OLE GUNNAR SOLSKJAER pulled himself out of the fabric when it was Nuno Espirito Santo’s turn to get a bloody nose.
The Manchester United boss lives to fight another day, although this deserved win in north London still feels like only delaying the inevitable.
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However, United have at least shown some character with Cristiano Ronaldo and Edinson Cavani, the two biggest swing players in town, who have a lot of intelligence and luxury for an amazing Tottenham team.
It was definitely a terrible night for Santo, who is increasingly unpopular with the locals. “You don’t know what to do” chanted as Lucas Moura was substituted for Stephen Bergwijn in the 54th minute.
After substitute Marcus Rashford added the third goal, Tottenham fans made it clear that they wanted the coach to leave “we want Nuno out”.
United fans will not turn on their former player Solskjaer in this way for obvious reasons. However, Santo, a character who is difficult to deal with, has no credit in the bank about White Hart Lane.
For the United leader, after the complete embarrassment of being hit 5-0 by Liverpool six days ago, it was a very decisive victory.
Any kind of repetition would have definitely meant a sack but sometimes there was a lack of quality, they still had too much for their terrible spurs.
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Solskjaer used a boxing analogy to describe how he wanted his players to display recovery powers like Tyson Fury in his fights against Deontay Wilder.
There were odd things, which came as no surprise, but the commitment and organization were there, even though the midfield still seemed to be an obvious weakness.
And it seemed that Solskjaer’s decision to play with three defenses for the first time since last December – when they lost 3-2 to RB Leipzig in the Champions League – worked.
As he has proven with England, Luke Shaw is a more competent defender and has done well here.
With Aaron Wan-Bissaka, there aren’t many defenders less suited to playing in this system due to his limitations with the ball as he treats it like a bomb out of desperation to get rid of it.
However, the system has allowed United to play both Ronaldo and Kanvai up front, who looked rusty in his first Premier League appearance for only his third time, but still helped ease the Portugal international’s workload.
However, the quality of the two teams was not like the top-tier football we’ve seen this season from Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool.
The chaotic start was summed up 45 minutes when a good chance went down for Fred but he fell again and Shaw threw a superb rugby tackle on Moura and unsurprisingly got a yellow card.
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Son Heung-min missed a great opportunity from yards, but put the ball in the net similarly, Cavani should have scored as well, but despite the lack of control, he shot with a long header.
Christian Romero sparked celebrations at home when he put the ball over the line with his chest after Dyer headed into Heung Min’s corner.
In the end, the assistant referee got up and remembered to report.
It looked as though neither team would be able to actually score and then the star came on.
Building the goal before the end of the first half was difficult as the ball swung between the two groups of players.
Bruno Fernandes hoisted the ball toward Ronaldo, just behind Ben Davies’ header, and United’s No.7 man sent his signature shot under Loris’ outstretched right arm.
It was a typical smart play by Ronaldo who bounced back behind Davies to stay on top.
This has also increased his tally of 11 goals in 19 games against Tottenham with strikes in each of his last six games with both Real Madrid and United.
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Romero tried to kick Ronaldo out by theatrically diving before he rolled over after being caught.
There was a connection but it was an accident and Romero recovered quickly once he realized Stewart Atwell would not make it to the red card.
Atwell’s half-time whistle was met with boos from home fans who were slowly getting annoyed.
When he took to the pitch in the second half, Ronaldo shook hands with fellow countryman Santo.
With just 128 seconds into the first half, Ronaldo then thought he scored again with a superb finish from the edge of the penalty area but was offside.
Santo then caused a stir when Moura was replaced when the obvious candidate was Giovanni Lo Celso
Spurs came under some pressure without causing any major problems before Cavani crushed any hope of recovery.
Dyer lost the ball, Fernandez found Ronaldo, who changed direction with a clever flick and played a pass outside Romero. Cavani took one touch before burying a shot past Lloris.
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Ronaldo was replaced by Brashford in the 71st minute and then completed the misery with a confident finish after being passed by Nemanja Matic.
Defender Davies played Rashford in attack but Spurs fans were not interested in blaming anyone other than the public enemy number one.
It remains to be seen if Santo and his team will be able to emulate Tyson Fury and get themselves out of the cloth.
And you wouldn’t bet any money on Santo or Solskjaer finishing the season.
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