Graeme Souness says Tottenham were 'wishy-washy' in defeat at Man Utd
Sunday 15 March 2015 19:33, UK
Tottenham's performance in the 3-0 defeat by Manchester United at OId Trafford on Sunday was "awful", according to Graeme Souness.
Spurs went down to three first-half strikes from the hosts, leaving a six-point gap between themselves and United in the race for the Premier League's top four.
Mauricio Pochettino's side waited until the 48th minute to have a shot on goal, and only managed one shot on target for the entire 90 minutes.
Sky Sports pundit Souness said on Super Sunday: "That was an awful performance by Tottenham today.
"They just didn't take part in the game. There was no aggression and it looked as though they turned up to play a practice match - and the stats back that up. They had one shot on target in the whole game.
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"If you start with the very, very basics, you can't play professional football without being aggressive.
"In that first 45 minutes, Man United were first to everything. They were the ones that were winning everything and going through the Tottenham players and on the front foot."
Since beating Arsenal on February 7 and looking a good bet to finish fourth, Spurs have picked up seven points out of a possible 15 while other teams around them have hit form.
But after looking like they had form for another push for the top four with two wins out of two, Souness insists Spurs "rolled over" at Old Trafford.
"They were never in the game, never from start to finish," added Souness. "They had their first shot on target on 89 minutes. Sometimes stats can completely baffle you, and that does.
"Tottenham rolled over with nearly every single challenge they made in that first 45. Tottenham got the ball and played on the half-way line.
"The fact they ended up with 48% possession and Man United ended up with 52% here at Old Trafford would suggest Tottenham were very much in the game.
"They were never in the game. All they were happy to do was be a wishy-washy five-a-side team playing on the half-way line with possession."
