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

#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