Manchester United were 2-0 winners over Spurs, extending their winning run under Michael Carrick.
Michael Carrick pumps his fist.
A tactical tweak from Michael Carrick has been spotted after United's latest win. (Image: Carl Recine/Getty Images)
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Manchester United interim head coach Michael Carrick has been praised for the tweak he made to his side for the Premier League clash against Tottenham. Goals from Bryan Mbeumo and Bruno Fernandes saw United come away as 2-0 winners over Thomas Frank's team at Old Trafford.
The goals came after Spurs were reduced to 10 men in the first half. Captain Cristian Romero was shown a straight red card for a challenge on Casemiro, with United able to make their numerical advantage count.
However, even before that red card, United had chances to take the lead. Pundit Danny Murphy has now pointed to a change made by Carrick for the game.
"You'd have been forgiven for thinking he just put the same team out, same formation, but he didn't, as he made a great little tweak and it worked perfectly," he told Match of the Day. "11 vs 11 they were opening Tottenham up and making chances.
"He played Bruno (Fernandes) and (Matheus) Cunha as two 10s or two false nines, whatever you'd want to say. He moved (Bryan) Mbeumo, who's been playing centre-forward, out to the left, and Amad was on the right.
"What it did with two intelligent players like these two, it gave the Tottenham centre-halves a real problem, saying do we go in and follow them, or do we drop off? Does the midfield three, any two of the three Tottenham players drop in?
"This is the first minute, look at the space that Bruno has got, he's playing some of the best football of his career and surely the game-plan was to try and stop him getting on the ball. That's an early warning.
"Here, one coming to feet, into space, the other one, no one picking him up. As I said, they're talented boys, really special footballers, but you have to set a plan to stop the best players.
"When the ball eventually comes to Bruno, you expect him to score, but how can he be in that much space?
Bruno Fernandes celebrates a goal.
Bruno Fernandes has been praised for his performance for United vs Tottenham.(Image: Carl Recine/Getty Images)
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"This is the little tweak that Carrick made that I was really impressed with - he's obviously a real football thinking man and tries to find different ways."
He added: "Bruno got his goal with a wonderful finish and topped off a brilliant performance, considering actually he had one of his poorer performances last week, I did the game against Fulham, and he wasn't at his best. But, at the moment, he's arguably the best number 10 in Europe."
The win means that United remain in fourth place, one point ahead of Chelsea and just three behind third-placed Aston Villa. They don't have too long to enjoy their win with the team back in action on Tuesday night when they take on West Ham at the London Stadium (8.15pm).