The Positives and Negatives Against Tottenham

Positives

Dimitar Berbatov scoring against his former club. They booed him when he touched the ball at first, but following what became the winning goal, the Spurs fans kept quiet when our striker was on the ball.

Carlos Tevez looked like a player who desperately wanted to stay and had the belief that he was. He ran all over the field today, chasing every ball down, even when the rest of the team looked like they couldn’t be arsed.

Paul Scholes on the scoresheet. His passing was hit and miss, going from sublime, inch-perfect, 40 yard balls, to giving the ball away in dangerous positions with sloppy passing, but he finally took heed of the Stretford End’s calls for him to “SHOOOOOOOOT!” and it paid off.

Two passes from Carrick, two goals. Another former Spurs man showing why we paid what we did for him.

Danny Welbeck, who hasn’t shone too brightly since his superb goal against Stoke, had a great first half. He faded a bit in the latter stages of the game, but his quick feet and good crossing made United a threat.

Fabio Da Silva, Zoran Tosic and Richard Eckersley getting their debuts. Their average age is 19.3-years-old.

We’re through to the next round of the FA Cup. I wonder which Premiership side we will face…

Negatives

Even more injuries! We started the day with ten players out and now Fabio and Welbeck can be added to the list. Ronaldo had the doctor out for him this morning and could be a doubt for our Premiership game midweek.

Ronaldo’s attitude was poor today. His performance was fairly bright, although he did lose the ball far too often, however I just cannot be doing with his berating of his team mates. In the first half, Ben Foster gathered the ball and was looking for a player to release it to. As the United and Spurs players poured out of the box, Ronaldo wanted the ball. Foster hesitated, still too many white shirts around, and eventually played the ball elsewhere. Ronaldo spun 360 degrees in fury, shouting at Foster, showing clearly with his hands where Foster should have played the ball. If Ronaldo was playing as if he was the best in Europe and the World at the moment then maybe, just maybe, he’d have the right to angrily demand better from his team mates. But he’s not. I’d love stats on his pass completion rate from today’s match and I’d love to see his reaction if John O’Shea, Paul Scholes, Carlos Tevez and the others, all shouted at Ronaldo for every one of his mistakes today.

After a lively first half and strong end, our fans went AWOL for a large chunk of the second half. Maybe we felt as lacklustre as the players on the pitch appeared, but we must do better. The volume against Chelsea was fantastic and that’s what we should be aspiring to, with or without John Terry on the pitch! The repetitive “Champions of England! Champions of Europe!” carried us through to the final whistle in good form, but after a good first half, we should have sustained this in the second. Saying that, it’s not like the away fans had much to offer.