Dempsey Holds United

Tottenham 1 - Manchester United 1
Scorers
Tottenham: Dempsey (90)
Manchester United: Van Persie (25)

Team: De Gea, Rio, Vidic, Rafael, Evra, Carrick, Jones, Cleverley (Valencia 65), Kagawa (Rooney 62), Welbeck, Van Persie

So that's how it feels like when the opponents snatches a late late goal. It was an utterly disappointing way to end the night, especially knowing how the teams below us have faired. At the same time, I can't really say that it was a surprise. We looked abit too comfortable for our own good and maybe this will be a kick up our arse. The gap is still significant and it's still our title to lose, but performances have to improve and the defense needs to be stronger and tighter.

First off, gotta say that I missed the FA Cup replay. 4am games are getting sightly more difficult to catch. While the mind is willing, the body is finding it increasingly difficult as I age. I just hope I can find the energy when Real Madrid comes along. On paper, those are games worthy for the finals.

I thought we did reasonably well against Spurs in the first half. Not that we contained them particularly well, but we did give as good as we got. That wonderful goal from Van Persie helped alot in that line of thinking as well.

It was yet another superb Van Persie goal, this time heading in Cleverley's cross into the near post. It was a goal worthy to win any game. Sadly this is the first time this season that Van Persie scores and we didn't win a league game. The record looked like continuing until Dempsey showed up.

Probably because of the lead, we were contented to sit tight in the second half and allowed Spurs alot more space and they dominated most of the half. Heroics from De Gea kept the lead intact. Our counter-attacking game just wasn't crisp enough and we simply weren't able to get the crucial cushion we needed to see off the game.

And 2 minutes into injury time, we paid the price.

Spurs Break Old Trafford Jinx

Manchester United 2 - Tottenham 3
Scorers
Manchester United: Nani (51), Kagawa (53)
Tottenham: Vertonghen (2), Bale (32), Dempsey (52)

Team: Lindagaard, Rio (Hernandez 90), Evans, Rafael, Evra, Carrick, Scholes, Giggs (Rooney 46), Nani, Kagawa (Welbeck 79), Van Persie

Anyone even surprised at this result? I know I'm not. We were terrible. Absolutely putrid in the first half and deserved this loss even though we did give a good account of ourselves in the second half. Sadly the game is not played in 45 minute halves.

I'm sure the newspapers tomorrow would all be screaming at our porous and sometimes non-existent defense, but the problem for me lies squarely in the midfield area. We are so bad in the centre of the park that we just didn't give our much maligned defenders a chance. The cover just wasn't there and there were times our midfielders didn't seem like they cared.

Just look at the first goal by Vertonghen. Neither Nani nor Carrick were interested in tracking him when he got the ball. If either had tracked back, he wouldn't have the chance to slice right thru our defense to score. Similarly, Bale was given arces of space to run at Rio while Evans was busy covering Defoe. Even for Dempsey's tap in, no one shadowed him, allowing him all the space and time in the world to tap in Lindegaard's shotblock.

To make matters worse, our midfield is terribly static. Kagawa had no one to play with. Once Rooney came on in the second half, the entire complexion of the game changed. Suddenly all the off the ball running by Kagawa mattered. Suddenly he had someone to play the ball off, and as a result, we played so much better, pinning Spurs back into their own half. They could barely cope with the movement. Even Van Persie and Nani came to life, after stinking it up in the first half.

We brought the game to Spurs in the second half, but were unable to claw back a huge first half deficit. Until Ferguson starts playing the youngsters (Ando and Cleverley together) or we get a covering midfielder in the mold of a Yaya Toure or Tiote, we're going to see a whole lot of play like the first half. Sometimes we pull out of it, like against Fulham, Soton and Liverpool, but against good enough opponents, we're just going to fail like against Everton and today against Spurs.

United Steals Ponts At Spurs

Tottenham 1 - Manchester United 3
Scorers
Tottenham: Defoe (87)
Manchester United: Rooney (45), Young (60, 69)


Team: De Gea, Rio, Evans, Jones, Evra, Carrick, Scholes (Giggs 61), Young, Nani (Park 80), Welbeck, Rooney

Are you kidding me? Based on the first half performance, we couldn't come close to the Spurs goal, let alone go into the break with one. Spurs were everywhere and how they didn't get one at the half was completely beyond me. It defied logic and common sense.

We couldn't get a sniff of the ball and on the very few occasions we had it, we couldn't hold on to it. They were everywhere and at some point in time I swear they were playing with 14 men on the pitch. I haven't seen United this dominated for a long long time, possibly since Barcelona.

Yet against all odds, we took the lead. And did it right at the death of half time. Rooney headed in an unlikely goal from a Young corner.

The second half was more of the same. Much much more of the same. It seemed that it was just a matter of time before Spurs drew level. De Gea was called upon to make a spectacular save when Livermore's shot was deflected off at close range by Saha. It's possible one THE saves of our season, in more ways than one.

And as Spurs started to turn the screws, we popped up and suckered punch them again. This time it was Ashley Young who provided the goal with a speculative effort from a narrow angle after no one wanted to clear Nani's cross.

The goal took the wind out of the North Londoners' sail. They were deflected and shocked by the goal and Young made the most of the opportunity to score his second with a spectacular curler. For all their good play, Spurs were defeated and looked it.

You can't help but feel that the better team lost today. In fact Giggs was feeling so sorry for them that he gifted them a consolation on the 87th minute, placing a backpass in the path of Defoe. It brought the scoreline to something more respectable.

With this victory, we've conclusively knocked Spurs out of the title race, making it offically a two horse race now. Someone must be keep Lady Luck really happy, and at the rate things are going, I'm beginning to think we may just take the title this season, despite running the race with one leg tied behind our backs.

To whoever is humping Lady Luck, please continue whatever you're doing.

Welbeck Arrives

Manchester United 3 - Tottenham 0
Scorers
Manchester United: Welbeck (60), Anderson (76), Rooney (87)


Team: De Gea, Jones, Evans, Smalling, Evra, Anderson, Cleverley (Giggs 82), Nani, Young (Park 82), Rooney, Welbeck (Hernandez 82)

That was utterly brilliant. Utterly brilliant. Ferguson must be so proud of the boys tonight. We started with what I must say a really youthful looking team. With the exception of probably Evra, we literally played with boys out there. Boy did they come of age, in the most emphatic fashion.

We didn't exactly start off well in the first half, but did well to stand toe to toe with Spurs, probably edging the number of shots on target but possibly narrowly losing out on the posession stats. We should have gone into the lead, but that ancient giant, Friedel at the ripe old age of 40 was having a really good game preventing shot after shot from beating him.

Whilte the first half was a eye-catching, the second half was breathtaking. The moment Welbeck scored the opener in the 60th minute, the game only went in one direction.

Once Welbeck directed Cleverley's super cross, there was only going to be one outcome. With the goal giving him confidence, Welbeck went on to put an exclaimation mark on his man of the match performance. He had a bicycle kick saved but went on to set up Anderson's goal on a platter. He brilliantly backheeled the ball into Anderson's path and he couldn't miss.

Ferguson was so delighted with the display, he made a triple substitution to allow the Old Trafford crowd to give Welbeck, Cleverley and Young a well deserved ovation. Rooney added icing to the cake with a headed goal provided by Giggs.

On the other end, no game is complete without a small boo-boo from De Gea when he let slip a cross but Defoe could only strike the woodwork. However that said, De Gea had a really good outing. Spurs peppered him with long shots and low shots but he handle it all exceptionally well.

And our youthful defenders all were outstanding. Nothing got past them, and for most parts, Spurs were left with long shots. What was most gratifying to watch was that fact that the 4 forward players continuously came back to help the defense. Everyone played for one another.

On the strength of today's wonderful performance, I honestly cannot see anyone taking the title from us. Screw Shitty and Chelsea, they are simply not at our level. Not even close.

Got Away With One

Tottenham 0 - Manchester United 0
Red Cards
Manchester United: Rafael (74)

Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Vidic, Rafael, Evra, Carrick, Fletcher, Nani (Anderson 62), Giggs, Rooney, Berbatov (Hernandez 78)

Phew, gotta say we escaped with a point. This was never going to be an easy fixture, facing a Spurs side filled with attacking talent.

As usual, our away malaise persisted and we continue to play like fuck. The going got more difficult in the 74th minute when Rafael was sent for an early shower after a rather harsh second yellow card, but it wasn't unexpected. Rafael was totally immersed in the game and was rather rash with some of his tackles throughout the game and after some persistent rough play probably left the referee with little choice but to brandish the red card.

The game itself was a drab and dull affair. Both sides failed to control any semblance of a passing game, although Spurs was slightly better with Modric pulling the strings. They, however, failed to make any telling contributions in the final third.

We were no better. Barring a Rooney strike in the second half that somewhat troubled Gomez, we were absolutely horrid for a tabletopping side. The draw was probably the best result for two unconvincing sides. Spurs proved that they could stand toe to toe with the big sides, and while we topped the table and kept our unbeaten record. The sending off made things slightly more uncomfortable but we managed well in the final 16 or so minutes.

Once again, I must stress that we must improve on our level of play. Besides the defense that kept an unlikely cleansheet, everyone else must improve. Our away form is shocking and could very well be our achilles heel. And when Nani is not performing, nothing seems to work for us. Once again, we're left too reliant on one player.

It seems that Ferguson is finding it hard to motivate the players to perform at a high level. I, too, am at a loss of how to improve the team barring an injection of new blood. That said, Ferguson seems confident that this is the squad to take us to the end of the season. I suppose we can only trust Ferguson to know what he's doing. Hopefully Valencia and Park returning in the near future will give us more options to shuffle a stale looking deck.

Manchester United 2 - Tottenham 0

Scorers

Manchester United: Vidic (30), Nani (84)

Team: Rio, Vidic, Rafael (Brown 64), Evra, Fletcher, Carrick, Park, Nani, Berbatov (Scholes 64), Hernandez (Obertan 87)

Not at all a good game yet again, but what's important is that we kept pace with Chelsea and even more importantly, we kept a clean sheet. It's been a while we actually prevented someone from scoring.

The match however would be remembered for Nani's ungentlemanly goal near the end of regulation time. I was watching with absolutely no commentary, hence am still clueless at this stage how the hell the goal stood.

It happened like this, Nani fell in the penalty area, used his hands to handle the ball thinking he earned a penalty. The referee said otherwise. In this instance I thought a freekick was awarded to Spurs. Yet when Gomes placed the ball, Nani took a swipe and scored. From where I was watching, it really shouldn't have been a goal, however the referee Mark Clattenburg consulted his linesman and awarded a cruel goal to end all of Spurs resistance.

While I think Nani wasn't really at fault, his celebrations for such a controversial goal leaves plenty to be desired. I suppose it shows his true nature. Whatever the case is, I kinda feel sorry for Spurs, but luckily for us, we were already one up at that late stage in the game and the goal would have matter little in the final analysis.

My computer has crashed and I'll be taking a break from blogging until I get a new one. I'm currently using a friend's laptop to work on and it's a pain to type full sentences without the screen jumping off to another page.

United Back On Top

Manchester United 3 - Tottenham 1
Scorers
Manchester United: Giggs (pen 58, pen 86), Nani (80)
Tottenham: King (70)

Team: Van der Sar, Vidic, Evans, Rafael (Macheda 80), Evra (O'Shea 67), Scholes, Giggs, Fletcher, Nani, Valencia (Carrick 60), Berbatov

I'm down with a rather bad bout of flu so not going to say much today. We weren't anywhere near our best but yet managed to edge Spurs in a contest of wills. The two penalties helped and Nani's winner was just brilliant.

So we're top of the heap, but Chelsea have a game in hand. Looks like it could all boil down to the game next week against Liverpool that could very well decide the title. If Liverpool take points off Chelsea, we could be looking at a record 4th title. But I'm sure we all know better than to trust the scousers.

What A Comeback!

Manchester United 5 - Tottenham 2
Scorers
Manchester United: Ronaldo (pen 57, 68), Rooney (67,71), Berbatov (79)
Tottenham: Bent (29), Modric (32)

Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Vidic, Rafael (O'Shea 70), Evra, Fletcher (Scholes 62), Carrick, Nani (Tevez 46), Ronaldo, Rooney, Berbatov

Thanks for all the concerned smses and emails. I was down with a terrible flu and at the moment still in the long process of recovery. With the swine pandemic spreading and causing fear around the world, my overly concerned and easily excitable doctor even suggested I took a blood test just in case. A suggestion which I rejected. The only pigs I've been around the past couple of weeks were my girlfriend and that swine, Kentona.

As bad as my flu was over the weekend, I stll managed to catch the game while drooping off to sleep as the coughing took every ounce of energy. Enduring a putrid first half just made it excruciatingly worse.

It's not to say we played that badly. We just played without any intensity whatsoever. With every missed chance, we just shrugged our shoulders and continued with the game. There was no desire or urgency. I'm beginning to feel why Ronaldo whines so much. Flanked by teammates who don't care, I'll want to leave too.

After an unwatchable half hour, Lennon struck. He's been a constant threat down the left and everytime he got the ball, he made Evra look like a schoolboy. Evra's dip in form recently has been alarming to put it nicely.

Before we knew it, Spurs were two up with goals from Bent and Modric. We were staring down a barrel of a loaded gun.

We did try to pull one back before the break, but there was a distinct lack of urgency in the way we went about our business. The half time and the throwing of teacups from the locker room couldn't come soon enough.

Ferguson decided to unleash Tevez in the second half in place of Nani and that possibly made all the difference in the game. Tevez injected some life and desire into the game. Perhaps playing for his United life, he went about trying to murder everyone foolish enough to cross his path.

Fergie's second substitution brought on even more agression from Scholesy. We were taking no prisoners and playing with reckless abandon. Both Scholes and Tevez soon found their way into the referee's book for being overly aggressive. And at the way the game was played, it was apparent more swashbuckling action was on the way. Rooney, Ronaldo and a couple more were already hacking away and it was just a matter of time before we were going to end up with 9 or fewer men as the scoreline continued.

Referee Howard Webb probably had the same feeling as I did, when he awarded a soft penalty when Carrick was taken down in the box. It threw us a lifeline which Ronaldo grabbed to give the score some respectability.

The complexion of the game completely changed from that goal. It gave us hope and Tevez's unique style of play rubbed on on everyone. Everyone, including the much maligned Berbatov, pulled up their socks and chased for every ball. There was a whole lot of game to play and we were finally getting the upper hand.

In quick succession, Rooney and Ronaldo scored 3 more goals between themselves to overhaul the deficit. We were running amok and Spurs, who looked so comfortable in the first half, were getting a mauling. This was the best we've played in a long long time.

Berbatov bundled in a 5th just to twist the knife little bit more. There probably could have been another couple more but we eased up on them.

While all this was going on, Michael was busy smsing me just how this game resembled that Beckham-led turnaround earlier in the decade. We cameback from 3-0 down to win 5-3 against today's opponents. I just want to take a quick timeout to apologise to Mike here as my replies were short and curt. I was practically dying from my flu, and the adrenaline rush from watching United play the way they are capable of, nearly gave me a heartattack in my weakened state.

This was United at it's finest. The only problem now is how to replicate this second half performance for the remainder of the season. If we can do that, then repeating last season's feat would be a walk in the park.

Penalty Kings - Cup Winners

Manchester United 0 - Tottenham 0
Penalties: Manchester United 4 - Tottenham 1

Team: Foster, Rio, Evans, O'Shea (Vidic 76), Evra, Gibson (Giggs 90), Scholes, Nani, Ronaldo, Welbeck (Anderson 67), Tevez

Don't know about you guys, but it feels strange to win on penalties. It's even stranger that this is the third penalty shoot-out we've won. The first was the Champions League finals against Chelsea, then the curtain-raiser in the Charity Shield against Portsmouth and today in the League Cup finals. This very strange un-United-like behaviour of winning shootouts is making me feel uncomfortable.

After the euphoria of that penalty win against Chelsea, the excitement seems to have dwindled somewhat for me. Don't get me wrong. I'm still thrilled that we've taken another step to sweeping all before us this season, but it just feels that we haven't won this one on merit.

In the opening quarter of the game, we ran Spurs ragged and quite really should have halved and quartered them. But the story of the season continues, we're just simply unable to put opponents away despite dominating the play.

After weathering an early United storm, Spurs gradually grew in confidence and gave a good shout. Aaron Lennon was a constant threat, taking Evra out of the game time and time again. Relief for Evra didn't come until the first half of the extra time that he was taken off injured.

On our part, Ronaldo came closest to settling the finals deep into injury time, but his shot cannoned off the post to end a disappointing cup final.

I have to admit I never liked the lottery of penalty shootouts. It's cruel, meaningless and the better team on the day usually gets the short end of the stick. But with fixture congestions and logistic issues of a replay, it's simply between the devil and the deep blue sea. In today's case, we just about deserved to win it, but credit Spurs for putting up an incredible fight and nearly nicking it themselves.

No one really covered themselves in glory today. A case can be made for Foster who saved a penalty and a good shout for Rio for breaking down most of the Spurs most dangerous plays. Everyone else was just poor. It's a good thing we won it in the end. Fergie's decision not to put Rooney on the bench could have smacked us in the face today, especially since neither Welbeck nor Tevez showed up today.

At least the consolation is that most of our bigger named players would be fresh for the midweek visit to a woeful Newcastle side. I'm not particularly thrilled to face Newcastle in this current state. They are a cornered animal that could really hurt us, especially after all the celebrations winning the Mickey Mouse Cup.

First Half Goals See United Thru

Manchester United 2 - Tottenham 1
Scorers
Manchester United: Scholes (35), Berbatov (36)
Tottenham: Pavlyuchenko (5)

Team: Foster, Neville, Vidic, O'Shea, Rafael (Eckersley 52), Carrick, Scholes, Welbeck (Fletcher 86), Ronaldo (Tosic 72), Berbatov, Tevez

Goals from Scholes and Berbatov a minute apart in the first half saw United thru to the 5th round of the FA Cup after Pavlyuchenko opened the scoring for Spurs in the 5th minute.

Besides the opening goal for Spurs early in the game, they found it hard to keep up with United's pace and power in attack. Tevez hit the post and United had numerous chances saved or cleared by the defenders before Scoles heavily deflected goal found the net in the 35th minute.

Before Spurs even knew what hit them, former Spurs player, Berbatov added a second. If the United team put out looked somewhat make-shift due to injuries, it certainly didn't show on the pitch. The first half display was one of the finest this season.

The pace dropped significantly in the second half but we still defended stoutly. We defended from the half way line and disrupted the Tottenham midfield, causing them to make hasty passes. It wasn't pleasant to watch but very effective from United's point of view. I rarely acknowledge it but tactically, Ferguson got it right by pushing the defense up. The only downside with such tactics is that the midfield has to work extra hard to pressure the opponents' midfield.

We also saw the debuts of Fabio, Tosic and Eckersley, all of whom did credible jobs in their respective roles, although no one stood out.

Another point to add is that our injury list seems to be growing. Fabio, Welbeck and Ronaldo all seem to have picked up injuries from the game. The squad does seem to look really thin at the moment.

On paper the midweek game against WBA looks easy, but with a growing list of the walking wounded, it could very well turn into a tricky fixture to contend with.

Firing Blanks

Tottenham 0 - Manchester United 0

Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Vidic, O'Shea, Rafael, Carrick, Fletcher (Scholes 70), Park, Ronaldo, Berbatov, Tevez (Giggs 70)

I've got to make this a quick one. I'm due at the airport in a couple of hours, so after factoring in the travel time, I've precious little to spare.

There was a time when seeing a zero on our side of the scoreboard would be an anomaly, but this is fast becoming an increasingly distressing statistic as we are churning them out at an alarming rate. The problem here is that we're not creating enough chances. And from the very few that we've created, they've been spurned by our goal-shy forwards.

After Arsenal and Liverpool drew earlier in the day, this was the perfect opportunity to make up lost ground, facing Spurs and a dodgy keeper between the posts. Like every week where we could make up ground, we threw the chance away. The normally edgy Gomes produced a stunning performance to thwart our best chances, especially late in the game.

Tactically we were woeful. Fegie opted to field Tevez upfront on his own, while Berbatov plyed his trade deep in midfield. Often balls that were crossed into the area were headed out as Tevez jumped and stretched but could do little to head the balls beyond his reach. Berbatov would have been a more ideal target man for this course of action.

The midfield was utterly crap today. Carrick is crap as usual, but it was a surprise that the consistant Fletcher joined him in the tomfoolery, giving away possession cheaply.

Perhaps sensing that the plan wasn't going well, we sent on Giggs for Tevez and Scholes for Fletcher. We did increase the pressure but found Gomez in unbelievable form, saving from a fantastic Giggs' freekick.

In all, it wasn't a terrible game, just a terrible result. We simply need to score goals and we're serverely lacking in that department. Maybe it's time to stop with the Berbatov experiment and start playing the kind of swashbuckling football that we've been pampered on. Maybe it's time for Manucho and Welbeck to stop rotting on the bench and present them a chance to make a name for themselves. The current incumbents are simply not doing the job.

Woeful United Steals A Point.

Tottenham 1 - Manchester United 1
Scorers
Tottenham : Berbatov 21
Manchester United : Tevez 90+3

Team : Van der Sar, Evra, Rio, Vidic, Brown, Scholes (Anderson 60), Hargreaves (Carrick 46), Giggs (Nani 60), Ronaldo, Rooney, Tevez

This was such a poor poor performance, it's probably best forgotten. We were ridiculously lucky to nick a point off Spurs with virtually the last kick of the game.

It didn't help that the Arsenal supporters were out in force at the kopitiam were Kentona and I were watching, making watching the game extra dreadful. It seemed that after the Arsenal game (which was played earlier) ended, all the Gooners decided to stay and catch the United game, bringing all their negative energy along with them. Bitter little pricks.

Excuses aside, we really didn't show up today on the pitch. Come to think of it, we haven't really been good for a full 90 minutes for a long long time. Yet somehow we've come away with the goods. Unfortunately for today, I doubt we even played a fucking full minute of outstanding football.

But take nothing away from a spirited Spurs. After the defeat in the FA Cup, Spurs were extra motivated right from the kickoff. Their passing was simply outstanding and they bossed the midfield. And it was only fitting that they took the lead midway thru the first half.

Jenas was brushed aside in our penalty area by Hargreaves and the ball fell kindly to Lennon. There could have been a slight debate that Jenas handled the ball as he fell, but if you asked me, it looked like a clear penalty that was not given. Anyway, justice had a way of righting itself. The 'handled' ball fell to Lennon. His pass was parried away by Van der Sar, but it only fell to Babertov with an open goal in front of him. The result was a goal.

United's response was pathetic at best. We couldn't even string two passes together. Had it not been for Hargreaves basically destroying play in midfield, we could very well been another goal or two down.

Tevez, Rooney and Ronaldo were kept very quiet by the outstanding Woodgate and gang in the Spurs defense. Giggs and Scholes were frankly non-existant. And Evra was just Lennon's man-bitch for the second time.

Things had to change at the break and Fergie did just that. Unfortunately he shocked both Kentona and myself when he took off Hargreaves and put in Carrick. We both felt Scholesy should have been replaced instead. It just didn't make any sense to us that the best player was taken off.

Nothing changed in the second half. Our play was still simply dreadful. Spurs were first to every 50-50 ball and once again should have punished our poor play. And perhaps hearing our pleas for subsitutions, Fergie brought on Nani and Anderson in place of Giggs and Scholes.

Instantly there was an injection of pace and energy. We started looking marginally more threatening going forward. But it didn't really last very long.

You know I've been perpetually whining about Carrick's disappearing act for the longest time since he joined. Today I just wish he was just that....invisible. At least he would still be a good guy....behind the scenes.

But today he was just ultra dreadful. I don't even think his own parents can defend he's performance today (unless they are Spurs fans). He's passing was simply abysmal. Every other time he got the ball, he gave it away to a player in white. There were numerous times out there that I felt he was still playing for Spurs. If I contract lung cancer or becoming an alcoholic, I'm going to put the blame squarely on Carrick.

Just as the game felt like it was going to be a loss (well deserved might I add), Tevez popped up and scored from a corner with virtually the last kick of the game. For 90 odd minutes, the Spurs defense had been outstanding, keeping our attackers at bay. Yet in the dying seconds, they gifted Tevez will all the space in the world to nick an equalizer.

I dare say it was a vital point for us in the grander scheme of things. It kept us within striking distance from Arsenal who won earlier.

We've not been doing well recently and it's a worrying sign. Maybe the whole Saudi trip is coming back to haunt us. Or maybe we're just getting too complacent. But one thing's for sure, something's gotta change and I dunno what.

The only thing I know is that I really don't want to see Carrick play for a long long time. Fergie's been in the news recently saying that Fletcher's been a real trooper. I say let Fletcher play. Let Fletcher take Carrick's place. Someone in the backroom staff should just smack Ferguson on the head everytime he even puts Carrick's name on the teamsheet, let alone start.

United Wakes Up In Time To Dump Spurs

Manchester United 3 - Tottenham 1

Scorers
Manchester United : Tevez 37, Ronaldo 69 (pen), 88
Tottenham : Keane 24

Team : Edwin Van der Sar, Evra (Simpson 90), Rio, Brown, O'Shea, Hargreaves, Carrick (Scholes 64), Giggs , Ronaldo, Tevez (Anderson 80), Rooney

I don't even know where to begin. Despite the scoreline, we were shit for very long periods in the game. Had it not been for individual errors for Spurs, they fully deserved to go thru in to the 3rd round of the FA Cup. But football is a cruel game.

The run up to today's game couldn't have been any more different. We spent a couple of days in the sun in Saudi Arabia playing some meaningless game, while pocketing a million pounds for our greedy American owners. While Fergie and his croonies argue that it's a good break from the cold, we all know it's greed at play. As a football club, we've fucking sold our souls to the devil. No two ways about it. We can't even have a decent tribute to the Busby Babes without having our sponsor somehow wiggling their logo in.

Spurs, on the other hand, came to Old Trafford with their tails up, after giving a pretty decent Arsenal team a good old-fashion thrashing at midweek.

And our different run up to the game showed. Spurs were sharper, hungrier and quicker to the ball, while United were busy thinking of the sun and the sand in Saudi. Evra, in particular, was horribly exposed time and time again by Lennon. Without Vidic to support him, Lennon game him a torrid time and it wasn't surprising that Lennon supplied the cross that resulted in the game's opening goal.

Lennon whisked past Evra and hit a grounder across the face of goal. Brown and, in particular, Rio were caught napping, allowing Keane a simple tap in. Suddenly we realise just how important Vidic is. Without him in the centre, everyone gets exposed for just how horrible they are at doing their job. And this happened throughout the entire game. It was just due to unlucky finishing, that we survived by the skin of our teeth.

United pressed forward in search of the equalizer but Spurs dealt with everything we threw at them rather comfortably. In the 37th minute, we did get a breakthru. The makeshift Spurs defense made their first mistake by not clearing the ball and Giggs held off his defender, giving enough time for Tevez to smash the ball into the net.

The scores were level but Spurs still had the better exchanges. Just before half time and just after the break, Spurs could've and should've gone in front when on both occasions, Jenas was one on one with Van der Sar. Thankfully both chances fell to Jenas who scuffed them both. Had it been for someone with more composure, we would have been staring defeat in the face.

The game was balanced on a knife's edge. We poured forward looking for the winner while Spurs looked terribly dangerous on the counter. Given the way we have been defending on the day, you could almost see Spurs hitting us with a counter punch. On the other side of the ground, we simply couldn't deliver the final pass.

Yet despite all that, we went in front. Dawson inexplicably handled the ball in the penalty area. The referee had no choice but to send him off and award United a penalty. Ronaldo took it and put United in front. It was definitely not deserved, but I'll take any crumbs that fall my way.

The sending off seemed to have galvanized Spurs. For the rest of the game, they were the much better side. They controlled the pace and tempo, stringing passes together and almost drawing level five minutes from time when Berbatov's effort came off the post.

That effort probably took the sting away from Spurs and minutes later, Ronaldo was given the room to roam and his strike somehow wiggled it's way under Cerny and into the goal. 3-1 up and it was game, set and match.

We were pretty terrible for most of the game but managed to wake up at crucial moments. Fergie and his coaching staff have plenty of work to do as the games are coming in thick and fast.

We would be facing Pompey in midweek and on paper should be an easy home game, considering almost half of their first teamers are away in Africa. But we're United, and for some reason this season, we tend to make things difficult for ourselves.

Nani Magic Downs Spurs (Manchester United 1 - Tottenham 0)

We were awful, uninspired and for a good portion of the game, you felt this was going to be one of those days. Today's performance was by far the worst we've played since the season began. Yet thru the sheer individual brilliance of Nani, we chalked up our first win. Undeserved? Probably, but luck has a way of evening itself up.

There's really nothing much to say about today's game. With the exception of Evra, the entire defense was caught napping far too many times for my liking. Rio, Vidic, Van der Sar and Brown were all guilty of crimes of giving the ball away cheaply and not marking their men. This is probably in poor taste if you're of Jewish decent, but they all need to be sent to concentration camp.

Carrick was disastrous. Maybe he was trying too hard against his old team, but it certainly was no excuse for a piss poor performance. I don't expect him to shed the Invisible Man tag and suddenly turn into Superman, but today he was Dr Doom. He's passes were off and his tackles were half-hearted. Thankfully Fergie took him off at the hour mark before he caused some real problems.

While this was a dull performance, we could still take away the fact that Nani and Hargreaves are awesome. Both displayed a high workrate (even by our standards), chasing every loose ball and staying in front of their man. The reason why Spurs couldn't really get a foothold on the game was because Hargreaves was literally in their face everytime their midfield got the ball. And more importantly, he was there whenever Carrick lost the ball.

Nani's just plain impressive for someone who's only played 4 games for us. He's not Ronaldo-impressive yet, but you can already tell the difference between the two. Nani just works so much harder. He's going to be a crowd favourite. And today we needed a Nani wonder strike to win a game which we never looked like winning.

Despite a poor display, we finally won a game. Let's hope it gives us the much needed confidence from here on in. Next week we face Keano's black pussies. Given the way they were convincingly dominated by Pool, I'm expecting nothing less than a win.