Diogo Dalot knew he was at fault for Tottenham's opening goal against Manchester United on a frustrating afternoon for the Red Devils. They were undone after just three minutes when Brennan Johnson tapped home from close range to give Tottenham an early lead.
It came after a lung-busting run from Micky van de Ven, who nicked the ball off Marcus Rashford before dribbling past four United players. He raced to the byline and played a brilliant low cross to the far post, with Johnson timing his run to perfection.
As the Welshman wheeled away to celebrate, Dalot raised his hand to apologise for not tracking back quickly enough. The left-back was responsible for keeping Johnson under wraps but failed to carry out his defensive duties, allowing his opposite number to open the scoring.
Dalot was not the only United player at fault, though, with Matthijs de Ligt and Manuel Ugarte both failing to stop Van de Ven in his tracks. Rashford, meanwhile, inadvertently started the move with a poor first touch as the Red Devils were looking to break away.
Gary Neville singled out all three players for criticism in the Sky Sports commentary box, saying: "Rashford there, he saw it and just carries on running. It's rubbish from him. But then, he [Van de Ven] is unstoppable. De Ligt starts running too late, he completely misreads the pace.
"His [Rashford's] touch is heavy and awful. He's got to do better than that, even if he dives in and gives a foul away. Ugarte who is supposed to stop things in midfield, De Ligt is supposed to stop things at the back. Helpless."
Things went from bad to worse for United before the break when Bruno Fernandes was sent off for a clumsy lunge on James Maddison. He slipped while attempting to win possession but did not back out of the challenge, making contact with Maddison at knee height.
After the interval, Tottenham doubled their lead with Dejan Kulusevski volleying over United goalkeeper Andre Onana from inside the box. Johnson managed to break away down the right flank before clipping the ball to his team-mate, who made no mistake with a first-time finish.
Tottenham could have been four or five goals to the good at that point, with Onana making a few important saves to prevent the visitors from running away with it.
