3 Lack of intensity

Alexis was one of the few players who at least tried to avoid defeat

Don't be mistaken, Alexis was extremely poor just like the rest of his team at Wembley and failed to get anything going in attack. But at least he was one of maybe three players who tried to get the Red Devils on the right track.

United's performance was lacklustre at best and half of the players appeared to not even be on the pitch. While there were several uncharacteristic and easy mistakes, Mourinho's men just never got a foothold in the game and were outbattled by a more passionate Spurs side.

The Red Devils simply couldn't handle the aggression and determination of Pochettino's highly motivated unit and they paid the price. The last 15 minutes in particular, historically marking the beginning of 'Fergie Time', where United always appeared to find another extra gear, were dreadful.

United were without a chance against their opposition and they lost 2-0 despite Harry Kane missing chances that he would normally convert in his sleep. Mourinho's men can consider themselves lucky they didn't concede four or five in a disastrous display.

#2 Defensive Midfield

Pogba was taken off after 63 minutes

Pogba and Matic were arguably the biggest disappointments on a terrible night for Manchester United. Both of them seemed to have really clicked and taken control of matches in the middle of the park.

However, at Wembley, you might as well have had Eric Djemba-Djemba and Kleberson in central midfield, because the two contributed absolutely nothing to United's game.

It wasn't just the fact that they couldn't seem to win the ball from Alli and Eriksen, but it was the number of times they lost possession that was worrying. Admittedly, Tottenham pressured high and the midfield area was subsequently very congested, but you simply expect more from your team's stand-out performers.

While United's defence was bad, they seriously lacked support from their defensive midfielders and the fact that Pogba was taken off, despite not being injured tells the whole story. The Red Devils were completely overwhelmed in the middle of the park and Mourinho will have to find a way to fix this issue before the next set of big matches.

#1 Unbalanced team selection

Mourinho got his tactics wrong at Wembley

You can't entirely blame the team for how they played. If a performance is so bad that you don't have a chance of beating a team that sits below you in the table, then the manager has to answer for his selection too.

While United's line-up certainly had the star power, the players didn't complement each other at all. Admittedly, you should try to make your opponents' play your game rather than the other way round. But when you face a multi-pronged attack like Tottenham's, you need defensive-minded players on the pitch.

Matic was terrible, but that is also down to the lack of support he had in the middle of the park. Pogba couldn't link-up with the attackers because he was attacked as soon as he touched the ball and the gap between him and his teammates was too large.

Lukaku, once again, appeared completely isolated up front, while Sanchez still needs to find his role in United's system.

The Red Devils lacked any form of balance in their line-up and the relentless pressure by Spurs ensured that they wouldn't find the time on the pitch to fix their broken system. While the players were completely outplayed by their opponents, Mourinho was equally outmanaged by Pochettino.