It’s Man United at WHL on Sunday afternoon. The league leaders are in form and are currently majestically sweeping all before them. Panic on the streets of Tottenham? Nah, I can’t see AVB as a Smiths fan.
Who needs a defence? They don’t apparently. The season’s most repeated stat is that many teams have taken a lead against MU this season but few have held on. But puff you’re chest out as we are, of course, one of them. Our memorable win in September gave us three points that it normally takes us the name number of seasons to garner against this opposition.
What a relief it’ll be to play a side that will actually try and come out of their own half. The seemingly endless parade of teams we’ve seen recently set up to keep their shape and stifle play has been oh so dull. Like watching TV repeats where you can’t quite remember the ending, Stoke – “oh yeah we draw this one, Reading – that’s right we win”. It’s no wonder we’ve a better away than home record, QPR excepted home teams generally feel a tad embarrassed about not at least trying to see what the atmosphere is like in the opposition penalty box at some point in the 90 minutes. Entertainment shmentertainment. Football in this form is less the opium and more the Benadryl of the masses.
Our fleet of footness is what gave us the edge at Old Trafford and no doubt Ferguson will have made plans to ensure that any slow turners are protected this time round. The plan though, if it was a plan, worked so well last time that it’s unlikely we’ll deviate much from it, and why should we?
Parker and Dempsey as straight replacements for Sandro and Adebayor are probably the only changes to the side that drew at Loftus Road. That Sandro’s strained a fetlock is disappointing but not a complete surprise given his proclivity to a Devon Loch impersonation at least once a season. Benny (LOL!) will be chomping at the bit to get his place back but Villas-Boas seems to like a settled side and it’s likely he’ll resist the temptation to shift Naughton over in place of the unpredictable Walker. That’s more probable at Elland Road next week.
With some success Defoe has been spending more time of late than usual indulging in teamwork and give and goes with his midfield colleagues and we can expect more of the same from him and Dempsey one imagines. Evra never likes a game against Lennon, Bale likes a game against anyone. Dawson (or Gallas?) and Vertonghen will have their work cut out against whoever plays up front, Dembele and Parker need to try and cut off the supply.
Panic? Nah. A rush and a push and this land we stand on is ours, we beat them before and we’ll beat them again.
Chris Foy is the referee. Arse. COYS.
By MF
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