I missed the first half of that. Two Manchester United fans have told me we played well in the first half. And the pundits said we played well in the first half.
Well nobody ever took any points off Manchester United by just playing well in the first half and it's scant consolation for a second-half performance that had the words "mid table at best" tattoed over its forehead in big "I told you so" letters.
Let's get one thing straight. Manchester United are better than us. It doesn't take 22 years without a win at Old Trafford to figure that out. But based on our showing in the last 45 minutes, we still look too similar to the side that won only three of our final 12 games last term.
After the break, we appeared jaded and impotent going forward. Early on, we kept possession well and we knocked the ball around confidently but we were bereft of ideas and never looked a threat to a largely inexperienced Man United defence.
Our centre-backs and midfielders are still too happy to pump the ball up to nobody in particular, giving possession away too cheaply in the process. Then, when we did push into the final third, the ball was hit inaccurately at goal rather than dropped into the box to test a wobbly David De Gea in the United net.
There have been stories of Defoe looking sharper, stronger and more determined but he still didn't look the intelligent team player we are craving and Rafa Van Der Vaart still looks unfit and too willing to waste possession with a shot from too far out.
All in all, we're left wondering exactly what we did with our pre-season other than counter-act headline after headline of inaccurate Luka Modric speculation.
We may be missing a number of first-team players but a strong line-up still refused to press United on the ball and gave them enough time to appear as if they're the finished article.
We're not foreseeing doom and disaster. We're just making our disappointment clear.
After the Everton game was cancelled, we certainly didn't expect to start the campaign with a win. But lesser teams than us have beaten the Red Devils at Old Trafford in the past 22 years it's fair to expect that with this current Spurs team we can at least give them a game that lasts longer than the first half.
A good first half never won a game
posted on 22/8/11
Agree with what you're saying. I was actually hopeful we could get a point even before the first half because under Harry we seem to have built a good mentality against the bigger teams away from home with the away wins at Arsenal and Liverpool. I thought that we'd run United closer than we have done in the last 22 years. But no, we capitulated and capitulated badly.
When you see that City at least run them close it dawns on you that while City are looking like they're slowly closing that gap, the gulf between us and United is still as large as ever and we basically have no chance of fighting for the title.
posted on 23/8/11
Much is said about the shortcomings of our forward line and defense/goalkeeper problems but until 'Arry and Levy smarten up and understand ALL games are won and lost in midfield we will go nowhere. After an hour Niko and Livermore had run themselves to a standstill doing an absolutely fantastic job but, again, 'Arry never saw the danger mounting. Man U were coming thru' the middle like a tidal wave and having no realistic alternatives on the bench should have told Bale and Lennon to stop hugging the touchline and tuck inside by 15 yards to cement the middle with defense a priority relying on the break.
To even consider putting in Huddlestone (who is little more than a traffic roundabout) or Jenas for that matter was a major mistake. The future lies with the likes of Sandros alongside "a Modric".
That said, I will still be there come hell or high water next game supporting the best team in the world despite having to shed blood and tears every game.
posted on 23/8/11
..and we didnt have a good first half.
boom boom.
posted on 23/8/11
Our centre-backs and midfielders are still too happy to pump the ball up to nobody in particular, giving possession away too cheaply in the process.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
There was a bit of that in the 1st half, sure we played better than we did in the 2nd half but it was far from perfect.