Michael Carrick promised Manchester United would bring the "fire" after reviewing his side's performances before the international break, but the only time his players went beyond lukewarm against Tottenham was when scrapping with their opponents on the touchline.
This was another tepid performance lacking in both intensity and quality. Bryan Mbeumo's smart turn and finish had given United an undeserved lead and when Rodrigo Bentancur was sent off for a wild tackle on Luke Shaw, one which sparked that touchline melee, they should have been home and dry.
But Tottenham had been the better side almost all evening, and going down to 10 men didn't discourage them from picking holes in a porous United. Carrick is trying to build a team to control a game, but to do that they need the ball.
Carrick's changes fail to spark improvement
Carrick used the three-week break to diagnose what had gone wrong in a disappointing start to the season. His suggestion that his team needed more fire was an admission that the energy and intensity had been lacking.
Whatever changes Carrick made didn't work. This was arguably even worse and Dominic Solanke's injury-time equaliser means United have now drawn 1-1 against the team sitting bottom of the Premier League in successive games.
It's fair to say Diego Simeone and his Atletico Madrid players won't be losing sleep over Tuesday's assignment. This is a new Atleti side but they can still bring the fury on a Champions League night and right now United look like they would fancy pretty much anything but a trip to the Metropolitano.
United's dismal start draws boos
With away games against Atletico, Leeds and Como to come in succession now, you fear for Carrick. "Soft, soft," the Spurs analysts kept saying as their 10 men stole possession from and ran over a lethargic United team.
This is now six points from six games for United. Fulham and Tottenham were bottom of the league when they played United. Everton and Hull City have started well but will inevitably fall away and should have been easy prey. Carrick knows it demands improvement.
The final whistle was greeted with silence, which was in stark contrast to the mood at the start of the game. There had been three renditions of 'you cheating b***ards, we know what you are' before kick-off, including a deafening version as the teams prepared to start the game.
As well as the ticker banner returning mocking Manchester City's '51 years' without a legitimate trophy, there was a banner in homage to Football Leaks mastermind Rui Pinto placed above the tunnel.
That energy from the supporters wasn't reciprocated on the pitch as United made a dismal start. A performance lacking in intensity was best summed up by the sight of Lucas Bergvall walking between Bruno Fernandes and Matheus Cunha to collect possession 25 yards out. Fernandes and Cunha barely moved a muscle in response.
It was so bad that the boos began raining down at the midway point of the first half. By then, Spurs had enjoyed 66% possession, had five shots to none and 13 touches in the area to United's zero. The most damning statistic? That United had completed one pass in the final third in that time.
Second-half changes bring brief improvement
Youri Tielemans was treading water, Senne Lammens was inviting panic with some wayward kicking, and Harry Maguire was getting turned inside and out. Solanke should have scored in the first few minutes and Mohammed Kudus was guilty of firing wide when he should have found the bottom corner.
United were struggling to muster any kind of threat at the other end, and the second half started in a similar vein. Solanke turned a Savio cross over from six yards out when he should have finally broken the deadlock.
Carrick turned to his bench before the hour mark, with £70million man Carlos Baleba among a trio of new arrivals, along with Diogo Dalot and Joshua Zirkzee. Baleba's first action was to spin away from a Tottenham attacker when under pressure and clip a delicate pass to release Fernandes down the left.
The midfielder's arrival sparked an upturn in United's fortunes and he was integral to starting another attack when he again found space when under pressure, defied a shirt pull and released a pass to instigate another attack and start a spell of pressure that ended with a goal.
Cunha did well on the left to find Mbeumo, but his turn and finish was the first really clinical moment of the game. It was a goal United didn't deserve but it sparked a rush of blood to the head from Spurs' players. Jean Paul van Hecke was lucky to avoid a sanction when he flew in on Fernandes, only for Bentancur to get a deserved red card for a scissor tackle on Shaw.
Tottenham should have been dead and buried. 'You're going down with the City', taunted the Stretford End, but you always feared there was a sting in the tail, and so it proved when Solanke outmuscled a timid Lisandro Martinez to glance in an equaliser.
