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

The two sides, who meet tomorrow at Old Trafford, have a long tradition of open‑ended, fluctuating and imaginative games

Tomorrow’s game between Manchester United and Tottenham at Old Trafford is heavy with significance. United’s hopes of winning a historic fourth successive league title have been revived by Chelsea’s attack of hiccups while Spurs’ chances of holding on to fourth place were not harmed by Manchester City’s defeat last Saturday in the derby. Whatever happens the outcome will have a considerable influence on who finishes where at the top of the Premier League.

Yet for most of the 75,000-odd fans making their way to Old Trafford tomorrow lunchtime the sense of anticipation will have been sweetened not so much by the consequences of the result as the likely quality of the entertainment involved in producing it. City against United was all about who won and lost; the game was largely a humdrum affair only partly redeemed by Paul Scholes’s melodramatic late winner. By contrast matches between United and Spurs have a tradition of producing open‑ended, fluctuating encounters in which attacking imagination and individual ingenuity has frequently upstaged grim defence and the desire to stop people playing.

When Harry Redknapp’s Tottenham side get it together they begin to stir memories of things past: Gareth Bale regularly turning defences on the left before cutting in towards goal with the speed and audacity of another Welshman, Cliff Jones; Luka Modric opening up a path to goal with the subtleness of touch of another John White; and, not least, Heurelho Gomes bringing the speed of reflex and gymnastic flair to his goalkeeping that used to distinguish the saves of Bill Brown.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United are essentially a team in transition, striving to preserve a balance between such relative newcomers as Darren Fletcher, Patrice Evra, Jonny Evans and the Da Silvas, Rafael and Fabio, while asking for a few more miles from Scholes, Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville. They have become over‑dependent on Wayne Rooney this season and fears of what might happen should he be injured may yet be borne out. Either way this is not the moment to discuss the present United side in terms of George Best, Denis Law and Bobby Charlton, not to mention Eric Cantona, Mark Hughes and Roy Keane or, if it comes to that, Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole.

Even so, and whatever team Ferguson fields tomorrow, United can still play with the speed and verve that takes them from deep defence to all-out attack in the blinking of an eye and it is this, combined with Spurs’ ability to catch opponents on the break, which promises a game to brighten the end of a non-vintage season. A home victory is likely with a draw not impossible. Tottenham could win, but probably not quite so emphatically as they did in the autumn of 1959 when most of those who would complete the Double the following season stunned Old Trafford by beating Matt Busby’s United 5-1.

Spurs, captained by Danny Blanchflower, were in the middle of the 12-match unbeaten run with which they started that season, a run that included 5-1 victories against Newcastle, Preston and Wolves. United were still recovering from Munich and three seasons later found themselves in a relegation struggle not helped by a further thrashing at White Hart Lane, where they lost 6-2.

One encounter between the teams in the early 60s is remembered for a less happy reason. Tottenham, who had won the Cup-Winners’ Cup the previous season, were drawn against United, the FA Cup holders, in the 1963-64 tournament and seemed set to go through after goals from Dave Mackay and Terry Dyson had brought them a 2-0 victory in the home leg. The return match had been going eight minutes when Mackay went into a tackle with Noel Cantwell and suffered a double fracture of his left leg. In those days there were no substitutes and United beat Spurs’ 10 men 4-1.

In more recent times two games stand out, the 2-1 win over Spurs in 1999 that enabled Ferguson’s side to regain the Premier League title from Arsenal (the first part of the treble) and the extraordinary affair at White Hart Lane in September 2001 when Glenn Hoddle’s Tottenham led 3-0 at half-time only to lose 5-3, a result described by the United manager as the best away win of his career at Old Trafford.

Some Spurs fans may consider that selling the strolling Dimitar Berbatov to Fergie for £30m was belated revenge. Others will recall that Tottenham also sold United Teddy Sheringham, who proved a more-than-adequate replacement for Cantona.

Tottenham HotspurManchester UnitedPremier LeagueDavid Laceyguardian.co.uk

Today’s fluff is a dormant volcano

The Mill made a brief stop at an airport yesterday, a strangely post-apocalyptic experience with shops abandoned, barely a person in sight and an eerie silence sitting like a duck-down duvet on the whole scene. It’s not dissimilar to the sight of this morning’s tabloids for anyone on the hunt for a decent bit of tittle-tattle, although fortunately the Mill’s European friends have come up trumps.

Italy’s Tuttosport, for example, reckons Juventus are preparing an audacious bid for Manchester United’s Nemanja Vidic. The Turin giants have forced Gianluigi Buffon into a spangly suit and told him to fan himself with £15m in used notes in an attempt to persuade United to part with their Serbian defender.

Meanwhile Spanish newspaper Sport reckon the Barcelona president, Joan Laporta, has met with Arsenal’s Cesc Fábregas in Morocco to enjoy the sunshine, share a lamb tagine and thrash out a deal for the midfielder’s summer move to Camp Nou. Arsenal will attempt to fill the diminutive-schemer-shaped hole by moving for Juve’s lanky roving midfield roadblock Felipe Melo.

The rest is as unlikely as it is scarce. Rafa Benítez will sure up his leaky Liverpool defence with the signing of West Ham’s Matthew Upson, while Manchester City are mulling over a double swoop for Benfica’s Oscar Cardozo and Ángel Di María.

Steven Pienaar (lauded over the weekend by Paul Merson, by the way, who gushed: “This lad could play for Arsenal” as if that was the highest possible honour one could bestow on a player) is a £14m target for Harry Redknapp and Tottenham.

And in more mundane but at least vaguely realistic rumour news Sunderland want Sebastian Larsson from Birmingham and Ipswich fancy £1m-rated Scunthorpe striker Gary Hooper.

Manchester UnitedJuventusLiverpoolWest Ham UnitedArsenalBarcelonaTottenham HotspurEvertonJohn Ashdownguardian.co.uk