Match Report: Tottenham Hotspur 4-3 Manchester United | OneFootball

On Thursday evening, Tottenham Hotspur hosted Manchester United in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals, for their first of two home games in four days.

For the task at hand, Ange opted for a line up of; Forster; Porro, Dragusin, Gray, Spence; Sarr, Bissouma, Maddison; Kulusevski, Solanke, Son.

Spurs advance in the most Spursy way you could ever imagine

Quarter of an hour into the game, Spurs had the lead. After a firm, fizzed Porro shot was parried into the path of Solanke, the striker was johnny on the spot to convert. You can’t give a player with his movement the opportunity to pounce like that.

Midway through the first half, Sarr was given a yellow card for a foul - meaning he will miss the first leg of the semi finals that take place in January.

Around 25 minutes in, Spence did really well to win a free-kick. Spurs played a set piece routine, leading to Kulusevski spinning Bruno Fernandes, before testing the goalkeepers wrists with a low near post effort.

With nearly the last kick of the first half, former Spurs midfielder Christian Eriksen had a shot from a potentially dangerous position, but Gray was there to make a block. That would be that for the first half, and Ange’s side would go into the break a goal to the good.

Barely a minute into the second half, Spurs had two. After a nice move, Maddison played a ball inside the box, which was only half cleared by Cristian Romero’s international partner, Lisandro Martinez. This time, Kulusevski was the one to pounce, firing into the back of the net with a first time, right footed finish.

Then, 10 minutes into the second half, Spurs had three. Spence played a ball over the top to Solanke, who took the ball under his stride, holding off Martinez, dribbling past him, before smashing a drilled effort into the bottom corner,

Just after the hour mark, a Diogo Dalot cross was met by Joshua Zirkzee, whose hesder was saved by Forster. However, just a minute later, the goalkeeper gave the ball away to Fernandes in the box, who squared for Zirkzee to tap home.

With twenty minutes left, the goalkeeper made another mistake, taking too long on the ball, and Amad Diallo charged his clearance into the back of the net. The first one could be blamed on the style of play, but this one was completely and utterly inexcusable.

Not long after, Noussair Mazraoui had a presentable opportunity, six yards out at a slight angle, but fired wide. Huge, huge, huge let off. With ten minutes to go, Bergvall replaced Maddison. The latter’s final action was a yellow card, which means he will also miss the first leg of the semi final next month.

With two minutes of normal time remaining, Spurs had four, after an inswinging corner from Son went all the way into the back of the net. Huge shoutout to Spence, with a superb interception and carry forward to lead to the corner.

As we entered stoppage time, Johnson replaced Solanke - and the lesser spotter Reguilon came on for Spence. This was the defenders first competitive appearance for Spurs since April 2022, in a 1-0 defeat at home to Brighton. So long ago that Bissouma played for the visitors that day.

For a normal side, that would be job done, but Spurs are not normal. Four minutes into stoppage time, Jonny Evans got a third. The only player on the pitch older than Forster.

This time, Spurs would be able to see the game out. That should have been 100x easier than it was - but the place in the Carabao Cup semi-finals, for the first time since 2021, is confirmed. Safe to say it will be a lot harder than the one legged tie against then Championship side Brentford, but we can worry about that later.