Buzzin Football

For the past month or so, Manchester United have had a few close encounters and last minute victories to keep the title race as exciting as its been for many years.  They were fortunate against Sunderland at the Stadium Of Light and were run close at Old Trafford by Hull City and Aston Villa, among others.  And who can forget the 4-1 home drubbing by arch rivals, Liverpool?

But for all that, Man Utd stride on towards an 18th title which would equal Liverpool’s record.

It looked liked Tottenham Hotspur were going to push the door of the Premier League title race wide open on Saturday with a brilliant first half display at Old Trafford.  Manchester United were stunned by two first half goals from Darren Bent and Luka Modric.  But the second half was a different story.

The game reminded me of how a boxer would have to catch Mike Tyson with a sucker punch before he would get angry and destroy them.

At the start of the second, it was clear Alex Ferguson’s half-time team-talk was enough to kick-start Manchester United into playing a faster tempo game, and immediately Spurs found it difficult to cope with.  Though it wasn’t until a very dubious penalty was awarded that Manchester United went on the rampage.

Gomez had rushed from his goal to push the ball away from the toes of Michael Carrick.  He made clear contact with the ball, but another shocking penalty decision at Old Trafford was given in Man Utd’s favour.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored from the penalty and the 60,000 crowd raised the roof as Tottenham heads went down and their game instantly fell apart.

Harry Redknapp was fuming; and he was right to twitch and nod his disapproval throughout the second half.  But penalty decisions come and go.  If Harry Redknapp is seriously considering Tottenham’s chances of breaking into the top four next season, he should be very concerned with the poor mentailty and lack of fighting spirit his team showed last Saturday, as Manchester United romped home to a 5-2 victory with further goals from Ronaldo, Dimitri Berbatov and two from Wayne Rooney.

Spurs v Man Utd – de ja vu

It was on 29th September 2001 when a similar thing happened at White Hart Lane.  Glenn Hoddle was the humiliated Spurs manager on that day, as Man Utd came back from 3-0 at half-time, to win 5-3.

A Spurs victory would have made the Premiership title race more exciting.  But as it is, Man United go three points clear with a game in-hand.  Next stop, Middlesborough.