Spurs lose, deal with it
Saturday, September 12, 2009 at 9:31PM Tottenham 1 Utd 3
No knee-jerking here. You can browse away to any of the other blogs or message boards where no doubt one or two are slitting wrists thanks to this firm kick in the balls we got from United today. It was a predictable result, although I jokingly told friends earlier in the week that we would boss the game for 89 minutes then concede – a nod at that late late Tevez equaliser a couple of seasons back. Last year Modric should have won it in the final seconds. This time round, ironically doing superbly well coming into the game, we failed to match the tenacity of prior encounters at the Lane. At least the last two encounters where we deserved more than we got. Historically, we never beat Utd. And history repeated itself again. And today, we got what we deserved.
We were well beaten. Comfortably beaten. This was, is, the difference between a Top 4 side and the rest. Don’t fret, we are still on course for a Top 6 finish. But until we get that elusive CM who can dominate the midfield and also learn to live without the magic of Modric, we will continue to suffer in games like this. Games where we don’t quite get hold of the ball because the players opposing us are a little bit more accomplished. More polished and disciplined. 4 straight wins and instead of frustrating Utd we try to play football. And pound-for-pound that isn't the best of ideas. Especially as there is no one who can dictate the tempo in our side with Luka looking on from the stands. Tactically, we were a little too open. I guess the teams attitude was, why not? We are playing well, so take it to them. But if it's not quite 100% with balance, structure and selection then it can appear a little naive. Were a good side, just not great. Not yet.
Regardless great start, Defoe inside a minute. That got a fair few wet no doubt. Not that it was all Utd up until their equaliser. We had an opportunity or two, but the way they countered you knew they would find a way back. Tragically, from a free-kick (Giggs) and then Anderson from outside the box thanks to the clearance that found his feet. Earlier, Berbatov should have scored, thankfully squandering his efforts. It was ominous. You could smell the rancid stink of defeat against a side that, Christ, I’d love us to beat just once in a blue moon.
Half-time, good full blooded entertainment. End to end football but more missing from our performance than from theirs. Utd the more comfortable and dangerous with the ball with us not quite on top of our game. Untidy in places. Lennon not in the game as much as he was v Croatia during the week. The rest not quite clicking, although we did manage to produce some decent efforts.
Second half, on comes JJ for Palacios (yellow carded, tired from international duty). BAE with some great work, Keane should have scored. Block from Vidic. Yellow cards start to flow. Brilliant passage of play, Jenas shot, Foster saves. From the corner, Crouch headers the ball onto the bar. Game not as free flowing as it was in the first half but there are odd chances here and there.
Then we get a traditional seasonal Scholes red card.
Now can someone in the Spurs side take the game by the scruff of the neck? Answer to that is no. But that has just as much to do with the class of the opposition. Even with 10 men.
Berbatov off, Carrick on. We start to see more of the ball but Rooney has a shot saved onto the bar. Then Hutton comes on for Corluka. Still no scruffing of the neck. Evra has an effort that finds the side netting. Kranjcar on for Keane. But still nothing changes in our favour.
Also, worth noting that Crouch will never win a free-kick. It’s because he’s tall. Ask any ref, that if you’re taller then there’s no way you can be fouled due to your hight, thus it’s always your own fault. It’s undeniable logic, right? Quite.
15 mins left and it’s all gone flat. United score a third, all too easy, with Rooney beating Hutton followed up with a nutmeg on CC. Game over.
I can’t be harsh on anyone today. It just didn't work and Harry will go away knowing this. Lennon was contained by Evra. Defoe didn't see enough of the ball, with Huddlestone lacking bite and bullishness. Palacios obviously not 100% and a likely candidate for a red thanks to his tired legs, so losing him gave us another preview of what it’s like to face a Top 4 side without him. JJ not too shabby when he came on. In comparison to one or two others. Fact is, Utd are what they are because they bide their time, they play patiently and when they get their chances they are ruthless. Totally professional, painstakingly good. Basically, they're f**king annoying c**ts. Three point c**ts. Harry not able to force any changes tactically, as there was no true creative force in our ranks. And players didn’t pull together tightly enough to plug that hole.
Although worth noting that Keane on the left doesn't work and it proved to be the case leaving Huddlestone all alone (with no Keane dropping deep to help out when he plays up front). JD and Crouch did not drop deep. They don't do that.
Utd were well worth the points but the frustration from our perspective is that we made it a little bit too easy. It’s a shame we played them and now have to face Chelsea next because you get the feeling the side need to adjust a little with not having Luka in the side. And two lesser teams would have been more accommodating. But alas, the fixture list doesn’t give a shit. And neither should we look for excuses. We have a squad, it’s still not perfect. But we are working towards it. It’s the reaction and the response from this result that will be more telling that the performance on the day. Push that hype aside. And start working those £50K per week bollocks off.
Like I said. No knee-jerks. Would have been nice to steal a point, but on the day – not good enough.
Onwards.
COYS.
Reader Comments (43)
This person is ridiculously uninformed
I am Andre Marriner. I would like to thank Mr Ferguson for giving me a generous sum to let him screw Spurs out of another victory against his team.
He congratulated me for allowing Berbatov to get away with an absolutely comical dive worthy of UEFA intervention, not to mention the constant fouls by Utd players
My refereeing was yet another reason why FIFA should appoint foreign refs for all Man Utd games, as English refs are always biased in their favour.
Time to fact facts
Manchester United are complete SHIT and without referees helping them out time and time again would have dropped out of the top 4 a long time ago
Ignorant blogs like this give them an undeserved fear factor.
Oh do fuck off Anon. People like you need to get their heads out of the clouds and accept when we get well beaten.
That fear factor is what makes them Champions. Its not something avoidable by placing blame on the ref. You do know Utd fans bang on all the time about refs never giving them the time of day in big games?
We lost the game the moment Wilson got yellow carded.
The ref WAS shit, but that's no reason to ignore that tactically we ballsed it up today. Should have started Niko on the left and benched Keane. But it seems Keane is undroppable.
Top article. Agree with every word.
Good match report mate. We just didn't get ourselves into the game. I honestly believe we would not have lost this if Modric played. I know what you mean, Utd then Chelsea. Hoping it doesn't shag up team morale while we do that adjusting without Luka.
Think Harry made a mistake selecting Keane today.
We were outclassed and over-run, even when they went down to ten men. Accept it and stop blamng the ref. Idiots.
this is why i like tottenham fans, when you lose you dont give the "well we played better argument" like the elitists at the Emirates... great article, hope you do well against Chelsea
Utd fan - Some of our faithful do, sadly. I think the realists see it for what it is. Especially when they return home and watch the highlights. Last season, season before. We should have won. This time round, no argument where the points deserved to go.
Too many off-day performances from our lot. And no Modric and a half-tank Palacios does not help. Will do us more good than harm I reckon this. Reality check to bin those Top 4 delusions the media and crazy Spurs fans spout.
Picking Defoe, Keane and Crouch was a terrible idea, that may work against lesser teams, but, not the Champions. Keane was so ineffective playing out of position on the left, that we may as well of played with ten men. We're not a long ball team, but that's pretty much what we were against Utd. Unfortunatey, Harry and our team got found out today, i thought it would have happened to Man city today, not us. I do think we can cause a surprise against Chelsea next week though.
Well beaten? Too right. Hope we show up for the Chelsea game.
Statistic half time -fouls commited 11-3.now -we all watch that game.was it really man u playing like a ballet dancers or just absolutley similar things was used different rules.the foul for 1:1 was absolutely twin of what happend agains lennon other end-not same for the man in black(red inside).well-also we had our chances-we miss them.not good agains top 4.and as usual they pull some luck,bit of referee...not so sure when wilson went down for the ball was it a foul or Barbados just fail imidiatly.Fact-we play not to well in the middle-wonder how many completed passes TH have done?once again-when hard time comes there is no character in team apart from Wilson,peaces of King and Modric.we are far from that day where our players will believe 'i'm better them him'.Finally -i wold love for a seconnd to dream that man urinating are part of Colombian league and referee act this way-then no need to call international -simply they will be no local.man u time is coming anyway.2 more years even the 55 years old lady rooney did love with will be not left in there...COYS
JJ and Crouchie could have scored. Would have been different had they. Agree with Harrys comments. We got beat by the better team. Our passing game lacked.
Powderpuff challenges? Sounds like Harry is having a dig at the players. Good sign this, because we're learn from it.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/t/tottenham_hotspur/8252895.stm
Utd. deserved the points today. The ref. was to easily pressured by utd. players to yelow card Wilson. Wilson arguably deserved the card but it appeared the Utd. players made the decision and not the ref. The break for Rooneys goal was a great counter by Utd. but from a Spurs point of view Big Toms free kick was awful and it's a consistant characteristic of his from dead ball. A total waste.
Horrible display really. There was no one at all willing to get into Uniteds faces, they just backed off the intire time. Was just so frustrating to watch !
Disappointing. Harry seems to suggest the players let him down tactically. Plenty of work to do. Not a bad thing in the long run if we learn harsh lessons from today. Hate it when we believe our own hype. On and off the pitch.
worst thing to come out of today is it now shows that keane is undroppable, i honestly dont understand his place in the team, let alone out of position
You've gone soft spooky. Shame on you.
Another mental show of inadequacy from our boys, and a poor selection from Redknapp.
Not soft. Just not that surprised we can still throw up these type of performances. 4 wins out of 4 never really proved we had conquered our weak points. The reality is, we might be able to boss it against other teams but we still have a way to go before we can do the same against United. Properly and with intent.
Not enough cunts in our side.
Spooky is out of character. But slating the side would be harsh thanks to a combination of lame selection and unbalance. Its a learning curve and its about 1000 times better than this time last year.
I now seriously wonder whether Harry ever watches internationals highlights, at least of the teams that are above England in the rankings.
positve analysis etc no need to be negative.........
just take note and move on............we are a good side and the game could have gone our way
but it didnt........the effort whatever needs adressing
remember this a new direction for us with redknapp and so......still work to do.........
Think we were well outplayed and looked tired nobody picked the judas up 1st half and keane just isn't the player we sold to the pool. Our winning streak was never going to last forever but expect more fight and a result against chelski. By the way thought c.c was our best player today
Truly geat post.Just exactly my thoughts.....Jenas brought some creativity in midfield but Thudd is so slow.And against the champions you cannot be slow.Or refuse to mark Anderson.Or concede a freeckick outside the bloody box.Facts are they are a much better and organized team.With 10 players or not.Lennon lost the battle with evra and he was our only hope to break them.
no argument with the result...i thought the wrong player had the red card though it should have been vidic sent off
We've had some great results against Spurs over the years, particularly the 5-2 last season...
But you're 2-1 down at home and with half an hour to go United are reduced to ten men. How the fuck did you get played off the park from that point on?
Manchester > London
Redknapp got it completely wrong today pure and simple......Pav has scored 3 goals in 2 games for Russia, didn't even get on the pitch.....Gio scored a blinder mid week and has been Mexico's star man for the past 6 games.....doesn't even get on the bench......Crouch didn't play at all in the Intl's, yet Harry kept him on for 90 minutes and made us play like a long ball team trying to find his head for the majority of the game!!!!
Harry's doing well, but tactically he took a pasting today and I hate the way we all know who his favourites are.....Kranjcar getting a game ahead of Gio or Pav was disgusting and the just the kind of things they'll use as reasons for leaving us come January........anyone see Taarabt's goal for Morroco, let's get him back now!!!!
would like to hear you write a piece about our Mr undroppable captain, who has no right on the left of midfield yet alone being part of two shorties when we have pav and crouch on the bench.
the gaffer has eyes as good as ours I'm sure he can see whats happening. what is he feeding harry and how is he keeping him happy ?
Disappointing performance and Man U thoroughly deserved the points but that Berbatov dive was atrocious and that it led to the goal and Palacios' yellow was very frustrating to see. They deserved a goal at that point though so I shrug my shoulders and tip the hat to a great free kick. Agree completely with Spooky on the report except we lost 1-3 not 1-2. Positives: Cudicini looked better. Jenas looked hungry. Defoe's finish was sparkling. Crouch adds a little somthign doesn't he. Negatives: Huddlestone took a step back. Hutton looks lost. Dare I say it but Bassong looked more assured than King. Keane still hasn't found the magic. Evra handled Lennon too easily. Oh well. On to Chelsea.
good article and agree with every word. We were a poor second even after the ref helped by sending off scholes.we'll learn, i hope but as you say thats the difference between top 4 and the rest. Great start to the season. coys
It's not the fact we lost, it's the way we lost. Second best in every department from the second minute.
Didn't like the way Harry just sat around and waited... it was obvious Keane wasn't working from the beginning.
there are some question marks.........
de santos? keane has to play in midfield ?
passing game with crouch adds the long ball game .....effective but not all the time with crouch on as we can pass and move.....key marking on opponents....
krancjar debut over de santos?
all good but we lost 3-1 not 2-1 you foooooolll
Took long enough for someone to notice.
united fans i know are undeniably ecstatic having won against us today, they were scared.
Anyone for why Corluka off for Hutton, who is terrible.
I presumed Hutton for Corluka was intended to offer an extra attacking option, more pace than Charlie - but whatever the thinking it didn't work and he got roasted defensively a couple of times. Sigh.
Wonder if Arry will keep Keane on the left vs Chelski - surely not...?
Good post Spooky.
i think charlie was injured thats why he went off.
i thought we played well first half crouch was winning every ball, but second half we kept going route 1 and it didnt work, have to say the ref was terrible I dont think iv got up to shout at the ref so much at a match before. I hope we learn from this that the big teams imose on games and impose on refs to argue every decision which united nd chelsea have done for years.
United did play well when down to 10 men controlled the ball well and are so dangerous on the break like i said we can learn from this defeat
12 points 5 games not bad
Utd players chasing the ref constantly thoughout the game. had no real bearing on the end result, but still annoying to see them get away with the harassing.
Also, the attempted head-butt. Surely this is a red card offence?
I pretty much agree except that we didn't have options. When Man Utd went down to 10 men we could have pushed Keane behind the strikers or to also play off Crouch and brought on Kranjcar to shore up the midfield and opted for diagonal balls in. Probably one of the defenders to come out as theoretically 3 v 1 is still an option and at 2-1 why not.
United full credit for their win, could have been more but at the same we had chances too.....Their midfield pissed us on....Keano has to be dropped......if i remember correctly he only started performing first time round when he was under pressure v defoe for a starting berth.........anyway its not all doom and gloom......burnely, bolton, pompey and stoke after the chelsea game.........21/22 points after these games (10 in total) wouldnt be a bad return.......maybe im dreaming still