Despite having a three-week break to have a soft restart on Manchester United's poor start to the season, it was more of the same from Michael Carrick's side, putting on a disappointing display as they drew 1-1 with Tottenham Hotspur, who found themselves at the bottom of the Premier League table going into the fixture.

This is now the third game on the bounce that United have failed to win against a side that have been reduced to 10 men, though Spurs could have been out of sight by the end of the first half was it not for some poor finishing from the away side.

Despite their dominance, the two sides emerged for the second half with the score still at 0-0, and United slowly grew into the game and were awarded a goal in the 73rd minute when Bryan Mbeumo found space in the penalty area before drilling a strike across goal into the bottom corner to make it 1-0.

Rodrigo Bentancur was sent off after headbutting Luke Shaw, handing United another advantage. However, just as they did against Manchester City, United failed to make their numerical superiority count. A cross from Tonali somehow found Dominic Solanke, who evaded a deep-dropping Lisandro Martínez before flicking the ball into the net to snatch a point for Spurs.

For much of that game, Manchester United played as if they were at the bottom of the league, while Spurs dominated and created chance after chance.

United's starting midfield pairing of Youri Tielemans and Kobbie Mainoo seemed to have no answer to Spurs' attacks, a point Gary Neville noted in his post-match analysis.

Speaking on The Gary Neville Podcast, he said, "Tielemans and Mainoo, I think we’ve seen enough of it now.

“I’m not calling time on it because that’s probably too drastic but I’ve seen enough to think that’s not a midfield that’s dynamic enough to play at this football club in the Premier League.

“I think they are both good players, by the way, individually. But sometimes you just have players that don’t quite knit together or don’t quite suit each other.

“I think when [Carlos] Baleba came on with Mainoo, it looked like there was a lot more energy.

“There’s going to have to be something done in there, and the rest of them are going to have to get a grip because they are going to a Diego Simeone Atletico Madrid and Elland Road.

“If you’re not quite right there from a mental and physical perspective, you’re going to get found out.

“They’ve got a couple of days to recover, pick themselves up from this, and get going because if they don’t get going, it’s going to be a worrying few weeks.”

Signed for £70 million in the summer after missing out on the Cameroonian's signing in the 2025 summer window, Carlos Baleba had to wait until the fixture against Spurs to get his first minutes in a Manchester United shirt after recovering from an ankle ligament injury.

Given how poor United's midfield looked, the 22-year-old's introduction to the Old Trafford faithful just before the hour mark saw a big upturn in Carrick's side's performance.

Signed as a more defensive-minded option to partner Mainoo, who excels in a box-to-box role, the Cameroonian midfielder showed he can also contribute to the attack, with a composed turn and an excellent long ball to Bruno Fernandes just moments after coming on, an early indication of that.

In his thirty-minute outing for his new side, he was also United's only player to create a big chance over the full 90 minutes, so, in a performance full of negatives, there are early indicators that Baleba has a bright future ahead of him in Manchester.