In the aftermath of Tottenham and Manchester United’s goalless draw at White Hart Lane last night, Spurs boss Harry Redknapp said that he can’t see United going through the whole season unbeaten, but will he be proved right?
Halfway into the season and Sir Alex Ferguson’s men sit top of the Premier League table having won twelve and drawn nine of their 21 games and are the only side in the football league to remain unbeaten. In fact, United have only suffered one defeat in any of the four competitions they have played in, their only loss coming against strugglers West Ham in the Carling Cup.
At times during yesterday’s match it looked as though Tottenham could be the first team to snatch all three points off the side from the North West with both Gareth Bale and Rafeal Van Der Vaart looking threatening. In the end however, the match drew to a close with the score line at 0-0 despite the visitors playing the last 15 minutes with ten men. Young Brazilian full-back, Rafael was sent off for a second bookable offence when he appeared to inadvertently trip Benoit Assou-Ekotto. The point moved United back above their Manchester neighbours into top spot in the Premier League, while Tottenham stayed in 5th place, just a point behind Chelsea.
Both sides created quality chances in an attempt to break the deadlock, with Peter Crouch’s first half miss from a perfect Alan Hutton cross perhaps the best of the game. The away side also had a presentable opportunity in the first period of play, but Wayne Rooney, back in the starting line-up after injury fired his low angled drive narrowly wide of the far post. Tottenham found themselves in the ascendency for much of the second half and Van Der Vaart wasted his best goal scoring chance of the game when he headed wide from a Bale cross.
As the whistle blew for full time, Sir Alex Ferguson undoubtedly would have been the happier of the two managers knowing his team had survived one of the strongest tests of their title winning capabilities, despite yet again producing a fairly uninspiring performance.
Having passed Christmas without a defeat to their name, talk has inevitably begun over whether United could match the great Arsenal team of 2003/04 who went the entire season unbeaten on their way to the league title. For a side to avoid defeat throughout an entire league campaign so soon after Arsene Wenger’s ‘Invincibles’ achieved the feat would be astonishing given that before Arsenal, no side had managed it since Preston North End in 1888/89.
Although Man United continue to avoid defeat, there are very few people who believe that they can sustain the record during their remaining 17 matches. They may sit top of the table with two games in hand, but United have been anything but impressive in a number of league games, particularly away from Old Trafford.
On their travels they have often struggled to create clear cut chances in front of goal and their midfield has been fragile to intelligent movement from the opposition. The most notable examples of this came away to Aston Villa and West Brom, against whom they looked especially vulnerable to defeat.
At Villa Park United were 2-0 down as a young Aston Villa side outplayed the United midfield to expose the defence, only late goals from Federico Macheda and Nemanja Vidic saved them from defeat. Likewise against West Brom, Ferguson’s team were constantly troubled by the interchanging front four of Morrison, Brunt, Thomas and Odemwingie. The quartet’s constant movement gave the United back four a torrid ninety minutes as the centre backs were consistently getting dragged out of position by Peter Odemwingie. The Nigerian striker had the chance to put West Brom in front from the penalty spot in the second half, but missed the target and United were able to grab the victory through a Javier Hernandez goal.
The common factor in the games against Aston Villa and West Brom and several other fixtures where United have not played well is that despite their performance, the Red Devils have still managed to gain at least a point. Like many great Man United sides of the past, this set of players appears to have the never say die mentality that means they will never give up on a match until the final whistle has been blown. Every game in which the players are able to produce goals and keep clean sheets when not playing well increases the belief amongst the players and will surely create an aura of invincibility around the team that could intimidate opponents.
More often than not the football is not sparkling from Manchester United this season, but with every passing game that doesn’t see them on the losing side makes their next opponents psychologically weaker, increasing the chances of another invincible Premier League team.