Posted by Brendan Morris

Manchester City fans, along with the footballing world at large, have been endlessly heralding the "ruthless attacking edge" and the finally "free flowing play" of the blue half of Manchester after "emphatic" wins against ...erm... Swansea and Bolton..  While I will more than admit that City's billion dollar playboy attacking line is certainly formidable, and that the likes of Silva, Dzeko, and the newly acquired Aguero have looked very good in these first couple of matches, lets not get too carried away here with the relevance of these victories as they were against a newly promoted side and a PL lower half of the table mainstay.  It does bode well to improve this City of the Sheik's reputation that they can "beat Chelsea and lose to anyone", but at the end of the day it was Swansea and Bolton.  And yes, I'm well aware that they currently sit at the top of the table on a +1 goal difference, but I'd far from say they've really laid down any kind of marker yet as they haven't really been tested.

United on the other hand already laid down 1 marker in the brilliant comeback defeat of the Citizens in the Community Shield, but they in fact did it once again in a truly emphatic win Monday against Spurs.  Putting out another young lineup, the second youngest SAF has ever fielded in the PL in fact, including Cleverley, Welbeck, Jones, and Smalling, United got stuck into this one right from the off. This included some great early pressure that included Cleverley nearly notching the opener in the early minutes, taking a very Paul Scholes-esque strike from distance that was ultimately finger tipped away by Brad Friedel, who was making his debut for the London club. 

Anderson and Cleverley are looking to be a stellar pairing in midfield and did well to keep that momentum up on the night.  Developing a wonderful understanding of each other and a, dare I say, almost "tippy tappy" passing relationship they moved the ball through the middle of the park fantastically.  This of course was very helpful to both Ashley Young and Nani, who were their usual menacing selves through the first 45 with a continued supply of crosses as well as Young coming very close with a slow and high header around the 30th minute. The attack was rounded out by Rooney and Welbeck at the front, Rooney playing a true deep lying #10 role to Welbeck's central #9.  It's fair to say they wreaked havoc on the Spurs defense for the duration of the match, but it's not at all to say that Spurs didn't have a few tricks of their own.

Spurs maintained a nearly dead equal share of possession in the first half, with Nico Kranjcar and Rafael van der Vaart attempting to make the most of it with some early blasts on goal that were both artfully saved by De Gea.  They're movement of the ball was also very good in spite of missing want-away midfield maestro Luka Modric, and high speed attacks led by Bale and co. were a constant.  A forward line of this caliber would have been difficult for most any EPL defense to deal with, but it was something of a trial by fire for our extremely young back line.  As hard as it was for the lads, and it wasn't without 1 or 2 shaky moments here and there, it's with an immense amount of satisfaction to say that they passed with flying colors as they managed to keep a clean sheet and look good while doing it. Smalling, a center back by nature, put in another solid performance in the right back position looking just as comfortable there as he does in the middle.  This kid is just getting better by the game.  Phil Jones was also shining like a new dime in this one, and I have to say I think he's my favorite of our young players at the moment.   He's quite agile, good with the ball, and absolutely tough as nails!  He loves to get stuck in and take on the fast approaching attacker, and he's got the skill to do so without collecting cards or busting legs.  He can be a bit hot headed at times, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing if it's kept more or less under control which he seems able to do.  All that said, he reminds me a touch of Roy Keane in a way, which also reminds me he can also play at defensive mid.  It seems an extremely attractive proposition to see him paired with Cleverely in the middle of the park.  In a Carling Cup match maybe?  We'll see.

In light of his many, many ridiculously harsh critics I have to be fair and point out that De Gea did have a bit of a nervy moment in this match.  A fast approaching van der Vaart tried his best to unsettle him as he kept the ball at his feet a touch too long, but our new number 1 handled the situation by simply sidestepping the ball around him.  A bit shaky?  Maybe.  Depending on how you look at it though I thought it was really a fantastic display of his skill. A great many goalkeepers, even good ones, can be found quite lacking with the ball on the ground but De Gea seems to possess that particular skill in spades.  Just keep giving hime time, he's going to be immense.

Still scoreless at the start of the second half, this 45 would turn out to be a completely different story indeed.  United came out looking even stronger than they did in the first and it only seemed a matter of time before they scored, which they finally did in the 61st minute.  Cleverley delivered a quick and hard cross from the right wing finding the head of Welbeck, who in turn skillfully guided the ball past big Brad Friedel.  It was a truly fantastic play, and just awesome that it came from 2 of out up and comers. 

This really seemed to demoralize the Spurs squad as they all but completely opened up after that, allowing United to apply constant pressure to their back line.  Our build up play and attack became all the more fierce as well as the boys clearly smelled blood in the water.  An incredibly well placed back heel pass found the oncoming Anderson, who positively hammered the ball into the net from about 10 yards out to get us our second in the 76th minute.  For a guy who couldn't score to save his life for what seemed like an eternity, he's manage to notch 4 of his last 5.   Way to go Ando, keep it up and cement a place in this squad. 

Not as if the nails weren't already well into Spurs coffin for this one, Rooney added insult to injury in the 87th.  Substitute Giggs placed a spot on cross from just outside the area which Roo went to powerfully head into the back of the net from close range. 

Many might say the scoreline was a bit unfair to Tottenham as they managed to hold us until the 61st minute but,  while I'm not at all trying to take away anything from the solid performance they put in until that point, I feel it was completely justified.  In those initial 61 minutes we hit them time after time after time until they eventually opened up and when they did, we aptly punished them for it.  That's the whole idea, isn't it?  And the fact that we scored our 3 goals in the last 29 minutes, and it well could've been 4 or 5, coupled with the rest of our fantastic attack seems to harken a return to that ruthless edge we've always been known for. It's definitely been lacking in the last couple of campaigns, and I hope the displays in this match and the Community Shield are an honest sign of things to come.


Next Game: Arsenal at United, 8/28   

A quick preview of Sunday's match which sees the Arsenal making the visit to Old Trafford.  I need not go too far into the seemingly endless woes of our long time North London rivals.  Yes, they managed to just sneak through their Champions League qualifier against Udinese, but they also put in that absolutely horrendous appearance against Liverpool at the Emirates last weekend, not to mention against Newcastle the week before.  They've not even managed a goal in the Premier League yet, and they'll be even further (is it really possible) weakened by missing the injured Jack Wilshere and the still suspended Gervinho.  I honestly feel a bit sorry for them to be stuck in this sorry state, but certainly not sorry enough to not want to see the United boys hammer them.  I think they're going to do just that, and I'll say we're in for another 3-0 scoreline for this one.  Looking forward to it.

Glory Glory