255: ESPN2 starting up the coverage. Ten minutes of pregame? YOU SPOIL ME.
255: OK, I have a small amount of guilt that I am totally focused on a football match when Gadhafi’ reign in Libya is literally crumbling as I write this, but CNN is sounding like ESPN in the two week’s prior to the Superbowl. There’s only so many ways you can say the same things. Gadhafi was a horrible dictator, his reign is crumbling, rebels have Tripoli, we don’t know where he is. This has literally been repeated 80 times an hour by every CNN journalist they can get their hands on. I have already had a good two hours of coverage today and I feel no guilt about turning away now.
255: Starting Lineups
United:
----------------De Gea----------------
Smalling-----Jones----Evans----Evra
Nani----Cleverley----Anderson----Young
-----Welbeck------Rooney-------
Tottenham:
------------Friedel-----------------
Walker---Dawson---Kaboul---Assou-Ekotto
Lennon----Krancjar----Livermore----Bale
---------------Van der Vaart-----------
---------------Defoe-----------------
OK, all of this is done while it is happening. If anything is edited, it will simply be my grammar because I don’t want to look like an idiot on a site that is all about me writing stuff. Anyways, pretty young from both sides. United’s defense is pretty devastated right now so this is what I’d expect, but Jones is very dependable and Smalling isn’t that bad. Evans I don’t have a ton of faith in as he commits a lot of shithouse tackles so we’ll see how that goes. That’s a terrifying offense though, Nani and Young have to be the best winger combo in the premiership and if they’re not, it’s Lennon and Bale. So expect long evenings for fullbacks on both sides. I think Carrick being supplanted by Cleverley is a permanent move, as he was pretty impressive last week. On Tottenham’s side, typical defense arrangement and interesting to see Friedel is already first-choice, you’d have to imagine Gomes will have to pursue a move elsewhere. The rest of the team is pretty expected, except Livermore whom I know nothing about but made Colin very upset and sad when I texted him that he was starting. So, we’ll see how that works out. No Crouch or Pavs, and just one striker, is a pretty telling lineup for Spurs.
257: Showing all the pregame walk-ins. Old Trafford is packed. Can’t believe United hasn’t lost in the last 20 league matches against Tottenham.
259: Interesting bench players. Berbatov still on the bench, Chicharito on the bench (whom I’d have to assume you’ll see come in). Crouch isn’t even on the bench, neither is Modric and seeing as Modric refused to play, it appears he’s gone and maybe Crouch is definitely gone too.
300: OK 5 minutes of pregame I was wrong. 20 seconds and already a chance for united, well saved by Kaboul, bad defending by Walker on Young.
2’: Awful ball by VDV that almost sets up a goal for Rooney, sloppy by spurs to start.
4’: Anderson and Young attack Walker, United appears to be targeting him and it appears to be working.
5’: Evans kinda looks like a scared kid afraid to fuck up when he has the ball, just gave up and kicked it back to De Gea
7’: Great ball by Walker to Bale but well defended
8’: Great shot by Cleverley from about 25m out, excellent save by Friedel, corner for United
8’: Anderson gives one of the world’s shittiest corners straight to Assou-Ekotto
11’: Krancjar gives it away. He’s had a few bad passes, but he’s like a striker who misses a few sitters than scores a wonderstrike.
12’: Holy crap what a good ball by Jones for Young down the left flank, well defended by Kaboul.
13’: De Gea just tried to beat VDV with the ball, almost gave up a goal but VDV fouled him. Absolute insanity. De Gea might be too cool to play football well, he’s playing so casually that I feel like this will absolutely bite him in the ass.
16’: Nice little run by Bale snuffed out by Jones, looked a foul but nothing called. Dracula laid on the ground for a little bit but seems fine.
17’: And a no-call on a foul on VDV, Old Trafford rules in effect.
20’: Even possession so far and the game has been even. No team has had any great chances but it’s been a decent attacking game thus far. No real identity yet to either team.
21’: Deflected shot by Dracula well-saved by De Gea.
22’: Another great cross by Nani goes wanting by no United players in the right position, really missing Chicharito right now. Neither Rooney nor Welbeck has that same poacher’s instinct.
25’: An outrageous lob attempt by VDV, that guy tries some seriously crazy shit. Granted he was alone up there and it was his only option but yeah he has been off-on so far.
27’: It’s really interesting how much Nani and Young completely switch sides on the pitch, it’s such a luxury to have such skilled two-footed wingers. God I hate this team.
28’: Great lob pass from Rooney to Young, misses the post by about 4 inches. United looking more dangerous.
29’: VDV with an awful corner that never gets in bounds. OK I’m taking the “on” part of his evaluation now. He’s been pretty shit.
30’: Young is really making this a long night for Walker, just chapeau’d the shit out of him. I think he’s done well (Walker) but that’s definitely the more active flank and it’s hard to keep Young and Evra out for that long.
34’: Livermore does well to win the ball back after losing it. He has not looked that bad, definitely not as bad Colin feared.
36’: I’ve always thought it, but Ashley Young looks a lot like Marlo Stanfield from The Wire. If you haven’t seen it, you should it’s the best show ever on television. Makes Ashley Young far more intimidating in my eyes.
I didn't make this, so clearly I'm not the first to think this.
37’: First yellow of the game, it’s for Jonny Evans but I was looking up Marlo Stanfield pictures so I missed it. My bad. Followed up by a free kick that’s easily snuffed out by Welbeck.
39’: Young and Dawson have a pretty nasty collision. Dawson down for a few moments and gets a yellow while Young stays down for awhile. Basically Dawson steamrolled Young after he had gotten rid of the ball. Not malicious just Young was too fast for him. Young still down and looking injured, like all of my fantasy team. My team is cursed so I should probably just transfer all of my Liverpool players just in case.
43’: Typical VDV. Played liked shit all game and nearly scores a fantastic goal on a quick turn on the edge of the box.
43’: Just found out two things. One, John Obi Mikel’s father has been found unharmed and that’s great news. I can’t even imagine how awful that situation must have been for him. Two, Kyrgiakos has transferred to Wolfsburg from Liverpool. If you don’t know Soto, he was the crazy Greek guy with the big hair who we signed for like 700k back when we had no money and I loved this dude. Not a good defender but he tried hard and was always entertaining. Scored a few great goals too. So YNWA Soto and best of luck at Wolfsburg.
45’: Big argument between Kaboul and Nani. Nani is such a punk that I have to assume he is wrong. But looking at it, Kaboul is kinda being a bitch here. Basically Nani clipped him slightly on the foot going for the ball. Both were fine and the game continued but Kaboul pulled him aside to have a little hissy fit.
45’+2: Defoe has acres of space and takes an open shot and….misses and scuffs it. Ah well.
FIRST HALF THOUGHTS:
Well, for a game with so much space and so much open play, there hasn’t been one amazing chance. There has been plenty of good shots from half-chances that came close. Great defense on both sides, particularly by Jones and Kaboul for the respective teams. VDV has been rather anonymous, while Welbeck and Rooney haven’t been anonymous but haven’t really impacted the game strongly with the notable exception of a couple good passes from Rooney. Young and Nani have been influential but with no end-product, while Lennon and Bale have been active but not to the same degree. As I said, I thought Walker was being targeted to a degree, but he has held up well but also because Dawson and Kaboul have provided excellent cover. I’m not totally surprised by the lack of goals because frankly the final third has been very disappointing for both teams. Friedel’s save on Cleverley was really the only true action either keeper has seen, with the rest being routine. Here’s to hoping the game opens up in the second half.
Start of the second half:
First off, I may be the world’s greatest Angry Birds player. Has any game spawned this feeling more? Everyone feels like he is fucking Zeus with this game. Someone has finally made the video game equivalent of the cult of self esteem. Now everyone is a boss because they fling some birds and wreck some pig’s poorly constructed hideout. Also, aren’t the birds suicide bombers? A little fucked up if you ask me.
45’: Corluka replacing Kyle Walker. Can’t say I’m surprised, Walker was being assaulted all night and you need more experience there.
48’: Young alone in front of Friedel but drilled right at him. Great buildup play despite a blatant handball by Cleverley. Good start for United.
48’: Darke just made the exact comment from earlier in the game with a different player. Earlier “Niko Krancjar is one of the rare Tottenham players who knows what’s it like to win at Old Trafford, he did it with Portsmouth.” Replace NIko Krancjar with
Brad Friedel and Portsmouth with Aston Villa and that’s what he just said.
49’: Bad ball by Cleverley ruins a promising attack.
50’: Dracula takes a shitty shot instead of releasing Defoe, this game has really picked up. Already very exciting.
50’: HOLY FUCK. Lennon has days of time alone on the touchline in the box but for whatever reason does not pass to a WIDE OPEN VDV in front of goal. Eventually just blasts it off of Evans. Terrible and Darke and McManaman use it as an example of why he doesn’t play for England. Ouch.
51’: VDV would literally kill a child right now and not just because he’s a gypsy.
Just screaming into his jersey.
52’: Still can’t believe that fuck-up. Wow.
55’: Smalling just owned Assou-Ekotto but a bad cross as an end result.
57’: FK for United, Young looks to whip it in to the box from the left side, and nevermind it’s an awful ball.
58’: Damn, Marlo one-times a volley from a flick-on header by Welbeck but just a bit high.
59’: A foul against VDV and he is completely pissed off right now. I don’t know if he’s the type of player who plays better in that mindset, but you’d have to hope he is. Just took a shot from a good 40m out and shockingly enough does not trouble De Gea with it.
60’: I think VDV reminds me somewhat of a less-talented but harder-working Arshavin, which is actually a huge compliment. I think Arshavin is one of the most talented players on the planet but he is a lazy fuck, wait hold that thought.
61’: GOAL GOAL GOAL DANNY WELBECK. A great cross by Cleverley which Welbeck turns into the far corner. NO chance for Friedel. Just a classic goal. You can’t say it wasn’t coming.
And OK, back to Arshavin/VDV. I like both players a lot, but I like VDV more because I do think he is supremely talented, just not to the same degree as Arshavin. But because he works hard unlike Arshavin, he is a much more effective player. But both players can go anonymous for awhile before doing something amazing, it’s just VDV works for it while Arshavin can miss whole games from anonymity. VDV is always battling to get back into the game, it’s just his style of play isn’t stamped on the game for the whole match but he makes up for it with his numerous moments of brilliance.
64’: Foul by Krancjar on Evra JUST outside of the box, direct FK.
65’: Young bitched about the wall position. Rooney places it PERFECTLY but an absolutely amazing save by Friedel. He has been fantastic this game, Gomes better get used to the bench.
66’: Decent long distance shot by Rooney, all United now looking bad for Spurs.
67’: Jones took a run all the way to the opposite box, love his attacking verve for a center-back.
68’: Welbeck tries a bicycle kick but straight into Friedel, Berbatov is another person who should get used to a bench.
70’: Evans volley saved by Friedel, other than spilling out a bad Nani shot a couple minutes ago, simply flawless by him so far.
71’: Huddlestone and Pavs warming up to come on for Spurs. I’d guess Defoe and Livermore off? Or Krancjar and Livermore and move VDV a little further back. Spurs have looked flat and they need the change or the game is going to be real over real soon. It’s interesting to note that they simply look tired and maybe the week off/not proper training in the preseason is hurting them here. Mind you, I have no clue what they did in the off/preseason but they really just look beat. Defoe just gave the ball away in a promising attack (73’)
73’: ESPN bottomline talking about Albert Haynesworth’s “misdemeanor sexual assault.” How is sexual assault ever a misdemeanor?
74’: Subs time, Krancjar out for Pavs, Livermore out for Huddlestone, so I see that my VDV further back behind Pavs and Defoe was the correct guess. I’d assume they’ll play like a 4-1-2-1-2 with VDV in the hole behind the strikers and Huddlestone in the CDM role.
76’: Good play by Spurs in the final third but no end result, also Corluka is playing absurdly far forward.
76’: GOAL GOAL GOAL ANDERSON. Another really well-worked goal by United. Rooney to Anderson who played a give and go with Welbeck who played a brilliant backheel that left Anderson alone in front of goal and he made no mistake. Welbeck is the real deal, nevermind Berbatov Rooney and Chicharito have to watch their places.
78’: Welbeck plays Nani right in front of goal but he’s closed down by Friedel and has no chance.
78’: Best chance for Spurs yet, crossed in by Corluka, Pavs keeps it alive and with De Gea completely missing the ball Defoe tries to one-time it in but hits the woodwork. Not encouraging by De Gea but Spurs should have probably scored there. That might be it for them to get a result here.
80’: Fantastic tackle by Kaboul on Welbeck he has been impressive.
80’: Giggs, Chicharito and Park are all warming up to come on for a probable triple sub.
81’: And here it is, those three on, Welbeck, Cleverley and Young off. Standing ovation for Welbeck and well-deserved he has been fantastic. Now here’s to hoping Chicharito scores so I get some fantasy points (or VDV).
83’: Terrible ball by VDV straight into Anderson, VDV has completely checked out of this game.
83’: Terrific cross by Nani that both Chicharito and Rooney should have finished but no one gets a touch on it.
84’: God I forgot how huge Huddlestone is how does that man play professional football?
85’: Play is getting real sloppy by Spurs, this mental checking-out can’t be encouraging for the campaign. Nani plays a ball a bit too far for Rooney otherwise it was a goal.
85’: A couple long shots from VDV that both go straight at De Gea.
87’: GOAL GOAL GOAL ROONEY. Well that does it. Another cross, this time by Giggs, straight to Rooney who simply heads in from 3 yards out. Just poor defending, United could walk it in if they wanted to now.
89’: Brilliant set-up pass by Pavs to VDV but he takes a ridiculous one time shot instead of taking a touch or two. Just wasteful, Spurs just want to leave.
90+1’: Rather bullshit yellow card for Defoe. De Gea spills outs a long range Huddlestone effort and tries to finish it as De Gea jumps back on it. Thought it was pretty fair on both parts, overreacting by United though I guess no one likes to see their goalie kicked.
90+3': And that's game!
Thoughts:
Well, United looked great. That's the biggest takeaway. They looked absolutely excellent. There only drawback....yes De Gea. I hate to pile on this guy but he just did not inspire any confidence. He was weak on crosses and long-distance efforts. He didn't have any howlers and he did keep a clean sheet, but otherwise no real confidence in him. Welbeck looks fantastic and he was their man of the match, Cleverley and Anderson bossed the midfield, and then the rest of the players up front, Rooney Young and Nani were excellent. Really no weak point, and Phil Jones already looks brilliant for them. Damnit.
On Tottenham, this was their first competitive game while it was United's third, but they did just look flat and disinterested in the second half. They were decent in the first half, but just completely outclassed in the second. I'd be most worried about the lack of a finishing touch and most importantly, the mental aspects. Some absolute brainfarts by Lennon and others that ruined some attacks, and then once they were down 2-0 they completely gave up. Just no desire or belief. I thought VDV had a pretty bad afternoon and he'll definitely need to step it up when Modric leaves. Worrying start for Tottenham but let's see if they can right the ship against some less impressive competition
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