Manchester United have crashed out of the Carabao Cup after a pulsating 4-3 defeat to Tottenham in north London on Thursday night.
While the game might indicate there was plenty of attacking flair on show, it would be more accurate to indicate that both goalkeepers had nightmare performances.
Tottenham raced into a three-goal lead before the hour-mark when Dominic Solanke put Spurs ahead on 15 minutes through an error from Altay Bayindir, standing in for Andre Onana.
A deflected shot forced the Turkey international into an awkward save and he was not able to respond to Solanke’s quick-thinking, who pounced on the rebound to execute a sweet strike at the near-post.
Both United and Spurs goalkeepers were guilty of huge errors
Reuters
United kept Spurs at bay until half-time but their resilience lasted mere seconds after the break when a low cross from James Maddison was poorly cleared by Lisandro Martinez straight into the path of Dejan Kulusevski.
The in-form Swede made no mistake with a first-time shot high into the roof of the net, that Altay had no chance with.
It was poor defending from the Red Devils for the third Tottenham goal, who allowed Solanke to parade forward without a challenge before he unleashed a fine drive, though Altay was very much out of position for the strike.
From there it should have been smooth sailing for Spurs, but their goalkeeper had other ideas.
Fraser Forster, standing in for the injured Guglielmo Vicario, tried to play out of the back minutes later – only to gift the ball straight to Bruno Fernandes.
The Portugal international then fed Joshua Zirkzee, who had the simple task of rolling the ball over the line.
Forster was feeling generous this Christmas period as he handed United another goal on a plate, this time dallying on the ball as Amad Diallo slid in to reduce the deficit to one.
Spurs looked nervous at 3-2 and United attacked in waves and an equaliser looked only a matter of time.
But Altay had one more say in the contest as a late corner from Heung-min Son flew in straight over the ex-Fenerbahce star’s head.
The 26-year-old fumed that his arm was held back but, in truth, he did not show enough strength as the ball sailed over him.
Fraser Forster had a poor game between the sticks for Tottenham
Reuters
There was further drama, though, when United struck themselves from a corner.
Jonny Evans planted a header straight at Forster, who clumsily jolted out of the way to make it 4-3 to add to the goalkeeping calamities.
However, with just seconds left on the clock, the pantomime show was drawing to a close and the contest was blown up for full-time to leave United out of the Carabao Cup.
But Altay Bayindir had a difficult match as well for United
Reuters
In a contest between two teams in the middle of difficult seasons, it might not be a surprise to see them at their best trying to lose it.
But this was an excellent opportunity for Ruben Amorim to get an early trophy on the board after replacing Erik ten Hag as manager last month.
As for Spurs, Ange Postecoglou will be desperate to end their trophy hoodoo – having not won any silverware since 2008.
However, that victory came in the Carabao Cup – while they await Arsenal, Liverpool or Newcastle in the semi-final
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