Man United’s poor defending boosts Tottenham in Carabao Cup

Tottenham survived a second-half comeback to book their place in the Carabao Cup semifinals with a dramatic 4-3 win over Manchester United on Thursday.

Dominic Solanke opened the scoring on 15 minutes through a smart finish in off the near post before two goals in eight minutes after the break from Dejan Kulusevski and Solanke again extended the home side’s advantage.

Man United boss Ruben Amorim responded by making a triple change as Joshua Zirkzee, Amad Diallo and Kobbie Mainoo were introduced. The former made an immediate impact as Spurs suddenly found a way to complicate what appeared to be an easy route to victory. Goalkeeper Fraser Forster played a square pass to Radu Dragusin, who was caught on his heels by Bruno Fernandes, and Zirkzee was left with a simple tap-in to open United’s scoring.

Things got worse for Forster seven minutes later as he dallied in possession and Amad tackled him with the ball flying into the empty net. A nervy spell followed as Forster looked unconvincing yet again, this time in repelling Amad’s long-range effort with his feet.

But it was his opposite number, Altay Bayindir, who would make the next costly mistake, flapping at Son Heung-min’s 88th-minute corner to allow the Spurs captain to restore their two-goal advantage.

Jonny Evans headed in United’s third from Amad’s corner in the fourth minute of added time, but Spurs held on to take a step closer to their first trophy since 2008 and ease some of the pressure on manager Ange Postecoglou.