THE INDIE - ROONEY'S DOUBLE DEJECTION FOR SPURS
Manchester United at least had the satisfaction of forcing Chelsea to put the champagne on ice, although Tottenham Hotspur may now be checking if their own end-of-season order of the sparkling stuff is refundable. Their chances of qualifying for the Champions' League, a roller-coaster journey, took a downward swoop with this stomach-tightening loss which followed the soaring success of winning at Everton. They now go across north London to Highbury on Saturday needing to avoid defeat - something they have not done in the last seven years - to keep their destiny in their own hands.
It was Wayne Rooney who took the bubbly here, scoring his 18th and 19th goals of the season and brilliantly holding together United's attack as they recorded a fifth successive away victory and, astonishingly, a fifth in a row at White Hart Lane. It is the happiest of hunting grounds for them and their celebrations at the end spoke volumes of defiance.
United may not be able to regain the title but they took great delight in prolonging the race. "We rode our luck a little bit," said Ryan Giggs afterwards. "You have to have a bit of luck." They believe that commodity was in short supply against Sunderland on Good Friday. That numbing goalless draw stands out angrily amid a run of 10 League wins. How it must hurt United.
Spurs' head coach Martin Jol also looked a little stung. "I thought we punished ourselves," he said afterwards. "Maybe I'm exaggerating a bit but I cannot remember a game where we played so well and were 2-0 down." That was in reference to a blistering first half in which Spurs took a grip on proceedings.
THE GUARDIAN - UNITED FORCE AND ROONEY BRACE SET TOTTENHAM'S TEETH ON EDGE
Sir Alex Ferguson is struggling to convince even the most ardent Manchester United supporter when he argues that the title race is still on but at least his team have shown they are willing to prolong the argument. Ferguson, possibly with his fingers crossed behind his back, was still maintaining United could overhaul Chelsea as he left White Hart Lane but, in reality, Wayne Rooney's two goals have probably just delayed their confirmation as champions until the two teams meet at Stamford Bridge on Saturday week.
Ferguson will try to persuade anyone that black is white if it suits him but the fact is that Rooney's first-half goals may matter more in the long run to Tottenham than they do to Manchester United. Rooney, according to his manager, had been suffering from the never-ending media hype after an untidy, excitable performance in the scoreless draw against Sunderland last Friday but the England striker showed no evidence of any enduring malaise with the decisive contribution in a match that may have repercussions for Tottenham's ambitions of reaching the Champions League qualifiers.
Martin Jol's attacking, adventurous team remain four points ahead of Arsenal but have now played a game more and on Saturday face a nerve-shredding renewal of local hostilities at Highbury, where they have lost their last seven games. "It's a big disappointment," said Jol. "Even if we had got a point it would have felt like a nice, warm, sunny afternoon. Instead we're all disappointed. We thought this could be a really big day for us."
The Tottenham manager spoke at length about the number of chances that his players had squandered and their spirited attempts to level the game after Jermaine Jenas had profited from a lucky ricochet off Rio Ferdinand to score from a corner eight minutes into the second half. United, however, always looked that little bit more imaginative and stylish when going forward.
"I heard an interview with Martin Jol on the radio after Tottenham's game against Everton and he said they were getting Manchester United at a good time," said Ferguson. "I thought to myself, 'oh, really?'" United have won 10 out of their last 11 Premiership games.
Ferguson went on to confuse everyone by stating that it was their worst performance in that run, worse even than their inability to score against a Sunderland side that had been dubbed the worst team since the Premiership's formation. To everyone else it seemed as though United attacked with verve and vigour, width and penetration, harassing the home defence from the moment, eight minutes in, that Cristiano Ronaldo and Ruud van Nistelrooy broke from a corner, hared upfield and combined for Rooney to score at the far post.
The difference between Ferguson and Mourinho is that Chelsea would have been quite happy to stifle the game. United's modus operandi is to unnerve opponents with the velocity of their attacking. It is not in their nature to sit back on 1-0 leads and for long spells in the first half they mesmerised Tottenham with the speed and fluency of their first-touch, pass-and-move football.
The flip side is that United frequently left themselves exposed in defence. At half-time Jol could reflect on at least half a dozen opportunities, the majority of them created on the side that Mikael Silvestre was defending. Spurs, indeed, had two splendid chances to go ahead before Rooney's first goal but their skew-whiff finishing, some last-ditch defending and Edwin van der Sar's goalkeeping kept them out and, when United broke, they did so with pace and penetration.
THE TIMES - EXPLOSIVE ROONEY DRIVES TITLE CHALLENGE ON TO THE BRIDGE
Sir Alex Ferguson has proclaimed for the past month that the Barclays Premiership title would be decided when Manchester United play Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on April 29. Whether it was little more than mind games, an attempt by Ferguson to distract the champions, he will get his wish.
United are set for a disappointing visit to West London on Saturday week, with Chelsea likely to retain their crown, but at least they have taken the race almost to the wire. A win against Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane yesterday keeps the pot boiling for a while longer.
Yet if United's victory, their tenth in an unbeaten league run of 11 matches, was a shade fortunate, the display of Wayne Rooney owed nothing to luck. Now having settled, apparently, his alleged £700,000 gambling debts, he gamboled around White Hart Lane like a young buck.
Not only did he score both United goals, taking his tally for the season to 19, he drifted deeper and deeper as time wore on and Tottenham threatened to stage a late rally. Helping out the United defence is not usually part of his remit but he did it without complaint. "It's not just the quality of his goals, it's about the quality of his performance as well," Ferguson, the United manager, said. "It was possibly our poorest display in our past 11 games, but Wayne's contribution was immense."
Tottenham had begun in stirring fashion, the loss of Ledley King, their central defender, to a fractured foot appearing no great handicap. Robbie Keane somehow failed to connect with a flick by Jermain Defoe from Aaron Lennon's cross and Edwin van der Sar had to make a fine block from Michael Dawson's header.
United were still smarting from the drab 0-0 draw at home to Sunderland on Good Friday. They were in a mess. Yet Rooney extricated them from the mire, slotting home, in the eighth minute, after a lightning counter-attack that also involved Ruud van Nistelrooy and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Keane, the acting Tottenham captain, scurried as industriously as Rooney. Hither and thither, up and down the pitch in a blur of motion. However, once Defoe and Dawson, twice, had spurned chances, United struck again. Lee Young Pyo got himself in a South Korean stew when faced by his international team-mate, Park Ji Sung, and Rooney pounced.
Martin Jol, the Tottenham head coach, could barely believe it. "United caught us on the break, then Lee made a mistake," Jol said. "We punished ourselves. I can't remember a game in which we have played so well and yet were 2-0 down." Perhaps Jol inadvertently contributed to United's pumped-up attitude, even if what they produced was mostly basic fare. "I heard Jol on the radio on Saturday saying that it could be a good time to be playing us," Ferguson said. "I thought: ‘Oh really.' "
THE TELEGRAPH - ROONEY DENTS SPURS' HOPES
The hype surrounding Wayne Rooney will continue after the England striker scored twice to extend Manchester United's impressive run and frustrate most of West London.
Rooney's goals took United's points haul to 31 from a possible 33 since early February and guaranteeing, no doubt to Sir Alex Ferguson's ire, that the hopes of a nation will continue to sit on the young man's shoulders.
After Friday night's draw against Sunderland - their only blip in an otherwise perfect run going back to early February - Ferguson said that "all this stuff about him winning England the World Cup is the biggest load of nonsense I have ever heard in my life".
Friday's draw effectively ended United's challenge but Ferguson said yesterday: "We played some decent football in the first half but credit to Tottenham, they put in a lot of effort and deserved a point. That was probably our poorest performance in recent weeks."
United are now unbeaten in the league since early February with Rooney collecting his 18th and 19th goals this season to keep alive their diminishing hopes of stealing the title off Chelsea.
Of his contribution - Rooney has now scored more goals in a season than in his previous three full campaigns - Ferguson said: "That is the kind of return I expect of him.
"When he is getting that sort of return and so is Ruud Van Nistelrooy - and Louis Saha is contributing - then that is a good quota. I said at the start of the season that he was capable of scoring that many goals. With his ability you expect that return, but we have also seen a really good quality of goals."
Drinks were spilt in West London's hostelries as Jenas wheeled round to celebrate and, for once, blue shirts called on a final effort from the men in white.
United, though, had other ideas and twice before the end, Van Nistelrooy was denied a goal. First he saw Dawson produce a fine goal-line clearance, then a post denied the Dutchman in the closing moments of a thoroughly entertaining affair.
THE MIRROR - UNITED ARE POTLESS
They carried a Premiership trophy out on to the pitch at half-time and placed it on a plinth.
They festooned it with ribbons and printed the Barclays colours on it.
It looked so authentic the whole exercise could have been designed as an exquisite torture for the Manchester United players as they ran past it in the tunnel during the interval.
A memory of that stuff Sir Alex Ferguson drummed into them in Barcelona back in 1999 about being close to a trophy, yet not being able to touch it.
So what if it turned out to be the Premiership Reserve trophy, won by Tottenham's second string?
It still must have hurt like hell for United to see it as they clawed their way to their 10th league win in 11 matches.
Because even if they were in turns brilliant and dogged against a Spurs team fighting desperately for the fourth Champions League place, United knew even in the moment of triumph that their victory here would not be enough. Some of them raised their "A arms in the air when the referee blew the final whistle but it was more in acknowledgement of the success of their second-half resistance in the face of waves of I attacks from ' Tottenham.
They won ' this battle but ' they had already run up the white flag of surrender in the war against Chelsea by drawing with Sunderland at Old Trafford on Good Friday.
It spoke volumes about their character and their determination and the undying vigour of Ferguson that they should refuse to fold at White Hart Lane.
Even though they were outplayed for large sections of the second half, United won the game with two clinical goals before the interval.