Manchester United managed to overcome their recent poor form late on in games to see out a 1-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur, courtesy of a goal from Henrikh Mkhitaryan in the first period.
Spurs started the game the better of the two after a shaky start, but it was Harry Kane, Spurs’ saviour since he returned from injury who was at fault for the goal. He gave the ball away sloppily in midfield before Ander Herrera played Mkhitaryan through, who finished convincingly to score his first Premier League goal.
Mauricio Pochettino’s men missed a golden opportunity to equalise just after the break. Christian Eriksen swung a good ball towards the back post, where Victor Wanyama had sneaked in, but he failed to trouble David De Gea with his header.
Paul Pogba could have fired Manchester United two goals to the good on two separate occasions within a couple of minutes of each other. First of all, his free-kick rattled the woodwork, before he found himself with space for a shot just inside the box, but his effort was straight at Hugo Lloris.
Spurs failed to create any decent chances throughout the game, and much of that can be down to Harry Kane being so ineffective up front. Marcos Rojo was the man tasked with keeping the Englishman quiet for the ninety minutes, and he did an outstanding job.
Although he won just 33% of his tackles and 40% of his aerial duels, Rojo denied Kane of any sort of half-chance for the whole game. He made an impressive 16 clearances, 4 blocks and a further 4 interceptions. Here is how United fans reacted to Rojo’s outstanding display.
Rojo was very good today. Threatens an error but never made one. Kane marked out the game
— Peter Rutzler (@peterrutzler19) 11 December 2016
Rojo my pick for Man of the Match today, absolutely immense the entire game. Probably his best ever performance in a United shirt.
— Junaid Mehkri (@JunaidMehkri) 11 December 2016
Rojo been brilliant since he’s been back into the team along with Jones
— Mapholoba (@MuFFiN_MaaN) 11 December 2016
wonder if Rojo has let Kane out of his back pocket yet🤔👀
— James Winterbottom (@Jamesicey) 11 December 2016
Rojo’s performance today possibly his best for #mufc. Phil Jones excellent again, too. Proving a lot of people wrong.
— Samuel Luckhurst (@samuelluckhurst) 11 December 2016
Rojo and Jones had played some decent performances lately. Credit where it’s due. Hope they can maintain the mood ✌
— Muhammad Legi (@legiprayoga) 11 December 2016
Win and clean sheet… Let go again! Rojo outstanding!
— kHalid AA (@fini_sher) 11 December 2016
We all thought that United being without both Chris Smalling and Eric Bailly would be a huge problem for the Red Devils. However, Marcos Rojo and Phil Jones have really stepped up in the last few weeks. Eric Bailly and Chris Smalling will be back in the fold soon, and it will be interesting to see if Mourinho sticks with Jones and Rojo at the back or puts Bailly and Smalling back in.