Manchester United’s forward runs and penetrating passing from midfield unsettled Spurs all afternoon

Shape

Rooney’s absence invited Sir Alex to name Giggs in a five-man midfield as a loose forward in the hope that the veteran’s intelligence to find space in a roving role would constitute the best support for Berbatov. Scholes’s range of passing would come from the base of the trio in midfield. It was in this central area that United would hope to dominate despite being without Rooney’s individual brilliance, with Nani and Valencia required to test Spurs’ left-footed right-back Assou-Ekotto and Bale, who had reverted to left-back as Harry Redknapp sought to accommodate Palacios in midfield. He clearly felt he needed the Honduran’s steel in the centre, meaning Modric was asked to play from the left.

Tactics and Teamwork

In a quiet first quarter, Scholes found much possession, robbing Huddlestone, Palacios and Modric in quick succession and spreading the ball wide with both accurate arrowed and lofted penetrating passes. The home side hounded Modric, who still managed to show some excellent touches. Valencia looked to exploit Bale on the inside, while Giggs was an ever willing runner from a position behind Berbatov. Twice his forward charges inside Assou-Ekotto were thwarted by Gomes’s alertness, but he constantly tested King’s covering. Evra and Nani also looked to seek the space on the inside of the makeshift right-back. United looked to plug the areas between Tottenham’s full-backs and centre-halves whenever possible. It meant Valencia, Evra, Giggs and Nani were all prepared to run forward and off the ball, as well as accepting passes to feet.

Did It Succeed?

Yes, even if Tottenham did stun the hosts briefly when King equalised against the run of play. United had dominated after half-time when they sought to play higher up the field, and Vidic, in the true tradition of Bruce and Stam, completely dominated Pavlyuchenko and Defoe. Fletcher and, in particular, Scholes continually tried to pass progressively to turn the visiting defence and make them face their own goal. When Valencia was substituted, Nani moved to the right and Giggs to the left but both kept the pressure on. Crucially, United’s three versus two in the centre won major possession, even if Gudjohnsen’s introduction for Defoe helped Spurs in that area. With Redknapp also sensibly switching the full-backs and thrusting Bale further forward, Spurs looked better balanced, but United kept playing the penetrative ball into high areas. King was alert, but the forward pass threatened Tottenham to the end.

Premier LeagueManchester UnitedTottenham HotspurDavid Pleatguardian.co.uk

Despite Robbie Keane’s brave talk, Tottenham’s shambolic defending suggested they are a long way behind the big four

Suddenly, Robbie Keane’s bold claim that Tottenham Hotspur are “definitely on a par” with Arsenal seems rather misguided. A gut-wrenching 30-second period just before half-time, in which the hosts ignited and Spurs imploded, choked those aspirations and rendered the visitors a team shell shocked. Their game of catch-up thereafter always felt forlorn.

If Tottenham are vastly improved from the side that arrived here last term bottom of the table to pluck a staggering 4-4 draw from a helter-skelter derby, then certain flaws still clearly remain. Any argument that they had arrived here depleted by injury and suspension was countered by the reality that for 42 minutes they stifled the hosts’ midfield and induced sloppiness that had the home partisans chuntering up the aisles towards their half-time pies.

Then, mystifyingly, Spurs simply switched off as if their jobs were done. Ledley King may have appeared most culpable as Robin van Persie stabbed Bacary Sagna’s centre through Heurelho Gomes’ grasp at the near-post, the centre-half caught flat-footed as the Dutchman ghosted in on the inside, but why had Benoit Assou-Ekotto and Robbie Keane permitted Sagna and Cesc Fàbregas time at the key throw-in seconds earlier for the Frenchman to eke out the space to conjure the cross? Where, too, was Sebastien Bassong as the ball looped in on his side towards the near-post?

That inquest was still on-going, of course, when Spurs re-started the game, Wilson Palacios carelessly surrendering possession, via Van Persie’s touch, to Fabregas and then melting along with Tom Huddlestone and King as the Spaniard sprinted through the centre to side-foot a second beyond the exposed Gomes. The shambolic nature of the concession was hard to grasp, though this was rapidly turning into one of those tormented Tottenham days.

Panic had long since set in. The third on the hour-mark confirmed as much. Assou-Ekotto’s foul on Fabregas prompted players on both sides to stop with Mark Clattenburg bellowing to play on. Sagna did just that though, even so, his low centre should have been collected by either Gomes or King only for fragility to flare again. Amid the creaking limbs and muddled minds in the centre, the ball dribbled cruelly through goalkeeper and centre-half for Van Persie to tap in.

Doubts will be raised now, surely, over whether King can be expected to excel in games of this magnitude with little to no training behind him given his chronic knee problems. Yet he was not alone in being error-prone and ponderous here while Jonathan Woodgate and Michael Dawson – “themselves hampered by recent injuries” – watched on from the bench.

Spurs have now lost to Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal this season, conceding three times to each having been exposed ruthlessly as a work in progress at the back. Their victory over Liverpool on the opening day, which hinted at an imminent challenge to the top four, is starting to look like the exception that proves the rule. This side, on this display, does not appear ready.

Premier LeagueArsenalTottenham HotspurDominic Fifieldguardian.co.uk