Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 Manchester United: 5 Key Talking Points

Score: Tottenham Hotspur 2 - 0 Manchester United

Goalscorers: Christian Eriksen 1', Phil Jones (own goal) 28'

It was a chastening experience at Wembley for Manchester United as they got thoroughly overwhelmed by an excellent Tottenham Hotspur side that can rightly consider themselves unlucky to have won this only by a two-goal margin.

Here, then, are the key talking points from the match

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#5 Christian Eriksen leads Tottenham blitzkrieg

Eriksen celebrates after scoring - within 11 seconds of kickoff

Ledley King vs Bradford in 2000 and Alan Shearer vs Manchester City in 2003 - those are the only two instances in Premier League football history (that's when football started, neh?) that anyone has scored a goal faster than Christian Eriksen did in this match.

Right from kick-off (Harry Kane stealing a few metres before the whistle blew), Tottenham surged forward and by dint of sheer numbers and "I-want-it-more"-ness had the ball in the back of the net within 10.48 seconds.

That set the tone for the match with the men in white pressing high, pressing well, and completely cutting of the United supply lines. With a 1-0 lead in the bag, they played the way they love to play (as Mourinho noted) - on the counter - and it's more a reflection of some lax finishing from Harry Kane than anything United did on the night that the score remained just 2-0.

Hyeung Min Son, Delle Alli and Christian Eriksen all impressed through the night as their constant running - and impeccable passing - gave United's defenders hell.

#4 Mousa Dembele dominates Paul Pogba

Dembele owned the midfield on the night

Early last year, Mauricio Pochettino reeled out the names of five "genius players" that he'd been "lucky" to work with - Diego Maradona topped the list, obviously, and was followed by Ronaldinho, Jay Jay Okocha, Ivan De La Pena... and Mousa Dembele.

The Belgian midfielder has flourished under Pochettino's aegis - when fit - and it was quite evident on the night why his manager rated him so highly. Playing in a system that suits him to a T, he utterly dominated the midfield, a giant of man gliding along the Wembley surface with the grace of a ballet dancer - the perfect marriage of silk and steel - and his own personal battle with Paul Pogba was as lopsided an affair as you'd ever see. Dembele controlled the pace of the game from the back - dribbling out of danger, or passing it out as the situation demanded while providing the kind of solidity alongside Eric Dier that United so sorely lacked.

Mourinho's withdrawal of his star man with half an hour to go was akin to a referee calling an end to a boxing fight because one of the pugilists has simply taken enough punishment.

#3 Jose Mourinho's tactics go awry

All was not well

For the first twenty minutes - barring that "ridiculous" goal - United actually played some very decent football. Having started with four out-and-out attack-minded players, and the equally forward minded Paul Pogba behind them, they could have pulled one, or even two, back if they'd taken some of the half-chances that kept getting created.

But after that initial burst of positivity, it was plainly evident that Mourinho had to change things up - and he'll have to shoulder the blame for not doing so. Anthony Martial, such an effective player for United this season, looked lost on the right flank, Paul Pogba looked shackled - and angry - in that defensive midfield role he hates while Nemanja Matic looked like he could have given up an arm and a leg to have Ander Herrera next to him.

While Mourinho addressed one issue by shifting Martial to the left, Jesse Lingard onto the right and Alexis Sanchez into the middle of the three-man line behind Romeu Lukaku, he left the midfield woefully exposed - and while Marouane Fellaini's injury killed off any chances of United getting back into the game via the enterprise of Marcus Rashford (who'd been set to come on for the disappointing Martial) the question is why was he brought on in the first place?

For all that, though, can we really put the full brunt of blame on the manager when 5-yard passes were being misplaced and hopeful long punts were being made because the players couldn't handle the high press? Why this set of such uniquely-gifted players crumble as a collective as soon as the stakes are raised is a mystery.

P.S. The Paul Pogba substitution seemed more like the manager making a point to his whole team - listen to what I say, or you'll pay - than anything else:

Pogba doesn’t want to listen to Mourinho’s instructions? Ok, off you come son. #mufc pic.twitter.com/a0hDLLCOEz

— Man Utd Universe (@ManUtdUniverse) January 31, 2018

#2 Manchester United's defence has their worst game since the Chelsea loss last season

Smalling and Jones were terrible at the heart of the United defence

Just like what happened during United's visit to Chelsea last season (a chastening 4-0 loss, since you ask), an early goal set the tone for a shaky, ineffectual, and utterly unprofessional display of defending from a United team that more often than not gets it right.

And this was more down to individual mistakes that snowballed into collective disaster. As the manager explained:

"I don’t think it’s very normal to concede a goal [at the start] like we did,” Mourinho said. “After the kick-off, it’s ridiculous. It is especially ridiculous because the players – they watch it before, we analyse opponents and work on opponents’ dynamics and routines.We don’t press the ball. One mistake. We don’t win the ball in the air. Second mistake. We don’t win the second ball on the ground. Third mistake. We don’t cover inside, the full-back inside, when Eriksen comes. Four mistakes. Four mistakes and you are losing 1-0 against a good team."

Add an own goal to that - Phil Jones sorting his feet out with all the grace of an elephant that's just slipped on a rather large banana peel - and it's understandable why the United manager would be furious with his charges.

During the half-time analysis on the telly, the pain in Gary Neville's voice as he laid into Messrs Young (who was lucky not to get too strongly penalised for some idiotic challenges all throughout), Valencia (who was lucky not to concede a penalty for a rash challenge in the box), Smalling (about as composed as a non-league defender facing Leo Messi) and Jones (elephant, banana peel, et cetera et cetera) was plain for all to see.

Their rashness and sheer lack of composure on the ball (both detailed by Neville in his as-ever excellent analysis) meant that United stood no chance against this rather good Tottenham Hotspur side

#1 Tottenham need to play like this consistently - they owe that to football

Pochettino outclassed Mourinho

Rather good? Brilliant more like.

“We prepared to play in the opposite half from the first whistle. We tried to be aggressive, to put pressure on them, to dominate" said Pochettino - and the fact that his players did all that, and more was as much of a testament to his exceptional managerial skills as it was to the players' own individual capabilities.

In this sort of form, Spurs can be spellbindingly magnificent to watch - full of fast off-the-ball runs, incisive passing, and the kind of let's-get-to-the-point-already directness that would put John McClane to shame.

But they need to do this more often. The fact that they are fifth, five points behind a team they eviscerated with such ease on the night, is down to an infuriating inconsistency that really needs to be erased before we can start taking both Mauricio Pochettino and Tottenham Hotspur as serious title contenders - rather than entertainers who pull rabbits out of their hat on occasion.

Do it for football, Poch... it needs more of this.