Man Utd duo leave Roy Keane red-faced in Tottenham draw as Timo Werner has familiar struggles on return

Man Utd duo leave Roy Keane red-faced in Tottenham draw as Timo Werner has familiar struggles on return

WATCH NOW: Sports round-up as Man Utd draw with Tottenham in the Premier League

Lewis Winter

By Lewis Winter


Published: 14/01/2024

- 18:26

Sir Jim Ratcliffe watched on as United drew with Tottenham in Sunday's Premier League clash

Manchester United and Tottenham played out an entertaining 2-2 draw at Old Trafford on Sunday.

Both teams remain outside the Premier League top four, missing the chance to claw some points back against rivals who aren't playing this weekend.


United got off to the dream start in just the third minute of the match.

Rasmus Hojlund scored his second goal in as many Premier League games, firing in an unstoppable strike with his strong left foot.

Marcus Rashford and Rasmus Hojlund

Marcus Rashford and Rasmus Hojlund gave the perfect response to Roy Keane

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Tottenham have been in fine form, though, and responded through a Richarlison header from a dangerous Pedro Porro corner.

United restored their lead before half-time when Marcus Rashford scored just his fourth goal of the season in all competitions.

Tottenham were quickly level after the break though when Rodrigo Bentancur finished well with his left foot within 50 seconds of the restart.

Both sides pushed for a winner in a watchable second half but had to settle for a point apiece.

GB News looks at what we learned from the match at Old Trafford.

Duo leave Keane red-faced

United legend Roy Keane called out both Hojlund and Rashford before the match.

The Irishman claimed there had been a lack of desire from both players.

On Hojlund, who joined United from Atalanta for a fee of £72million in the summer, Keane said on Sky Sports: "You can't keep waiting for players. You can take time to bed in, of course.

"But when these players are getting these opportunities, and we're talking about United certainly getting in the right areas and creating chances, you've got to have that real desire to put the ball in the back of the net. He's not shown it."

While he had a similar view on Rashford, venting: "His desire, his work rate, I don't see him doing enough runs off the ball.

"To me, Marcus is a little bit going through the motions."

However, they both responded well to Keane's comments by putting in strong performances.

Hojlund took his chance expertly, roofing his shot past the impressive Guglielmo Vicario.

Rashford played a part in the first goal before getting on the scoresheet himself.

It was Hojlund who turned provider for the England star to score at Old Trafford for the first time since last May.

Keane was left eating humble pie after his pre-match comments.

He and United will be hoping today wasn't a one-off from either Hojlund or Rashford.

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Familiar Werner struggles

Timo Werner

Timo Werner was wasteful in front of goal on his Tottenham debut

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Timo Werner returned to the Premier League this week, joining Spurs on a six-month loan.

Ange Postecoglou claimed he was a 'different player' from the one who spent two years at Chelsea.

However, there were no signs he had improved from his time at Stamford Bridge.

Werner was regularly involved and caused issues for Diogo Dalot throughout the game.

However, he was wasteful with any chance he had of testing Andre Onana in the United goal.

Ange Postecoglou and Erik ten Hag

Man Utd and Tottenham played out an entertaining draw at Old Trafford

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Werner had five shots but none managed to test the Red Devils keeper.

He did lay on the assist for Bentancur but the goal was more about the scorer than the provider.

Werner has big shoes to step into while Heung-min Son is away at the Asia Cup.

The early signs are that Werner is still the rough diamond he was at Chelsea.

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