Manchester United 2–3 Tottenham: A game of two contrasting halves

In a game of two contrasting halves, Tottenham Hotspurs ended their 23 year wait for their first win in Old Trafford with a closely fought 3-2 win.

Despite his appearance on Wednesday, there was no space in the starting line-up for Wayne Rooney, as Fergie chose RVP as the lone striker supported by a five-man midfield including surprise choice Giggs. It was a puzzling line-up considering that, in Dembele, Sandro and Bale, Spurs have some of the most dynamic and physical midfielders in the league, as United would find out barely after kick off.

First Half

Within two minutes of kick-off, Vertonghen exchanged passes with Bale before galloping towards the penalty box completely unchallenged, to see his shot deflect past a hapless Lindegaard by Jonny Evans’ arm, putting Spurs 1-0 ahead. To say that Tottenham simply controlled the first half would be a serious understatement as they completely outplayed United off the park like very few teams have ever done at Old Trafford.

With United playing worse than they did at Anfield, the second goal looked inevitable.

Dembele controlled the ball after Van Persie lost it and then muscled towards the centre before passing the ball forward to Bale who was yet again completely unmarked in the hole. Bale then, ignited the afterburners, powering through United’s midfield and defence before side-barrelling the ball past Lindegaard.

Midfield Marauded

Though Ferdinand would get the instant blame for the goal due to his split second hesitation in following Bale, equal blame belongs to the midfielders who left a gaping wide space between the defence and midfield, awarding the Spurs with an ace in the hole.

For all their attacking guile and firepower, United were regularly overrun and outmuscled in midfield where a lack of pace and solidness was apparent.

Nobody can ever dispute the quality of Ryan Giggs but he is not, and never has been, a central midfielder and the decision to start him today at that position cost United dearly. Against a lesser team, he would have worked but definitely not against such a quality midfield.

Giggs shouldn’t obviously be singled out as the whole United team was flat, slow and lacked desire throughout the first half exemplifying the regular pattern in Fegie’s selections.

Boos rang all around the ground as United went back after the first half for a much needed team talk.

Second Half

United re-emerged with Rooney coming on in place of Giggs to make his first league appearance after injury. His impact was instant as his cross from the right was met by Nani, whose side footed-shot brought him some confidence and a much needed goal for United.

Any hopes of a comeback were instantly dashed in three crazy minutes as Defoe brilliantly played Bale through with United’s back four yet again caught off guard. Bale’s shot was parried away by Lindegaard but he could do nothing about Dempsey’s tap on the rebound.

The drama was not over yet as the two-goal advantage lasted less than a minute. Van Persie threaded a superb ball through for Kagawa who eluded Spurs’ attempt to play the offside trap, controlled the ball brilliantly first time and rolled it past Friedel.

United We Attack

The goal sparked Manchester United back to life so much so that they produced their best performance of the season so far, with Paul Scholes superbly pulling the strings in midfield.

With the introduction of Rooney, much physical pressure was lifted off from Kagawa who began to weave around the box more freely.

United were unlucky as they hit the post twice including the brilliant Rooney free kick. Their two penalty appeals were turned down and Van Persie’s finishing was uncharacteristically bad.

Spurs, to their credit, held on well and created a wall around their box, with all of their midfielders screening their defence.

With twelve minutes to go, Ferguson made a very difficult decision of replacing Kagawa with Welbeck as they were beginning to play more and more crosses into the box where Kagawa would have been no help at all. What makes this decision hard is the fact that Spurs were obviously going to sit deep and defend in the last ten minutes. Kagawa is the kind of player who can be a key to unlock such a defence with clever passes.

In the end, Spurs held on bravely to their one goal lead to get three well-earned points.

A fair result?

Losing after coming back so admirably can be a huge morale downer for any team. Truth be told, Spurs were not interested in attacking in the second period and on another day they would have lost, but such is the attacking tenacity which comes in the shape of Bale and Lennon that they held on.

While United did not do much to win initially, their efforts in the second half merited one point apiece to the two teams.

In the end football can be such a cruel game, but we still love it anyway.