Tottenham Hotspur 0-0 Manchester United

[funster]

Ladies and gentlemen, normal service is resumed!

After the week-long delays with the last two match reports, we're back to some semblance of normality with this one. Like I said in the West Ham report, the fact that I've had a cold over the weekend means I'm sat at home today so there's a bit more spare time to get this written up.

By the way, photos (the few of them I did take) will follow soon. Some problem or other connecting my mobile to the computer at the moment!

Saturday saw ManUre visit The Lane for the first time since that scoundrel Berbatov looked for pastures new at OT, and as with Liverpool, this was another late kick-off.

I did half question myself before setting off from home on Saturday afternoon. That telling twang in the throat suggesting a cold was on its way, but it felt not bad so I'd thought I'd risk it. Bad move. Ended up feeling very ill Saturday night and all of Sunday, but it'll take more than a cold to stop me watching Spurs! Famous last words.....

I felt well enough on the train to manage a couple of cans. Another bad move. Did nothing to improve my wellbeing, so I decided that when I did meet my sister for the usual drinks at The Coach & Horses before the game, it would be something more warming altogether.

Four whiskies later.....!

While at the pub we were treated to a new rendition of the Sol Campbell song. No doubt inspired in some way by Harry Redknapp's comments about Berbatov taking stick and it being fine as long as it wasn't racist, the Spurs supporters were resourceful as ever.

Sol, Sol wherever you may be,
La la la la la la la!
And we don't give a ****, la la la la la la la!
La la la la la la la!

Brought a few laughs at any rate. So, with the rain coming down and suitably warmed by a good stiff drink, we headed for the ground.

King wasn't playing. Probably no surprise considering his exploits against West Ham last Monday. Other than that, a fairly settled side, although Bentley was now starting on the right and Lennon on the left.

Any fears that Berbatov would cry off were dispelled as he took his place in a red shirt at The Lane. As expected he took the brunt of the abuse dished out on the day, and really, who can deny that it was merited?

The tempo was set early when we got underway - United dominating possession, but failing to be as incisive as you'd expect, Spurs playing well enough and looking threatening when going forward.

The first chance fell to them, Berbatov himself crafting a little opening but the shot was deflected for a corner and another one soon followed. Happily, both were easily enough repelled.

Soon after the referee also set a theme for himself, shockingly awarding three soft free kicks to them for no real reason. Plenty more of that to come. Funny. Didn't think we were playing at OT!

Our first move was the best of the early exchanges. A superb passing move from back to front where we also moved the ball from left to right. It culminated in a very good Bentley cross and although there were half-hearted shouts for a penalty, nothing doing.

Bentley himself went close soon after. Similar to his effort against the Arsehole, tipped up for himself, this time much closer to goal and hitting it with his left foot. Sadly, van der Saar's positioning was somewhat better than Almunia's and he save reasonably comfortably. I doubt Bentley will ever score a tap-in.

With ten minutes played we suffered what could have been a real blow. Woodgate went off injured for what appeared to be nothing, but we have since found out is a problem with his back. That laid him low for a long, long time at Real Madrid so we can only hope the recovery will be swift.

It necessitated a switch. Corluka moved from right back to partner Dawson in the middle with Zokora shifting to the right side. On came Huddlestone as part of the change.

The changes didn't throw us too much initially. From his new position, Corluka drifted a lovely ball to Modric on the right, only for the little Croatian to be hacked down on the wing, I think by Rafael. It was a bad tackle and really should have been a booking.

On the opposite wing Park was no less 'committed' throwing himself into the tackle. Oh if only we could get the ball to Lennon more!

There were deficiencies though, as you would expect against United. With Bentley playing on the right side we lacked pace to cover when United broke on that wing, making it way too easy for them to get past us on the overlap.

Much like ourselves, a lot of United's attacking intent was coming from the wings. Ronaldo received the ball in what looked like a position miles offside, but when it broke down, Modric picked it up and played a lovely ball with the outside of his boot to Lennon. Sublime.

Another great Spurs chance followed. Huddlestone initially lost possession very cheaply, but scrapped to win it back, played it through to Lennon who beat two with his pace and got a low shot away that rebounded and went for a corner. No such luck. Pav was flagged offside!

I was not liking the officials much as you may be able to tell.

Half an hour in, United changed formation pushing Ronaldo into a centre forward role, Park into left wing, allowing Tevez to buzz around some more, and menacingly get down the left and shoot..... over. Phew!

United looked the more fluid. They seemed to be finding it much easier to retain possession and move it around, particularly in the final third of the pitch, but still lacking the killer instinct that you so often expect from them.

Good for us as it meant we still created chances. A nice bit of interplay on the right led to a very decent Zokora cross. Modric hurled himself headlong at it and connected, but his diving header drifted wide. It was another great chance.

This was a very open half though. As if to prove it United created a couple of half chances, the first requiring a superb tackle from Dawson (no high balls for him to contend with!), the second a Gomes punch. From that break Huddlestone shaped to do what he does so well, smash an absolute barnstormer goalward. As it turned out, it smashed into Pav and the poor sod needed treatment!

There were still another three or four chances in the half left. Plenty open, as I said!

First a cross from the United left found Berbatov unmarked but it was slightly high and flicked off his head. Then he pulled free of his markers to the far post with way too much ease, only for the cross to once again be overhit. It was a bit worrying really, to see how easily Berbatov was pulling away from his markers. Good news for us was that United just weren't able to find him with their crosses.

Berbatov back at The Lane


The final United chance of the half fell to Rio Ferdinand. A good one at that. Probably their best of the half. A long-ish range, low shot, easily saved.

The whistle sounded for half-time and I was pretty pleased to be going in with the scores level. United, unquestionably, looked the more assured and easily dominated possession, but for all that, we created the better chances.

At half time we were treated to the comedy of Michael McIntyre. Funny bloke. Never knew he was a Spurs fan. He couldn't resist grabbing the microphone and giving serious stick to Berbatov.

"You've got nothing Berbatov! Nothing!"
"I was here when we were 3-0 against United. Lost 5-3. Its 0-0 now. We've got you right where we want you!"

When the second half got underway the general theme seemed pretty much the same. United dominating possession, Spurs creating the better chances.

Part of the reason (for United's dominance of the ball) seemed to be that we were holding a relatively deep line in midfield to enable them to be closed down. Nothing like as deep as we've complained about in the past, which is a good thing, but it did mean that when we got the ball forward to Pav (who hasn't been the best at holding it up), we had little or no support and lost possession too easily. I'd be surprised if we're not working on this already, but then again, against lesser sides, we'll probably hold onto the ball better.

Another reason why United had so much possession was that Bentley wasn't nearly committed enough in the tackle when they came forward on that wing. I lost count of the number of times I threw my arms up thinking - "Just bloody stick your foot in!", only to see him fail to get there (too slow), or just pull back at the last minute. That also needs to be worked on.

United did have the ball in the net from a corner. A decision the officials got right - handball against Ronaldo. Good! It was plain to see and I was sat at the other end of the ground. Cue the whining. Yeah, not seen that from United players before.

With an hour on the clock, the rain was getting heavier, and United were just beginning to assert themselves again.

Modric wasn't seeing enough of the ball, and Bent (who was on for Pav) was losing races for the ball with Rio Ferdinand. Now, I know Rio is quick, but I thought Bent was a speed demon?!

Finally the ref pulled out his yellow card. A break from Lennon with pace and Rafael cynically brought him down. He was a lucky boy. If the ref had pulled the card out earlier in the game - as he should have done - United would have had a fair amount of the game left to play with ten men. Of course, Rafael complained bitterly. Never seen that from United before.

Another Spurs sub saw Jenas replaced by O'Hara and soon after we won a free kick. Brilliantly judged and taken by Bentley it needed a really good save from van der Saar to keep it out.

With twenty minutes still to go, Fergie threw on Giggs and Scholes. Its not bad when you have those two in reserve, and actually, this led to United's best passage of play in the game. Not only did they now have possession, they also had some cutting edge.

United began to win a lot of corners. I mean a LOT of corners! It seemed like one every two minutes. We were keeping them at bay though, and despite their better pressing up front, still managed to create a couple of chances.

One in particular could've caught van der Saar unaware. From one of our own corners Lennon let fly with a curler that went wide, but I reckon van der Saar thought it was much safer than it really was. Would've been left with a lot of eff on his face if it had snuck inside the post!

Still the chances kept coming. A poor build up by us from a decent position on the right led to a United break and it required a superb sliding tackle from Dawson to clear the danger from Ronaldo. Now, I didn't see it, but I gather this is where the cheeky bugger had a flick at Dawson, a la Beckham and Simeone. Naughty. I suppose he was complaining about the tackle too!

Jamie also got into the game in the time he had producing a lovely bit of skill on the wing with what I can only described as a little shimmy to shift the ball forward and leave the United full back flummoxed! Sadly it came to nothing.

Another United chance. A throw in on the left, and a shot on the turn that Gomes did really well to tip over.

Another Spurs chance! A really good run from Modric through midfield with the ball and a shot from the edge of the box that was deflected just over. I was out of my seat. Sadly it ended with hands on my head rather than in the air in jubilant celebration!

Then the ref - who must have felt he'd been out of the game for a bit - gave two very poor free kicks to them again. At least, that's how I saw it! The second one was left to Giggs and the he curled a superb effort goalward. Gomes was equal to it! Another superb save, matching the one - if not bettering - that van der Saar had to make from Bentley earlier in the half.

As we neared the end the complaint I made about Bentley being too soft in the tackle had more grounds for justification. With probably only injury time remaining he was too soft on the right and United broke. That was their last real chance, and the good news for us was that it came to nothing.

The whistle blew and we were pretty happy.

I'm very, very happy with a point against United - any time. Now, I was a bit disappointed last season after their last ditch equaliser, but if you'd given me a point and 0-0 before this game, I'd have snapped your arm off!

It was a very, very good Spurs performance. Possibly the best since Redknapp took over, particularly when you consider there was no Ledley King, Woodgate left the pitch with only ten minutes on the clock, and we had to switch personnel so markedly.

I was really pleased, not least because this was another clean sheet. The lad Gomes done good. Again!

This was not the United of old though. For all their possession, for all their composure on the ball, they were really lacking the cutting edge. The cutting edge you know they've displayed so ruthlessly in seasons gone past. It was strange. I expected a very high tempo from them and plenty of chances. As you always do with United, but for all their possession, for all their corners (and man, we conceded plenty of them!), the volume of chances simply weren't there.

If anything we created the better chances and while you could look at it and think we were unlucky not to take all three points, the point was an entirely fair result.

Happily, Berbatov failed to score. He flitted in and out, and unsurprisingly, every touch was greeted with louds boos. Quite right too. He still made a lot of things look very easy. I stand by my comments in seasons gone by that his first touch when bringing the ball down from height, even when he's airborne himself, is simply sublime. Stuff that now though. The fact he failed to make more impact is a great thing now that he wears that red shirt!

So, we were going home pretty happy. A comedy moment ensued on my train home from Waterloo. Some bird came up to a couple sat at a table a bit further down the carriage.

"That's my seat"

"Oh really? Sorry, there weren't any seat reservations"

"That's my seat! **** off you *****! Get out of my ****ing seat!"

"Alright, we'll move. Sorry. There weren't any seat reservations."

"No you *****, **** off out of my ****ing seat."

This is pretty much how it went for three or four minutes. Absolutely hilarious, and my fellow Spurs fans on the train couldn't help but find it amusing. Never particularly threatening, or else I'm sure we'd have intervened, the bizarre thing was there were loads of empty seats so reservations were completely irrlevant!

Ah well. I got home, got a curry, and spent the rest of the evening and all of Sunday nursing a cold that probably wasn't helped by standing in the rain at White Hart Lane station for twenty minutes waiting for a train back in to Liverpool Street. The things I put myself through!

Onward and upward. Two more games before Christmas and I'll - cold permitting! - be at both!

[berby999]

Great report funster, You must have some memory because you seem to remember every kick!

I hope you cold gets better and im glad you made the game or you couldnt have done that report! Very selfish of me i no but a really good read.

[P UNIT 1980]

Great report funster, You must have some memory because you seem to remember every kick!

I hope you cold gets better and im glad you made the game or you couldnt have done that report! Very selfish of me i no but a really good read.

Considering he was knocking back the single malts even before kick off!!!

Great report.

[Defoe at the Lane]

As always an excellent report. They are a good read, even if you've watched the game!