Going into this game, Man Utd were second bottom on two points and Spurs were 15th with three points. Not the start to the season either club was expecting and so this was going to be a battle. However, Spurs don't exactly have a great record against them - they have lost more times to Man Utd than any other team in the Premiership, and the last time Spurs won at Old Trafford was 1989. After the turmoil at Tottenham between the board and Martin Jol, this was certainly a game the lads would want to win for their manager, who were all 100% behind him.
Team line-up: Robinson, Chimbonda, Rocha, Gardner, Lee, Bale, Jenas, Huddlestone, Malbranque, Berbatov, Keane. Subs: Cerny, Defoe, Zokora, Taarabt, Stalteri
Only 23 seconds elapsed before Spurs had their first chance with Keane striking a curling shot off the crossbar. The team looked like they were buzzing and controlled most of the opening ten minutes. During the following ten minutes, Spurs had three more chances. The first: a corner from Jenas which Chimbonda flicked on but Gardner was unable to convert. The second: a free kick which ended up in the path of Rocha who sent the ball into row Z. The third: Berbatov had a shot on the left of the box but it was blocked.
United then came into the game forcing Robinson to make a good save followed by a good punch clearance. Another person who's had a difficult week after the howler for England, but looked more confident today. Spurs suddenly had to defend hard and were up for the task.
The fans were certainly in good form. Despite only having a small section of the stadium, all you could hear was 'I love Martin Jol, Martin Jol loves me'. Another chant which made me chuckle was directed to Tevez: 'You're just a shit Maradona'!!
0-0 at half time. A good positive start.
On 56 minutes, the clearest cut chance of the match so far for Spurs. Bale curled in a free kick from the right which met the head of Rocha only six yards out, but he failed to get it on target. Argh! That should have been 1-0. Seven minutes later, Bale intercepted a pass, ran at Ferdinand and played the ball behind Vidic for Berbatov. Just as Berbatov looked as if he was on to the ball, Vidic fell into him just inside the penalty area and looked like it was a deliberate block. Several replays of the incident didn't convince me either way whether it was a penalty but I sure would have taken it! Just two minutes later, there was another penalty claim when Berbatov forced a save from Van der Sar. However, the block came back to Berba who prodded the ball towards goal but Wes Brown got in the way and it appeared to come off his upper arm. The referee was disinterested but our players were convinced and complained about the decision, which led to Berba being yellow carded. Several replays of this incident, in my opinion, still left me in two minds whether it was the arm or more the shoulder. However, it was sickening to have two penalties chances turned down in a matter of minutes. And so that old chestnut of 'no-one gets a penalty away at Old Trafford' lingers on.
Just to rub salt in the wounds, United get a goal from long range. It fell to Nani and despite Gardner trying desperately to block, it flew in with a slight deflection off Tevez and off the fingertips of Robinson. At least we can't blame the goalkeeper for that one. I always felt from that moment that our fate was sealed. And of course I was right, however it wasn't before Spurs were a whisker away from equalising from a brilliant piece of skill from the number 9.Berba brought down the ball superbly and curled the ball towards the top right corner. It missed by a couple of inches.
And so the dreadful record continues against United. However, despite that, a lot of positives could be taken out of the game:
1) Gareth Bale - looks a very promising player, only 18 years old but he definitely made a difference on the left wing, whipping in great crosses and corners. I was very impressed.
2) Tom Huddlestone - looked solid, accurate passing the majority of the game. He is more of an attacking option than Zokora, although his shots today were off target.
3) Pascal Chimbonda - Man of the match for me. Didn't lose one single header (unless I blinked). Very strong.
4) The defence as a unit - There are always a few heart-stopping moments but all in all, I think they played very well and kept United at bay for the most part. You have to consider that we are still without King, Dawson and Kaboul.
5) Dimitar Berbatov - After a stressful week of 'will he go or will he stay' I was pleased to see some of his old self returning. He showed some delightful touches at times. I just wish the ball would reach him more often.
Negatives:
1) Robbie Keane - I don't know what's happened to Robbie since his goalfest during pre-season, but he has looked anonymous for all four Premiership games so far. He still gives 100% effort chasing down balls etc, but we are not seeing what he is capable of, particularly interacting with Berba and making those runs into the box. Strange.
2) Steed Malbranque - Steed has been one of, if not our best player in the previous three games but today it just didn't happen. He was swapped to the right of midfield and lost the ball throughout the game. Shame, because I think he is one of the most committed guys on the pitch.
To conclude, I was very proud of the boys today. It is disappointing losing the match but it doesn't feel half a bad when you know they have done their absolute best. And who knows, it may have been a very different outcome if the refereeing decisions had gone our way. I feel sure that if we play like that against most teams, we should win games. Not forgetting, we still have players to come back from injury so we will hopefully go from strength to strength.
COYS!
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