Tottenham fans go mental at ‘awful’ midfielder after defeat vs Man United: ‘What does he offer?’
Tottenham fell to another defeat on Saturday as Man United cruised to a 2-0 victory at Old Trafford.
Despite their positive start, Thomas Frank’s plans were ruined when Cristian Romero was sent off midway through the first half.
Soon after, Man United took the lead through Bryan Mbeumo as they took advantage of the red card.
Then, after a long period of dominance from the hosts, Bruno Fernandes finished the game off with a goal, giving the hosts a simple win.
Many Tottenham players were poor at Old Trafford, including Joao Palhinha, with fans unimpressed with his performance.
Full-time at Old Trafford. pic.twitter.com/hyKqx20Fuc
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) February 7, 2026
Tottenham fans roast Joao Palhinha in Man United defeat
Palhinha had struggled for regular starts at Tottenham since he joined the North London club in the summer.
However, in recent weeks, the midfielder has tied down a spot in the starting XI as Frank looks to finally end Spurs’ terrible run of form.
Yet, against Man United, the Portugal international was far from impressive, as he struggled to gain any hold in the middle of the park.
Tottenham fans were quick to notice his struggles and took to X to express their frustration with the performance.
Joao Palhinha gives me hope that I can make it pro
— jeese 🐧 (@jessewassup) February 7, 2026
Palhinha been decent at CB but looks very unreliable in MF again, poor touch and switching off and losing his man too often
— MartinJCooke (@MartinJCooke) February 7, 2026
Palhinha has been awful even defensively
— 👤 (@world_classe) February 7, 2026
Starting both Gallagher and Palhinha in a srs game like this deserves to get Thomas Frank sacked!
— Monster☠ (@ALKEX19) February 7, 2026
Like what is Palhinha offering you on this pitch right now, what is the worst that can happen if you bring him off? You get zero points instead of zero points?
— suffering (@mionomedev) February 7, 2026
Palhinha can’t even make a single forward pass, Gallagher can’t control the ball. Well done @SpursOfficial
— 🐈 (@Spurseee) February 7, 2026
Joao Palhinha treats the ball like a nuclear warhead
— BIN* !i (@BinAffleck) February 7, 2026
How bad was Palhinha vs Man United?
According to Fotmob on 7 February, Palhinha certainly had a bad game against the Red Devils.
The midfielder only had one shot, completed just 81 per cent of his passes, and had just 40 touches before he was brought off 80 minutes in.
On top of this, he was especially weak defensively, winning just 38 per cent of his ground duels, while also being dispossessed once and being dribbled past twice.
| Joao Palhinha stats vs Man United | |
| Minutes | 80 |
| Shots | 1 |
| Touches | 40 |
| Ground duels won | 38% |
| Dispossessed | 1 |
| Dribbled past | 2 |
Therefore, with Palhinha clearly struggling in both defence and attack, it is hard to see what he actually brings to the team.
As a result, Frank may do well to drop the midfielder and opt to go for more attacking choices to help increase Spurs’ attacking threat.
If not, the Dane could soon find himself out of a job, as the pressure continues to increase on the manager.
However, only time will tell if both Palhinha and Frank are able to turn things around at the North London club before they are seriously dragged into a relegation battle.