Character is alive and well at Manchester United FC. With all due respect to last year’s Mickey Mouse Cup Final this was probably the biggest match off between the two clubs since the sixties. United were fantastic.
As one of our readers has pointed out, the commentators on ESPN were very Spurs biased (thanks Roberta) which was pretty out of order. I’ll turn the sound off and take the three points any day of the week.
Seeing who played well is a bit like staring into the sky at night. You know all of the stars are there but you only really see the ones which shine the brightest. United’s nebula occurred around Rooney, Giggs and Fletcher on Saturday. Berbatov did not do enough.
I have remained deaf to the critics of the Bulgar but in this game I could see their point. However, we don’t want to get on any of our own player’s backs- we can save all that for City next week. I still think Berbatov is one of the most skillful players in the league.
Spurs started amazingly but with just ten men we really outplayed them as they tailed off. Could this be a microcosm of the season they have to come? Stranger things have happened, after all, Tevez thought moving to the temple of doom was a good idea. Life is an unpredictable place sometimes.
Talking about unpredictable places we are in Turkey this week. Football crowds there make the average Saturday night in the Wig and Pen look like a church council meeting. Besiktas might not be Brazil 1970 but it’ll still be quite a tough test. Let’s hope we can display some more of the character shown at White Hart Lane.
Follow Mark on Twitter @markjpayne and http://blogs.soccernet.com/manchesterunited/
Photography from ringsofsaturnrock’s at FickrC.Com
Make no mistake this was a stunning display. A Spurs-supporting pal of mine said United was the best team he had ever seen play at WHL and this was one of the best games he had ever seen. I couldn’t bring myself to disagree with him and it would be churlish in the extreme to find reasons to criticise United’s all round team performance. Nobody got less than a 7 (the Bulgar possibly excepted) and quite a few got an 8 or a 9. Funnily enough, despite all the accolades, I didn’t think Rooney had been playing that well at times – a few misplaced passes, the occasional wrong decision on whether to pass, shoot or take on the man, but Giggs was a delight to watch, Scholes was the master of the midfield until he decided to try out his unique blend of tackling, and Fletcher was of course immense throughout. A Scottish Keano in the making, but without the rabid streak (leave that to Vidic). Which reminds me, Evra can get a little feisty too when the mood takes him. In fact, he does have form.
But it was the TEAM which won. Brilliant passing, hard work, playing for each other, no petulance, no play-acting, no prima donna moments. Now why would I make those comments? Yes, we are a better team without young Ronnie, though we will have plenty of cause to ask “just who is going to take on the opposition and really open them up?” when we are struggling to break down some midfield-swamping bunch of dullards. Ronnie usually managed that.
Yes, Besiktas will indeed be a tricky tie and we have a genuinely massive derby coming up, but on this form they are just a delight to watch. Can’t wait!!
Great article..thou being a bit harsh on berba..he made a decent preformance..ran after everyball and came close to scoring,and elegant player that adds something special to United,Evra made a huge impact,he and rooney seem always to be working even when everyone else is having a bad day,Carrick have been left out recently by the Sir , i think he should be starting against beskitas ,while owen should also start ,since he has experience of facing all kinds of hostility
United showed a great preformance,united material ,which we lost with Ronaldo , the only problem ..will be consistency of that team ..
Great article…thou being a bit harsh on berba..he made a decent preformance..ran after everyball and came close to scoring,and elegant player that adds something special to United,Evra made a huge impact,he and rooney seem always to be working even when everyone else is having a bad day,Carrick have been left out recently by the Sir , i think he should be starting against beskitas ,while owen should also start ,since he has experience of facing all kinds of hostility
United showed a great preformance,united material ,which we lost with Ronaldo , the only problem ..will be consistency of that team ..