It's sad to see how our players played the whole match as if we were some small club fighting relegation and trying to hold on for a crucial point. There was no willingness in our team to get a win at any stage. We played too negatively, and there was no proactive approach from anyone on the pitch and on the bench.
The fact that Mata played as a wide midfielder/wing back throughout the match really annoyed me. He's the least-suited player for that role, yet he played there whilst Lingard did nothing in midfield. Our whole attack was so disjointed just because Mata played so defensively and Lingard played so poorly in tight spaces.
Why we never brought on Herrera for Lingard I will never know. Herrera does the exact same things Lingard does, but he's better in the tight spaces. I honestly was concerned from the beginning when I saw what our front 4 was because you just knew that we would never really get a goal.
I'm not going to talk about the second half because that was just way too strange for me to comprehend. Really, though, Spurs were there for the taking, but we never put them under real pressure and allowed them to grow in confidence and play their game. When you look at the players we have, we really should be able to put them under pressure and get some goals. Instead, van Gaal has us playing defensively from the off, looking to get a smash-and-grab win, and even when it didn't work, he didn't change anything at all.
I don't get why van Gaal didn't bother to change the setup at half time. We lost because he stuck to a failing approach. Spurs were pushing and pressing, and a better player than Lingard through the middle could have made us more effective.
Oh well, I just hope our players can pick it up and keep themselves motivated for the FA Cup, because it seems like they've pretty much given up on this season.