Back in July, Tottenham’s players produced a no-show at Bramall Lane that they came to see as a turning point in José Mourinho’s reign. This time they beat Sheffield United by the same scoreline that had jolted them into action six months ago and will hope it has a similarly transformative effect after such an inconsistent run of form. Whether or not that proves to be the case, this game will be best remembered for an exquisite and ultimately decisive piece of improvisation by Tanguy Ndombele shortly after the hour. Tottenham’s two-goal lead had just been halved by David McGoldrick and a hitherto unthreatening home side sensed genuine hope of exploiting their neuroses. Then Ndombele laid the ball to Steven Bergwijn and, helped by Chris Basham’s overcommitted dash out from the centre-back position, peeled off into vacant space on the left side of the penalty area. Bergwijn’s floated return pass was an impressive feat of precision in itself but that had nothing on the technique required for Ndombele, who was both running and facing away from goal, to extend his right leg and arc a delicate, perfectly directed lob over the scrambling Aaron Ramsdale. Did Ndombele mean it? Anyone asking that question, and there were one or two, would be doing a disservice to the rare vision and imagination he offers a side that does not always brim with those qualities. Before settling the issue here he had, more than once, found teammates were not quite on his wavelength when he sought to change the angle of an attack. It took him time to land on the same page as Mourinho, too, but here was evidence he possesses qualities that can help lift Tottenham far above the ordinary. Mourinho described Ndombele’s intervention as “a genius action” and cited his revival as an inspiration to others, with Dele Alli’s absence from the squad hanging in the air. “He’s a great example that with me the door is always open, the door of the team is always open,” he said. “When a player is not playing he has to try to understand why and understand how to walk through that door. He understood.” Ndombele had scored the last time Tottenham won an away game by more than one goal, when they thrashed Manchester United in an October outcome that seems ever more extraordinary. That was also the occasion for Serge Aurier’s previous goal but it was the Ivorian who put Spurs in charge here, beating Jayden Bogle to an early Son Heung-min corner and nodding past Ramsdale. The 5ft 9in Aurier had barely needed to jump and United, who were looking to build an unlikely relegation-beating momentum after overcoming Newcastle, never really recovered. “The first thing we needed was to get a really bright start and a hold on the game, and we didn’t,” Chris Wilder said. Had Son not clipped a post his team would have been two down within eight minutes. They battled on for a further half-hour, huffing and puffing but rarely looking like giving truth to the half-joke that Tottenham would be at their most vulnerable when a goal up. Mourinho had protested that if Spurs, who had let three first-half leads slip in their previous six Premier League games, had lost the ability to put teams away it had nothing to do with his instructions. They were brighter here and Harry Kane cleared any remaining fog before the break with the kind of finish he executes better than anyone in the division, bustling towards the edge of the D before whipping a low, precise shot low to the left of Ramsdale’s fingertips. He had Pierre-Emile Højbjerg, who dispossessed Ollie Norwood in midfield before receiving the ball back from Son and locating his striker, to thank for creating the possibility. Kane came close twice with left-footed efforts early in the second half but United, who re-emerged with an improved tempo, were given a lifeline when McGoldrick headed John Fleck’s cross past Hugo Lloris. “We all believed that if we got that goal after half-time it was game on,” Wilder said. But then Ndombele pulled out his moment of wizardry and, while Wilder could lament another moment of carelessness by Norwood in the buildup, it accurately captured the gulf on show. “The team was very dominant,” Mourinho said. “We created enough chances in the first half to kill the game off and in the second half the intention was the same.” This time, nobody could really doubt him.