Despite spending vast sums of money on new players, Manchester United fans were left shocked when manager Louis van Gaal elected to use winger Ashley Young as the striker in the club’s 3-0 defeat against Tottenham.

For much of the game, it looked like the team more to come away with a valuable point from their fixture at White Hart Lane. It was extremely important that the team picked up as many points as possible in order to remain in the top four race. Manchester City have not been looking likely to drop points after rediscovering their form in recent weeks.

Arsenal are the only hope for United to reclaim a top four place. The gunners have been slipping down the table consistently since the turn of the year. In order to take any advantage of a slipup, United have to be at their best. Unfortunately, this was not the case at White Hart Lane. United suffered a 3-0 loss with all goals coming in the space of 10 minutes. Van Gaal elected to replace striker Marcus Rashford with Ashley Young at half-time. This was seen as a move to play Anthony Martial upfront, but the Frenchman continued to remain on the wings. Instead, Young took the place of Rashford and played as a striker.

“I want more running in behind because in the first half we didn’t have an attacking point.I have said to the boys that until the first goal we played a very good away match with possibilities to score.Within five minutes the game is over with the second and third goals and that cannot happen. I know that, but OK that has happened and we have to cope with that,” said Van Gaal when his decision to use winger as a striker was questioned in the post-match press conference.