Tottenham 0-1 Manchester United: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer shows tactical prowess as Marcus Rashford makes it six straight wins

Talk of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s perfect start to life as Manchester United manager has tended to be accompanied by caveats. Easy run of fixtures. Class players. Made to look good by what preceded him.

Barring the latter, none of those points hold true any more after a 1-0 win over Tottenham at Wembley which showed Solskjaer is much more than just an amiable figurehead.

Now the image of a sulking, petulant and miserable Jose Mourinho is long gone it all looks so simple. Solskjaer is winning games and plaudits, while his predecessor is having his reputation damaged further.

United have been reinvigorated under the Norwegian’s command, with six successive wins showing they’re much happier, more united, more competitive and – crucially – more dangerous.

Marcus Rashford’s development into a confident, intelligent, quick and lethal striker has been accelerated. Paul Pogba’s all-action style, physicality, creativity and goal-threat is back. And David de Gea is as he always was: assured, reliable and alert.

Spurs may have looked tired following a relentless run of fixtures, but they are no pushovers. While the hosts’ wayward finishing was the main reason for United's clean sheet, Solskjaer’s side were also organised and hard to break down.

For the first time this season in a Premier League home game, Spurs failed to have a shot on target before half-time. They were much improved after the break, firing in attempt after attempt, but De Gea was equal to everything they threw at him.

Dele Alli was denied one-on-one and from a side-footed attempt, Harry Kane was kept out on three occasions, Christian Eriksen curled a free-kick narrowly wide and Toby Alderweireld was denied with a near-post volley. Spurs went from no shots on target to 11 in 45 minutes. But it just wouldn’t go in.

As United defended doggedly in the closing stages, blocking everything that came their way and cynically time-wasting in between, it was easy to forget the attacking cutting edge which brought them the lead to hang onto.

Solskjaer’s friendly demeanour and clear enjoyment of his job has been a breath of fresh air, but it also does him a disservice.

He has been outlined chiefly as a motivator – a smiling chap in a red tie. Yet this game showed he is much more than that.

The United interim manager set his side up cleverly to exploit Spurs on the counter-attack. Rashford and Anthony Martial were asked to pull wide out of possession, with Jesse Lingard dropping deep centrally as a false nine.

The ploy had the effect of bringing centre-backs Jan Vertonghen and Alderweireld wide to isolate them one-on-one. With Pogba supplying quick, incisive passes into the channels, the space behind full-backs Kieran Trippier and Ben Davies was targeted.

Solksjaer would have been delighted to see his plan bear fruit at the end of the first half. Trippier gave the ball away sloppily to Lingard, who set up Pogba to play a beautiful long pass for Rashford to run onto.

His fourth assist under his new manager was confirmed when Rashford charged through to bury the ball expertly past Hugo Lloris into the far bottom corner to make it three goals in three league games.

It was a one-two punch from the two best players under Solskjaer which neatly summed up United’s newly-found clarity.

Before kick-off the match had been framed as a confrontation of two men vying to be the next United manager; the stop-gap and the long-admired, preferred choice.

At the final whistle as the away fans jumped for joy, all eyes were on the interim boss. Solksjaer has passed his first major test with flying colours.

If Ed Woodward and the board weren’t seriously considering giving United’s former striker the job on a permanent basis, they surely are now.