Former Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov has questioned why Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side only perform "when the chips are down" as they dusted themselves off after a difficult week to beat Spurs 3-0.
The comfortable performance was ultimately the final nail in the coffin for Nuno Espirito Santo, who was relieved of his duties on Monday morning after just four months in charge.
It comes just a week after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was seemingly found himself on the managerial chopping block after their terrible display against rivals Liverpool, but the Bulgarian warned that despite an element of pressure vanishing, another poor performance will see the scrutiny re-emerge.
Antonio Conte was amongst the bookmakers favourite to replace the Norwegian in the fallout of the dismal afternoon at Old Trafford with the Italian expressing his openness to take over, however, nothing materialised.
Now the former Chelsea manager looks to be following in the footsteps of Jose Mourinho and managing both London sides as he now stands as the firm favourite to succeed Nuno.
"I was expecting Spurs to win on Saturday. It seemed like a good moment to play United, but it was a brilliant performance from some of the key United players who helped the team to move forward and believe in themselves even more as the game went on," the former forward told Betfair.
"Even if they start a bit slow, some players can pick up the tempo and show the rest of the team.
"This was especially true of Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored the first goal, an unbelievable goal, my kind of goal. The pass from Bruno Fernandes was perfect but that volley is so difficult to execute. You can easily put them in the stands, but it was a perfect finish from Ronaldo."
The win for Solskjaer's side was the first in four Premier League games and as they swapped to a 3-4-1-2, it brought their first clean sheet since the end of August.
Raphael Varane returned to the fold after a groin injury kept him out of the first two games after the international break, with the pressure still lingering over the Old Trafford hot seat, Berbatov praised United for showing their quality in North London.
"If United had lost, there would have been even more pressure on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. But these things are always the same, as soon as there is another loss or poor performance, the pressure will be back," he added.
"This is what happens when you are in charge of one of the biggest football clubs in the world. Sometimes it doesn't matter what you do, you are going to have your critics and they will say whatever they want the moment you slip or have a bad result.
"United have a couple of tough matches coming up this week but they showed against Spurs they have quality in the team.
"When United perform as they did on Saturday, it shows that the players are behind Ole. But why do they only react when the chips are down?
"Don't let that happen, just try to stay consistent and play the best every game. I know that's not always going to happen, but this is Manchester United and the players have to keep high standards and not let the last couple of games decide the future of the manager.
"They have to try and be as professional as possible and secure the results so that no one can question if Solskjaer is the right man for the job."
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