Despite being one up and the fact it should have been a penalty, the fashion of Nani’s late goal will inevitably overshadow everything from today’s game. John Champion from ESPN UK was in full flow spouting all kinds of conspiracy theories before the game had even finished!
We looked good money for our win and Rafael it appears is ready to become the club’s number 1 right back as he came out victorious in the much hyped clash with Gareth Bale. Van der Vaart gave us an early scare hitting the woodwork but I feel we dealt with his threat and managed to suppress him sufficiently enough to throw Spurs off their game.
Park played better than I have seen in ages and Vidic was solid to add to his goal, another clean sheet and another win so there is much to be happy about.
On a side note, congrats to Nemanja Vidic for scoring the 1000th Premier League goal at Old Trafford!
carrick and flethcher both had good games…. nani was brilliant so was hernandez.. i think its time to give fabio more chances…
nani u genius , how many assists n goals is that now!?
Firstly, well played to our midfield. I have been a harsh critic this year but Carrick, Fletcher and Park were so much improved. Sure, they still gave the ball away at times and still ran into defenders occasionally but they were much more effective than performances past. Nani played head-and-shoulders above the rest yet again. What a player he has become! Getting his Premiership-leading 8th assist to set up Mister One-Thousand, Nemanja (he comes from Serbia, he’ll f…) Vidic and then keeping his head when all officials were losing theirs to bag our second. Speaking of which;
If he didn’t believe it was a penalty, Clattenburg had four opportunities to get the resulting decision right. First when Nani handled the ball, second when Nani addressed the ball and looked to the referee, third when Nani put the ball in the net and finally when Clattenburg spoke to his linesman, who was clearly flagging for a Tottenham free kick. (he’d have the flag across his chest if he was signalling for a United penalty) Enjoy the debrief, Mark!
It was THE talking point of the match but I don’t believe it was the game-clincher. Tottenham were far from pressing our goal for an equaliser at this point. If that were the case we wouldn’t be talking about an incident in their penalty area rather than ours, would we?
I think it was our best team performance of the season in all competitions. Great to see a different side to Hernandez, dropping deep to really physically fight for the ball (remind you of any well-paid Scousers we know?) and great to see Edwin getting a clean sheet with a strong performance after you-know-what. Also I’m amazed that Rafael played so well considering he had a pocket full of Gareth Bale the whole match! 😀
Dave.
PS. Gotta get this one off my chest. Roberto Mancini has already picked out his fancy dress costume for his Halloween party tomorrow night. He’s going dressed as a pumpkin. He’s hoping at midnight he’ll turn into a coach. Boom boom!
Respect where respect is due, that is indeed one of the better jokes I have heard in a long time!
Rafael wow..I really feel we have a very very special kid on our hands..Tremendous improvement defensively..
Pretty encouraging game. Like everyone said a big night especially for Park and Carrick who have came under a lot of scrutiny. IMO, Park is a valuable asset so long as he plays like this more often. We need guys like him who work hard and are content in a rotation role. There’s no need to overload the team with stars like City or Real do, as it leads to too much discontent and poor team morale.
Carrick still has a few months before the transfer window to put in more performances like this and prove his value. I personally don’t feel the need to replace him IF(!) he keeps it up. We shouldn’t forget he was a regular starter and integral for several of our most successful seasons.
As for the the infamous second goal, the burden of guilt lies in Gomes ultimately. First off, I’d have to disagree with the Glutten as it was a penalty. Kaboul was behind Nani and grabbing his shirt which is a pretty easy foul to call. Anyways, for postgame coverage I was watching Craig Forrest, a long time EPL keeper, who made a pretty simple case that it was ultimately Gomes fault. Even if there should’ve been a foul, he shouldn’t assume anything as a keeper and no indication or whistle was ever given. As for talking with the linesman, they just had to confere if the ref ever called the foul on Nani which he didn’t. He didn’t see the handball and can’t give the foul retroactively. A mistake by the ref, but bigger one to Gomes.
Ultimately, there shouldn’t be much controversy. There was only 5 mins left and it’s a bit more than wishful thinking for the Spurs to feel they were robbed of anything.
Oh, one more note that VDV did a good job reminding us of what we missed out on. Pure class and dangerous his entire shift.
Completely agree with you on the controversy not affecting the outcome, and with your VDV comment, sadly.
If I were a barometer I’d still swing towards the referee being at fault, rather than Gomes. There was indecision after Nani went to ground and I don’t feel it was refereed adequately enough. But I didn’t see the Craig Forrest interview so I haven’t yet heard all sides.
Oh and disagreeing with The Glutton?? Honestly, you win a book and suddenly you think you’re Jack The Biscuit! 😀 Nice one, fella. Your opinion is always sound and considered. A big reason why I’m a new regular here.
Dave
Thanks Glutten/Dave. Props to your joke btw. I had a couple classics before if I say so myself, but going through a bit of a dry spell.
Jack The Biscuit…I’m guessing that’s English slang and I’ll have to look that up.
Agree. strong overall performance. Carrick and Park’s best games of the season. Fletcher was off at the beginning with his passing, but got better as match went on. Back line looked good. Nani is the key up front now just as Ronaldo was before, the creative guy that really gets everyone off their seats. sensational game. Good stuff. Lets have Chelsea lose a game sometime here and get after em!!!
I think in the second half we started to let Spurs back into the game but overall it was a good performance. We definitely deserved our win.
Nani is becoming very important to our attack but I really wish he would cut out some of the play acting as he is quickly garnering a reputation that will mean he won’t get decisions like the penalty yesterday.