Ex-Spurs Scout: Five things I learned from Tottenham draw v Manchester United
Tottenham News is delighted to welcome aboard our brilliant new columnist Bryan King, the former goalkeeper who spent six years as a senior scout at Spurs and 28 years in total in first-team scouting roles. Bryan also spent eight years on Everton’s recruitment team and 11 years scouting at Aston Villa across two different spells.
Tottenham twice came from behind to earn a valuable point on the road, drawing 2-2 with Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday 14 January.
United took an early lead through Rasmus Hojlund, but Spurs levelled soon after when Richarlison headed in from a Pedro Porro corner.
Marcus Rashford gave the home side a half-time lead before Rodrigo Bentancur scored 50 seconds into the second half to finish the scoring.
Postecoglou will feel as if his side deserved more from the match after dominating the majority of the ball but with several key players missing the Australian will likely settle for the point.
Ex-Spurs scout Bryan King was watching on for Tottenham News and has detailed five things he learned from the draw.
Spurs will be happy
I am sure Postecoglou will be happy with the point, and I think he will be pleased because they have had tough luck with their injuries as of late, and it was a blow to lose Dejan Kulusevski to illness before the match.
You have got to give Spurs credit because they didn’t go up there to defend, they played good football and looked to create chances and to come from behind twice at Old Trafford is a sign of really good character.
The disruption to the squad has been immense over the past few months, so to still be in the top four or five of the Premier League is a huge testament to Postecoglou, the players and the staff. With these recent additions, the squad now looks stronger than it did at the beginning of the season.
Rodrigo Bentancur impressive
I think Bentancur showed what kind of quality he has once he is fit and firing, what a finish for his goal, he showed great feet to create the chance for himself and then it was an outstanding finish. I think he was the most impressive out of Spurs’ midfield three, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Oliver Skipp worked hard, but Bentancur just has that extra bit of quality.
Cristian Romero immense
Romero was tough and uncompromising, and what a great chance he had just before half-time when his header hit the bar. His pass out from the back for Bentancur’s goal was outstanding too.
He was also very good defensively. If he can stay out of trouble, he is as good as any central defender in the Premier League.
Timo Werner showed the right signs
He has not been playing regularly, and I think that showed because he had some good chances that he didn’t take. He has pace, he attacks the full-back, but he has had quite the week which might be why he struggled at times.
I think also the fact that he hasn’t played regular football was why he missed the chances he did have, because those are usually the type of opportunities which he takes.
His finishing was poor, but he has only played 17 minutes of football in the past few months and all of a sudden he was at Old Trafford playing against Manchester United. He has got another four or five games to go before I think we can really judge him, but I thought he did well, he was bright and he got the assist for Bentancur.
Full-backs continue to shine
I thought the full-backs did really well. Alejandro Garnacho is not an easy player to play against, but Destiny Udogie dealt with him well, he was solid defensively.
As for Pedro Porro, he was all over the pitch. He showed great energy, his service was good and he looks as if he loves to play football. Both full-backs will be interesting players in the summer, I would imagine people are looking at them because they are two very good full-backs.
The first time I watched Udogie, I liked him, and I haven’t changed my mind.
In other Tottenham news, one zero-per-cent Spurs man let Postecoglou down with his performance at Old Trafford.