THE INDIE
A savage demolition of Tottenham and their six-point lead over Chelsea emphatically restored but, when Cristiano Ronaldo is involved, life is never that simple for Manchester United. He is the man leading the renaissance of Sir Alex Ferguson's team and yet with his brilliance comes the controversy, too.
Before the rout got under way, at the end of the first half, Ronaldo dodged into the Tottenham area, cut between Steed Malbranque and Lee Young Pyo, and hit the ground. The referee Mark Clattenburg does not have the benefit of the freeze frames and different camera angles but when the incident was replayed in slow motion for the White Hart Lane crowd at half-time there was a groan. There was no contact.
It was the closest of decisions, and with two defenders closing in on him Ronaldo may have been anticipating the tackle but even that would be kind on him. Malbranque's foot did not make contact, Ronaldo went down and converted the penalty himself. Within eight minutes of the second half beginning Tottenham were three goals down and buried against this United team you only get one chance.
The penalty decision might have stuck in the throat, but the rest of United's performance was absorbing, a team reaching the height of their powers driven on by Nemanja Vidic, who added the second before goals from Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs sealed the contest. Even Edwin van der Sar's broken nose late on, which forced John O'Shea to take over as goalkeeper, did not cause them to break stride.
Ferguson was not asked about the penalty incident by Sky but the manager could have pleaded mitigating circumstances. Henrik Larsson deserved a penalty earlier in the first half when he tangled with Anthony Gardner and even when Ronaldo was given his penalty Ferguson continued to berate the fourth official for that decision.
Martin Jol said that he would not call Ronaldo "a diver" and it was not quite the kind of incident for those sort of allegations but he did dispute the award of the penalty that changed the game. "It wasn't a penalty," the Tottenham manager said, "it was a difficult situation for the referee. If you see it again on television you can see it wasn't a penalty."
The 15th Premiership goal of Ronaldo's season takes him level with Didier Drogba as the League's top goalscorer and as Ferguson chuckled about refusing to pay out on a £400 bet with his player he also casually dropped in an injury bulletin that will have made Steve McClaren jump. Wayne Rooney came off on 63 minutes "limping", according to Ferguson, and will be a doubt for the England friendly on Wednesday.
THE GUARDIAN
On this form Manchester United could turn all the missions behind enemy lines into one long lap of honour. Protestations about a penalty awarded and others denied are quashed by the authority of the victors. While the theory that Sir Alex Ferguson's side can be robbed of their six-point lead during menacing away fixtures has not been abandoned, no one was expressing it with any great volume at White Hart Lane yesterday.
It is unlikely that the victors will be distressed by a back injury to Wayne Rooney that saw him taken off after 66 minutes. The concern is the sole property of England, with Ferguson stating that a decision will be taken this morning on whether the forward can take part in Wednesday's friendly with Spain. Any fears that United had of harm befalling them in this fixture were unfounded.
Who would have thought that the loss of the visitors' goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar for the closing minutes, after he had his nose broken by a collision with Robbie Keane, would lead to merriment rather than panic for the United fans? Having made his three substitutions by then, Ferguson put one of them, John O'Shea, between the posts. "Ireland's number one," sang the supporters.
The makeshift goalkeeper was soon outside his area to make a tackle on Keane as the striker sought to capitalise on a bad passback from Rio Ferdinand. "You'll never beat O'Shea," came the chant. All of that is mere silliness, but it was significant because it showed how comprehensively United's panache had ended the contest.
Tottenham will still howl over the opening goal, seeing it as the fork in the road that led to a spree for United. A minute from the interval, Cristiano Ronaldo danced into the area and Steed Malbranque foolishly aimed a speculative flick before withdrawing his left boot. It was difficult to discern if there had been contact but the winger went down, getting up to lash home a low penalty.
None the less, Martin Jol's team did not have undisputed rights to the role of aggrieved party. United had watched Henrik Larsson being brought down by Anthony Gardner inside the box with half an hour gone, but the referee Mark Clattenburg spotted no offence. There was a kind of parity a little later, however, when the official failed to observe Gary Neville grabbing Pascal Chimbonda to ensure he did not get his head to a cross.
Wrangles of that type drag on, but there should be no argument with the outcome. United's passing and movement illustrated just why Jol dreads a lack of solidity in the ranks when Tottenham are under pressure. The manager could not have complained either of having a makeshift line-up, even if Jermaine Jenas was absent. The midfielder has an ankle injury and Jol expects he will drop out of the England squad today.
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Cristiano Ronaldo has often been jeered at stadiums across the country since the World Cup but usually these days the booing has died down by the second half. There was no chance of the winger being ignored after the interval here yesterday, though, after the penalty he won controversially and converted in the 45th minute set Manchester United en route to victory.
A match that ended with a comfortable United win had been tight until that point, and Tottenham fans felt convinced Ronaldo had gone down without being touched after the incident was twice replayed in slow motion on big screens during half-time. Mild boos at the first slow-motion replay grew in intensity when the final showing provided a different angle.
Ronaldo re-emerged from the tunnel to jeers and continued to receive similar treatment, though the energy of the home fans drained first when United quickly went 2-0 up then when Ronaldo showed too much pace for Lee Young-pyo to skip down the right and cross for Paul Scholes to put the result beyond doubt in the 54th minute. Barracking did, though, greet Ronaldo when he was substituted.
If United's second-half performance made it hard to imagine the outcome would have been different without the penalty, the latest hullabaloo surrounding Ronaldo nonetheless had the feeling of a turning point. Though Sir Alex Ferguson's team had looked the likelier scorers until that point, they were by no means overrunning Tottenham.
The penalty will be analysed endlessly and Sky Sports' pundits, George Graham and Ray Wilkins, were split on whether it was a spot-kick. Ronaldo showed great skill to wrong-foot Lee near the right-hand edge of the box, burst between the full-back and Steed Malbranque and tumbled after Malbranque stuck a foot in his path and then withdrew it. Slow-motion replays suggested the Spurs midfielder did not touch Ronaldo, although the referee, Mark Clattenburg, could hardly be blamed for the award when it looked in real time as if the Portugal international had been tripped. Moreover, the laws state a penalty should be awarded if a player carelessly or recklessly trips or attempts to trip an opponent.
THE TIMES
When Jose Mourinho talked about Manchester United having a tough run-in, this was one of the fixtures that he would have marked down as problematic for the league leaders. So the Chelsea manager will not have enjoyed the sight of Sir Alex Ferguson's team running out such overwhelming victors at White Hart Lane that they could put John O'Shea in goal for the last ten minutes and laugh while they were at it.
It was a hugely impressive, emphatic response to Chelsea raising their game, as the defending champions undoubtedly have done in the past couple of Barclays Premiership matches. United must still go to Anfield and Stamford Bridge, but this was the sort of joyful triumph that will put them in good heart for any sort of road trip. A six-point gap is not much, but what was notable here is that United played like champions.
They were enjoying themselves so much that there was almost a surfeit of confidence by the end and Rio Ferdinand sloppily rolled a back-pass straight to Robbie Keane. Even then O'Shea, clad in goalkeeper's green after Edwin van der Sar had broken his nose, came charging out of his box to make the tackle. "I have asked Edwin if he gets a clean-sheet bonus," O'Shea said, "because I want half of that."
It had not always been quite so easy for United and it took a contentious penalty to set them on their happy way. Inevitably, Cristiano Ronaldo was in the thick of the controversy, the winger tumbling to the floor shortly before half-time.
Indisputable was the fact that Steed Malbranque had stuck out his leg to make a challenge and then thought better of it. Less clear was whether there had been any contact, but Ronaldo was certainly not trying to keep his feet on the ground.
Replays on the giant screens at half-time appeared to damn the winger — and, after all, it would not be the first time — but the eventual margin of victory had taken some of the heat out of the debate by the time that Martin Jol faced the media. The Tottenham Hotspur head coach had too many other concerns to worry if Ronaldo had dived or, in football parlance, "accepted the opportunity".
The Portugal international thumped the spot-kick past Paul Robinson — it is not the first time he has done that, either — for his fifteenth goal of the campaign on the eve of his 22nd birthday
THE TELEGRAPH
Sir Alex Ferguson left White Hart Lane last night with his wallet empty but his heart full of hope. Cristiano Ronaldo's 15th goal of the season not only set Manchester United on the way to a hugely important Premiership victory, keeping them six points clear of Chelsea with 12 games remaining, but won him a £400 bet with his manager.
After suggesting with a smile that "penalties don't count" following Ronaldo's spot-kick finish, Ferguson accepted he had to cough up, and it was a small price to pay. "Fifteen goals is fantastic," said Ferguson. "He has the courage to play."
If Ronaldo lightened Ferguson's wallet, Spurs fans certainly felt pick-pocketed by the Portuguese flier, who won his penalty by falling under minimal contact from Steed Malbranque. "Steed stuck his foot out, but pulled it back," said the Tottenham manager Martin Jol. "He [Ronaldo] took advantage of it. I won't say Ronaldo was diving, but you could see on the television afterwards that it wasn't a penalty."
Having put his World Cup penalty to Paul Robinson's left in Germany, Ronaldo drilled this one low and hard to the keeper's right, giving the England international no chance. Already booed from the start, Ronaldo received an even greater chorus of disapproval after the Malbranque incident was shown again on the screen at the interval.
Abuse seems to act like adrenalin with Ronaldo, driving him on even more, and he was unplayable in the second period as the outstanding Nemanja Vidic, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs deepened Tottenham's suffering.
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It was in January last year that Sir Alex Ferguson recruited Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra within a few days. Twelve months on and that decision could be described as anything from justified to inspired. The centre-half and the left-back now form one half of a resilient back four driving manchester United towards another Premiership title.
True to recent form, both were outstanding at White Hart Lane yesterday, both played their part in a resounding win. Vidic battled, jumped, headed, kicked and scored in an all-action performance of tremendous stature. Similarly, Evra's agility, tenacity and skill rendered Aaron Lennon virtually redundant. In search of possibilities, Tottenham's young winger eventually switched sides.
Ferguson can feel fairly pleased. Here were two signings fulfilling their potential in a way that not all recruits have been able to emulate. Yet neither were exactly unknown before arriving at Old Trafford. You couldn't describe it as a case of being plucked from obscurity. Vidic had alerted all of Europe with his dynamic performances for Spartak Moscow while Evra's participation in Monaco's passage to the 2004 Champions League Final made him a target for several big guns.
Seeing the little Senegal-born Frenchman repelling all-comers here, it was difficult to imagine that his switch of position a few years back came by way of a fluke. Playing for Nice one day, the striker filled in at left-back for the last 15 minutes of a game. Having done so well, the coach kept him there for the rest of the season, despite continual protests from the reluctant defender.
There aren't many complaints now. In fact, it is difficult to see what would happen to Gareth Bale if Ferguson gets his way this summer and captures Southampton's 17 year-old left-back. A spell watching Evra from the bench would surely follow.
When it comes to venturing forward for set-pieces, the Serbia international's aggression in the air gives him the edge, with a bravery and determination that sees him cause problems.
He did it in the first half, attacking a Ryan Giggs corner to create an opening from which Cristiano Ronaldo should have scored.
Yet shortly into the second half, Vidic grasped the nettle to complete the business himself, charging in front of Michael Dawson at the near post to head home another Giggs corner.
He deserved it. Twice in the run-up to this strike, the defender had popped up to keep Spurs on the back foot. Firstly, a snap-shot from 20 yards was tipped over the bar by Paul Robinson. From the resulting corner, Vidic's deft flick-on nearly provided Michael Carrick with a goal on his return to the Lane. Instead, it created the corner from which United's second goal effectively ended the contest.
A great day all round then. United had produced one of their most compelling displays of the campaign to leave Chelsea in no doubt they are here for the long haul.