The press seem to think that Spurs stole a point off Manchester United,
but in the first half Tottenham had the clearer chances and in the end
they came to be thankful to keeper Heurelho Gomes for some smart saves
that kept the score-line goal-less, while United were thankful to a
deflection late on that took Modric's shot just over the top.
From the start, it was going to be difficult
for Tottenham, with Ledley King missing and United starting on the
attack with a couple of corners in the first two minutes putting
pressure in the Tottenham back four. An early foul by Rafael on
Lennon went unpunished and the first clear shot on goal came in the
ninth minute, when the ball dropped between two red-shirted defenders,
but David Bentley got between them to make the ball his just outside the
left hand corner of the penalty area. He took one touch with his
right foot and then hit a left foot volley that looked like it was
creeping inside the far post until van der Sar leapt full length to tip
the ball to safety.
Straight after, Jonathan Woodgate
collapsed in a heap on the floor. It seemed an innocuous incident,
but the man with the captain's armband had to leave the field, not to
return, meaning the Huddlestone came on in his place, with Corluka
shuffling across into the middle alongside Dawson and Zokora filling in
at right back. It was not what Tottenham needed, but the change
seemed to work, with all the back four and the goalkeeper turning in a
solid defensive performance to take the plaudits.
Tom's first couple of pieces of action
saw him sticking a foot into tackles with Berbatov, who might not have
expected it from a player who often is criticised for his lack of
aggression. He wasn't the only one getting stuck into the sulky
striker, as every touch was accompanied by a chorus of boos, which
started with his name being read out in the team line-up.
Conversely, Michael Carrick received a polite round of applause when he
was announced pre-match. Even comedian Michael McIntyre had a pop
at half-time with a hilarious appearance including the "Berbatov has
nothing to offer - we were right to dismiss him" claim.
Showing nice touches to bring the ball
down, the former Spurs forward was limited to a weak header in the first
half, as Spurs got to him quickly when he got on the ball. Just
before the half hour, it was Tottenham who were giving United something
to think about. Lennon darted to the edge of the box after being
released by the Hud and his low shot was kept out by van der Sar's full
length dive once again. When Pavlyuchenko followed up, he was
offside from the first phase of play.
The Spurs defence were throwing
themselves in the way and Corluka was reading the game well from his new
central position, but ten minutes before the break, Tevez managed to
wriggle through on the left hand side of the Tottenham penalty area and
he hit a shot, but it went off for a throw-in on the opposite side of
the pitch. Play switched up to the other end and Bentley put
Zokora away on the right and the Ivorian checked back to hit a left foot
cross that Modric dived in front of Vidic to meet with a header, but it
went wide, with van der Sar beaten if it had been on target. Or,
as McIntyre put it, "Modric rose like a salmon to head the ball ... and
missed."
It was then United's turn to attack and
it was Tevez again, who was causing problems. Taking the ball from
Ronaldo, after some of his trickery, the Argentinian hit a low cross
into the six yard box, but Gomes was alert to it and palmed the ball
away, with Berbatov lurking behind him. It was enough to encourage
Tottenham into one last chance of the half, with Jenas picking up a ball
in the area and laying it into the path of Huddlestone, who hit a
trademark rocket of a shot. it might have just been going wide,
but Roman Pavlyuchenko didn't know that. In fact, he didn't know
much about anything as the effort from the big man pole-axed him after
striking him firmly on the Mansion logo on his shirt. There was
still enough added time for Ferdinand to stride forward and with the way
opening ahead of him, he struck a low shot that Gomes got down well to
hold.
The half-time entertainment lived up to
the on-field action and kept spirits high, as Michael McIntyre said that
Spurs had United where we wanted them. We had been 3-0 up and lost
3-5 before, so at 0-0 he hoped the score would stay at 0-0 until the
end. The early signs in the second half were that United would
step up their game and Berbatov's shot that went high into the Park Lane
brought jeers, but the worry was there, especially when he went on a bit
of a run from 35 yards out and only Michael Dawson's well-timed tackle
as the Bulgarian entered the area stopped his progress. From the
corner, the ball dropped to Cristiano Ronaldo around the penalty spot,
but his shot that beat Gomes had been assisted by an arm bringing the
ball down and the whistle clearly went before he struck the shot.
He wasn't happy, but then he wouldn't be as he doesn't like anything
going against him.
The tactic of playing the ball long to
Pavlyuchenko wasn't working particularly well, so ten minutes into the
half, Redknapp brought on Bent for the Russian, who had worked hard up
front on his own. Huddlestone received a yellow card for his first
foul - a trip on Park as a Spurs attack broke down. Interestingly,
Lennon was brought down by Rafael later and the same application of the
laws by Dean might have seen that be the Brazilian defender's second
rather than first yellow card. But then we were playing a
different set of rules, as it was Manchester United.
Jenas limped off to be replaced by Jamie
O'Hara and the armband went to the third Tottenham captain of the day,
ending up with Michael Dawson. From the foul on Lennon mentioned
above, Bentley stepped up and hit a shot on goal that was much more
accurate than his previous two efforts. It arrowed over the wall
and down towards the top corner, but van der Sar rose to tip it away for
a corner with a good save. Ferguson was getting anxious, bringing
on the old school of Scholes and Giggs for Tevez and Fletcher, in an
attempt to add some wily old heads to the side. it did, as some
chances started to open up for the visitors.
Firstly, a header from Vidic was aimed
down, but Gomes flopped on the ball, when really it should have had more
power in it, then Ferdiand had a free header from a corner and could
only put it over the bar from a few yards out. With a break at the
other end, a corner was worked short on the Tottenham left and Lennon
cut inside to curl an effort a couple of feet wide of the far post and a
corner at the Tottenham end dropped for Corluka to kick away, but it was
charged down by Carrick and could of gone anywhere, but luckily it ended
up in the prone Gomes' midriff. Tiring from his effort sin the
first hour of the match, Bentley left Park from a throw and he cut
inside Zokora to hit a shot across Gomes, but the goalie stretched out
to palm it wide with a very good save to keep his goal intact.
Once more, the game moved from end to
end. A loose pass was picked off in the centre circle, with
Huddlestone putting Modric away and his jinking run on the edge of the
box ended with a shot that might have gone in had it not taken a
deflection off a defender and agonisingly loop just over and onto the
roof of the net. Then Bent had an opportunity, but he put
Assou-Ekotto's ball in wide with his head.
As the game entered the last minute,
Tottenham were on the back foot. Vidic took the ball into
Tottenham territory and went down under challenge, with Giggs then
adjudged to have been fouled when he drew his foot back and it hit
Corluka, thus determined to be a foul. It was all set to be a
repeat of last week's United match with a last minute winner against
Sunderland. The free-kick was this time left to Giggs, who curled
it expertly over the wall and the ball was heading into the top corner
until Gomes used his feet well and his long reach better to push the
ball over the bar for a corner.
The final one of the 14 United corners
was cleared away and with the added time played out, a chorus of cheers
greeted the point, which repeated the feat of last season against the
same opposition. Last year they were lucky to get away with a
draw, but this year it was more even and continues not only the good run
under Harry, but also the good run that has left us with three draws and
a win against the top four so far this season. The point wasn't
good enough to lift us too far up the table, as all those around us
picked up points too, but with some winnable games coming up, we will
just have to hope that the squad can cope with them.
It was Spurs fans who left happier than
United supporters, but then results went their way and they couldn't
take advantage. Now, who would have thought that of such a
swaggering outfit ??
EAST STAN |