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As though Tottenham's away form wasn't bad enough, they
suffered their third consecutive home defeat when Manchester
United visited today. The league leaders were rampant,
and though they may have been lucky to take the lead,
they were convincing winners by the end. Hossam Ghaly
played most of the second half, but the game was already
lost for Spurs.
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Referee Mark Clattenburg made a meal of
the first half. When Anthony Gardner brought down Henrik
Larsson in the box, he waved play on. And not long later,
Gary Neville threw Pascal Chimbonda onto the floor in
a Spurs free-kick, but the official did nothing. The
game wasn't allowed to flow and the bookings and tensions
flying. It looked very much on Spurs' side; the United
players were the ones getting frustrated and Dimitar
Berbatov was looking bright at the front.
But everything changed in the last seconds of the half
when Cristiano Ronaldo ran between Young-pyo Lee and
Steed Malbranque before bringing himself down at minimal
contact. The referee felt an urge to point to the spot,
and Ronaldo hit a good penalty home to give the Red
Devils a half-time lead.
It was that moment that changed the half, because when
United scored a second there looked little way back
for Spurs. After early second half pressure, Nemanja
Vidic made use of lazy marking and headed in from a
corner to make the score 2-0. Shortly later, Paul Scholes
tapped in after Ronaldo had rounded and out-paced Lee
all too easily before sending a low drive across the
face of the goal.
It wasn't working for Tottenham, and Martin Jol decided
to bring on both Hossam Ghaly and Robbie Keane for Didier
Zokora and Jermain Defoe in the 56th minute. Ghaly played,
finally, in the centre of the midfield, but Spurs were
generally lacklustre. The Egyptian did some nice turns
and quick passes, but also lost the ball on numerous
occasions. One of these occasions led to Louis Saha's
through pass to Ryan Giggs who slotted sublimely beyond
Paul Robinson.
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Spurs tried to get anything out of the game, and Ghaly's perfect
cross from the right for Berbatov almost provided the consolation,
had Edwin van der Sar not jumped to deny the Bulgarian striker.
When Robbie Keane's knee caught van der Sar in the last ten
minutes, United had made all their changes and defender John
O' Shea was sent in goal. Spurs' efforts on him were wayward
and it was simply not their day.
EP Ratings:
Tottenham: Robinson 6, Chimbonda 6, Lee 5, Dawson 5, Gardner
5, Huddlestone 4, Lennon 4, Zokora 5 (Ghaly 56' 6),
Malbranque 6, Defoe 5 (Keane 56' 6), Berbatov 7.
Man United: van der Sar 7, Neville 8, Evra 6, Ferdinand
6, Vidic 8, Ronaldo 7 (Park 68' 5), Carrick 7, Scholes 6,
Giggs 6 (O' Shea 80' ?), Rooney 7 (Saha 64' 6), Larsson 6.
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