Manchester United 3-0 Tottenham Hotspur: A Review

Danny Welbeck impressed the most of United's young guns as they blew Tottenham away

Manchester United vs Tottenham is probably one of the most entertaining fixtures in the Barclays Premier League, and entertainment is what it surely promises every time you watch it. This time around, it was no different. The last time these two teams met was at the Theatre of Dreams, where a bizzare goal by Nani sealed victory for the Red Devils. So everyone was anxiously waiting for this one so that they he could see another of those types of goals. This match was Tottenham’s first ( Their opening day match had been cancelled due to the situation in England at the time) while United had already played West Brom and won 2-1 .

The match was on Monday late night where most of the football fans had stayed awake to watch the match. Tottenham put out the same squad they had against Hearts in Europa League qualification one noticeable person missing from the lineup was Luka Modric at which Harry Redknapp has said:

His head is not in the right place

This was a big blow for Spurs as their main playmaker was absent. United did have problems of their own with three of their first team defenders absent due to injury ( Vidic , Ferdinand and Rafael). So Sir Alex put his trust in the young guns Johnny Evans and Phil Jones with the unproven De Gea wearing the gloves, the rest of the squad was

Chris Smalling, Evra, Nani, Young, Cleverly, Anderson, Rooney and Welbeck. Hernandez was on the bench after having recovered from a concussion but made a surprise appearance.

The match was set and as the referee blew the whistle. The beautiful game started and it proved to be what everyone was expecting: fast movement, lots of shots and goals, and the teams didn’t fail to impress. The tempo of the game was high with United dominating the possession and looked better in the middle of the park which is their Achilles heel. Rooney was playing his deep playmaking role and was really good at it. On the other side of the park, Lennon was bursting forward but had little support which made his crosses quite wasteful. Gareth Bale did not show his best today as we have seen in the past and was tamed while Rafael Van der Vaart was the playmaker and was average.

The first goal scoring chance came when Ashley Young burst forward and passed the ball to Cleverley who tried to curl the shot into the back of the net but denied by a brilliant save by Friedel, who looks to cement his place in the first team. Tottenham then got a chance to counter and they did with Lennon burst forward and crossing, but alas no one to head it home. Bale picked it up and fired a decent shot at goal but De Gea stepped up and saved. The young Spaniard had a decent game where he looked relax and put the nightmares behind him. The first half finished level.

The second half started and brought and end to a deadlock in a thus far tightly fought contest. Young Tom Cleverley delivered a cross and Welbeck opened the scoring with a brilliant header which gave the keeper no chance and it was the beginning of the end. Now United started to attack more and looked to score everytime they got the ball. The second goal was a brilliant team goal with Anderson starting and finishing the movement which involved a cheeky back heel assist from Welbeck, which was the latter’s last contribution of the night as he took his place in the bench amidst a raucous crowd giving him a standing ovation. The Red Devils made three changes as Hernandez , Park and Giggs came on for Welbeck , Young and Cleverley. Tottenham made two changes but it was too little too late as Rooney opened his account with a header from Giggs cross.

The match ended with the champions running riot at Old Trafford and beating Tottenham 3-0 a match which was a great spectacle to watch.