COMING UP EMPTY AGAIN

 

(Image taken from Manutd.com)

 

Spurs started last season coached by Martin Jol and they wound up having a pretty solid season, though that didn't start happening till after Juande Ramos replaced Jol. Admittedly they were the team we effectively kickstarted our season against, but even that was only an iffy 1-0 win at Old Trafford in the last days of the Jol era. The return game at White Hart Lane proved how good Spurs had become under the Spanish coach, we only got out with a 1-1 draw. The last time we did the double over Spurs was 06/07. when we saw off Martin Jol's team 1-0 at Old Trafford thanks to some stupid goalkeeping before heading to White Hart Lane and caning them to the tune of 4-0.

This time round, well it was Ramos who didn't last very long, selling your two best strikers is never a good idea and Spurs found themselves in the relegation zone. Harry Redknapp was poached from Portsmouth to replace him and seems to know what he's doing. Spurs may still be at the wrong end of the table but are on seriously good form, so much so that a trip to White Hart Lane meant that though we still needed every point we could get, all bets were off. Van de Saar back in goal, Rafael right back, Rio(captain) and Vidic in central defence, O'Shea left back, Ronaldo right mid, Carrick and Fletcher centre mid, Park left mid. Tevez and Berbatov up front. Let's see what happens here.

Well United may have had the early attacking play and came close on multiple occasions early on but we didn't have our shooting boots on so though we should have been two or three up within ten minutes but as it was, nothing doing. After that though it was Spurs who were doing the attacking, Aaron Lennon in particular coming too close for comfort. The home side kept hammering our goal but their fans were to be dissapointed that they came away at half time empty handed. For United's part, well we came close just before half time, with the Spurs goalie having to get them out of trouble. A good match so far but from a United perspective, the lack of goals was annoying.

United started the second half again on the attack and again proved threatening but it was nothing the Spurs defence couldn't handle. Heck Ronaldo put the ball in the net but his effort was disallowed due to there being a handball involved. On came some big name subs and then we started to batter at Spurs's door. Somehow the home side managed to survive a prolonged assault and showed they still had big ideas at the other end. United had the last word with three late free kicks but failed to come up with anything. Credit to Spurs for giving us quite a match but still frustrating that our last Premiership game before Xmas didn't end in a win.

Elsewhere, Liverpool drew 2-2 with Hull at Anfield and it was the just-promoted team that had the much better game, in fact they were two goals up at one point and the Hull gaffer felt that neither of the Scouser goals should have been given. Villa are another team that seem to be well in the mixer, beating Bolton 4-2 at Villa Park with Bolton drawing level once before Martin O'Neill's side stepped up to outclass the opposition. That leaves United 3rd in the Premiership, still six points behind leaders Liverpool and one point ahead of Villa and having to deal with the Champions League preliminaries though we still have a game in hand.

North of the border, Aberdeen faced Falkirk at Pittodrie in the SPL. It wasn't long till the Dons took the lead, thanks to a Lee Miller penalty and he grabbed a second goal before half time from a tight angle, leaving Falkirk with their work cut out at half time. Credit where credit's due the visitors had some good attacking play in the second half but it was nothing the Dons defence couldn't handle and by the time Falkirk did hit the net thanks to ex-Dons assasin Steve Lovell, it was effectively game over. A good win for the Dons who seem to have finally picked up some consistancy in the SPL, right now another run at Europe is not out of the question.

Elsewhere, Hearts were able to draw 1-1 with Celtic at Celtic Park, despite opening the scoring but I suppose a draw on Old Firm territory isn't that bad a result and overall Hearts were the better side so congratulations to them. Motherwell were beaten 2-0 by Kilmarnock at Fir Park, with Killie getting goals either side of half time. The visitors ran the show with Well apparantly getting their lowest crowd of the season! That leaves Aberdeen remaining in 6th place in the SPL, six points behind Hearts and a Europa League spot while two points ahead of Kilmarnock and the bottom half of the table. Steady as she goes coming up to Xmas.

Further afield, the Club World Cup quarter finals were taking place with Gamba Osaka facing Adelaide United at the Toyota Stadium. The A-League team did a solid job early on but it was their nemisis from this year's Asian Champions League final that opened the scoring through Yashuito Endo. Adelaide had some more good chances before half time but this tournament's wildcard team ran out of fuel in the second half, and the J-Leaguers were in the end, unlucky not to score more. An impressive performance from the Japanese side and though Adelaide could have forced extra time in the dying seconds, Gamba held on to secure their spot in the semis.

 

So, next up are the semis and that's where United face Gamba Osaka at the International Stadium. United have only just flown into Japan while Gamba are on home turf and do have some elements in their favour, like a home crowd and no jetlag. Their team seems to be a mix of Japanese talent and Brazilians that I've never heard of. Style wise they do seem to like to actually play football rather than smother teams and at least one of their guys knows how to take a free kick. However, Fergie is taking this tournament seriously and unlike Barca in '06, does not want to use jetlag as an excuse. So chances are, Gamba, like Adelaide before them, are going to get quite a reality check here.

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