Tottenham beat Manchester United 4-3 to reach the Carabao Cup semi-finals on a night of horrific goalkeeping howlers and defensive mistakes.
These two sides have had frustratingly inconsistent seasons and their backlines demonstrated exactly why that has been the case with error-strewn performances in north London that had both sets of supporters despairing and roaring during a rollercoaster contest.
Fraser Forster twice fumbled with the ball at his feet for United goals, allowing Ruben Amorim’s side to come back from 3-0 down to 3-2. But, with the visitors piling forwards and threatening an equaliser as tension ramped up in Tottenham, Altay Bayindir allowed a Heung-Min Son corner to go in over his head.
Add that to his poor parry out for Dominic Solanke to open the scoring on the night and it is hard to judge which stand-in stopper had the worse performance – but they were not alone.
Sky Sports’ Gary Neville slammed Lisandro Martinez for his “wimpish” flick to Dejan Kulusevski for Spurs’ second goal, which came just 46 seconds into the second half. The home side scythed through the United defence again soon after, with Solanke stepping inside Martinez before shooting through the legs of Jonny Evans to seemingly put Spurs in cruise control.
It is rarely that straightforward for Spurs, though, and Forster’s poor pass in his own box was pounced on by Bruno Fernandes for Joshua Zirkzee to tap in before the ‘keeper was chased down by Amad Diallo for the second. Even deep into stoppage time Spurs found capacity to concede from a set-piece, with Evans nodding in to ensure the final seconds were as chaotic as what had come before.
There were huge cheers from the home fans when that final whistle did come. Their hopes of ending their trophy drought have been boosted – although if their final-four clashes are as wild as this it is impossible to call whether they will make it to Wembley or not. They will find out their opponents when the draw is made at 10.30pm on Sky Sports.
Man Utd’s momentum after their Manchester derby win, meanwhile, has stalled. From the off-field issues around the future of Marcus Rashford to the on-field problems, Amorim has a big task on his hands – although both he and Ange Postecoglou will hope their sides can deliver more consistent and controlled success in the future when their absentees return.
All the goals!
Dominic Solanke scores the opening goal against Man Utd after Altay Bayindir had parried Pedro Porro’s shot
A miskick by Lisandro Martinez falls nicely to Dejan Kulusevski who makes it two for Tottenham
Solanke scores Tottenham’s third goal
Fraser Forster gifts Manchester United with their first goal as Joshua Zirkzee nets
Another Forster mistake allows Amad Diallo to make it 3-2
Altay Bayindir calls for handball after Heung-Min Son scores direct from a corner!
Jonny Evans made it 4-3 late on
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