6 takeaways from Man Utd's 2-2 draw with Tottenham

Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur played out a 2-2 draw on Sunday to cap off the first half of gameweek 21 in the Premier League.

Three of the game's four goals came in an entertaining back-and-forth first-half, with the Red Devils twice taking the lead.

The scoring for the day ended within 70 seconds of the restart and the points ended up being shared on a cold and damp Old Trafford afternoon.

Here's what we learned about United and Spurs from another thrilling encounter between them...

Erik ten Hag lost the battle of philosophy with Ange Postecoglou

One of the main reasons Erik ten Hag isn't under more pressure is because he did such a fine job during his first season at United, winning the Carabao Cup and securing an unlikely third-place Premier League finish.

For much of this campaign, United have dealt with an extensive injury list largely consisting of key players. As a result, Ten Hag has admitted that he has not been able to set his side up to play exactly the way he wants to, while he was not brought in to replicate the entertaining style of football his Ajax teams played.

Ten Hag has been the antithesis of Ange Postecoglou. The Tottenham head coach has had to deal with a similar injury list this term, but has refused to compromise on his principles and has proven a depleted squad impacts quality instead of identity.

Earlier in the season, Postecoglou intimated managers should always stick to their guns and play the brand of football they truly desire even if their best players aren't available. "Just do it, mate," he said.

Tottenham's front six at Old Trafford featured, at a stretch, only two players who would start for their strongest side, while their midfield lacked a clear creator. And yet, Spurs recorded 64% possession, outshot United 16 to nine and chalked up more expected goals (1.23 to 0.75 by FotMob's model).

On Sky Sports' post-match debriefing, United legend Gary Neville was critical of Ten Hag and United for lacking a clear style in year two of their project compared to Tottenham in year one. It's an issue the wider footballing community are starting to notice.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe will not have been impressed

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has agreed to purchase a 25% stake in United and he made his first visit to Old Trafford since last month's announcement on Sunday. Pre-match, he joked that his side have a good record when it comes to playing Tottenham.

But watching the game alongside Sir Alex Ferguson, Ratcliffe will no doubt have been left knowing that there is a lot of work to do. The playing squad isn't terrible, but there still needs to be some chopping and changing.

As suggested above, there is also a question over what to do with Ten Hag. It's not out of the question that a new owner will want to appoint his own manager, and the Dutchman did little to strengthen his case that he should be the man to continue leading United.

Marcus Rashford and Rasmus Hojlund's problems were pinpointed

Ten Hag's main on-field issue this season has been United's lack of efficiency in front of goal, but home fans were treated to two fine strikes from the misfiring Rasmus Hojlund and Marcus Rashford.

But let's be honest with ourselves. For all of the jokes and jibes, for all of the memes and nonsense, the world knows that Hojlund and Rashford are not bad players. On their day, they're two of the Premier League's finest forwards.

Sunday was their day, but that hasn't been the case enough this season. In the case of Hojlund, who was the only shining light in United's otherwise awful Champions League campaign, he's been isolated too often and had little service. He opened the scoring after two minutes with a vicious strike into the roof of Guglielmo Vicario's net.

Rashford also started fast, twisting and turning his way inside and out of Pedro Porro before scoring with a fine strike of his own. However, his problems of this season soon crept back in, losing confidence as the game went on and hesitating with every action he took or tried to undertake.

United's attack has been blunted by tactical indecision from Ten Hag and the subsequent mental struggles that have followed. The quality is still there and sweeping changes aren't needed in that area.

Man Utd desperately need more legs in midfield

The same can't be said of United's midfield, however. Kobbie Mainoo started in a midfield two again and is a great player for the future, but the Red Devils need more options in that part of the pitch.

Christian Eriksen looked every bit like a 31-year-old who has played relentlessly since he was a teenager and has an ICD fitted. That's fair enough. His former side were able to run rings around him and there are more questions about Ten Hag's usage of him in a deeper role.

Tottenham fans winced when they saw a starting lineup featuring a midfield three of the competent Rodrigo Bentancur alongside two cement-mixer cinderblock players in Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Oliver Skipp. That they were able to so effortlessly control the possession battle is a damning indictement of Ten Hag's tactics and United's personnel.

Tottenham's full-backs reign supreme

The only Premier League full-back pairing better than Tottenham's of Porro and Destiny Udogie is Liverpool's fully-fit tandem of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson.

Ahead of the season, Postecoglou played down suggestions that the two - who had almost exclusively played as wing-backs in their careers - would not be able to play in a back four. To their credit, they have silenced a lot of doubters.

Porro struggled early on against Rashford but recovered to shut the England forward down in the second half, while his wicked deliveries yielded an assist for Richarlison's equaliser.

On the other side, Udogie completely nullified the threat of Alejandro Garnacho with a mature performance, adding the Argentine to a list of wingers including Mohamed Salah and Bukayo Saka who have tried but failed to get the better of him.

A paradoxical result created paradoxical feelings

Tottenham were the better team on Sunday, but they could only manage a draw. They will be annoyed to have not won, but avoiding defeat will be as equally satisfying.

United were poor but didn't completely embarrass themselves as they so often have done this season. This was a good point to take against a good side, but they need more wins if they're to secure a place in Europe, particularly against those above them in the table.

A draw felt like a fair result, but Spurs were in control for much of the afternoon and United could have snatched it at the death.

Football is the most random of sports and yet we know how to feel about results regardless of whether they match up with what our eyes told us for 90 minutes.

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