[Al-T]

More of the same please. Much more.

 

[JackXX]

Very aggressive performance and we always seemed to be in control. Great win!

 

[Acole9]

It was a joy to watch the first half in particular, we were brilliant. Spurs were terrible but you can't take anything away from how we played. More of the same please.

 

[golden_blunder]

Great result, hope we can kick on from that now

 

[VanGaalEra]

So glad with performance and result, I avoided the caf for a week after the Arsenal loss and just glad I can roam around freely again without reading some idiotic posts.

 

[VeevaVee]

Great to watch. Allowed them enough of the ball for us to really take advantage when we won it back (which we did really well) and make loads of sexy runs, whilst managing to make sure they pose absolutely no threat.

Rooney was astounding. Celebration was great. Fellaini really looked like he deserved his position in the team and was used how he should always be used. So glad he took the shot on because I bet I wasn't the only one thinking he might cut back or hesitate.

Everyone did their bit and we looked like a proper team. Would've liked to see Mata get a goal. Happy to see Carrick get one though.

Only negative aspect I can think of is Phil Jones and his insanely shit passing ability (not just that back pass).

 

[Jazz]

So pleased with that. Keep playing like that and we'll be fine. Most importantly, we can take a lot of confidence into the game with the dippers. Pleased for our lads.

 

[VanGaalEra]

Mata went straight to the changing rooms, hope he's fine.

 

[Shark]

That was just the performance we needed and of course, the result, as going to Anfield next Sunday we'll need every bit of confidence we can get. Buzzing!

 

[Raw]

The last time we had 3 clean sheets in a row in the league was between 12/2/2014 and 8/3/2014 (Arsenal 0-0, Palace 2-0 and West Brom 3-0). All away games funnily enough.

The last time we had 3 clean sheets in a row and won all 3 games was between 2/2/2013 and 30/3/2013 where we had 6 wins and 6 clean sheets in a row.

 

[LeftyBlaster]

I told you guys didn't I? The past 28 games were just part of Louis' plan to make people think he was insane before we gun down everyone in sight for the last stretch.

 

[holyland red]

Excellent first half. Easily the best performance of the season.

 

[TheRedDevil'sAdvocate]

We were very energetic today, we showed some urgency after a very long time and LvG got his tactics spot on. Kane and Eriksen barely saw the ball and that tells you all you need to know about how well prepared we were for this game.

What made the difference today? I'd begin with the midfield triplet. Carrick was hegemonic in front of the back four. He controled the tempo and always picked the right pass to get the ball out of the defense, whether it was a pass towards an unmarked teammate or a switch pass to break Tottenham's pressing. He also did an excellent job off the ball as both Eriksen (in the first 30 minutes) and later Kane could not find a single inch of space in between our lines. His beautiful assist and the goal he scored were the icing on the cake of what was a "lesson" on how to play the holding CM role.

But he also got a lot of help from Herrera and Fellaini. This was a rather convincing box to box midfielder performance from Herrera. He was very calm and highly concentrated on his duties, he covered his area of responsibility effectively and most importantly he made himself available in our third whenever it was necessary, both defensively and in our build up process. You can see that he's been working hard to become the player LvG wants him to be.

Fellaini had one of his best games for us and he was absolutely vital today. He and Valencia didn't play well against Arsenal and one could see how much they wanted to perform well today. The big man linked up well with Rooney and he was generally a big treat for the Spurs' defense. LvG read the game well and he had spotted their weakness in covering the channels between the FBs and the CBs (mainly because Bentaleb and Mason usually don't track runners in the box). Fellaini was always looking for that specific run in the box.

Smalling was pretty solid at the back and it's needless to say that we need him to continue playing like that. Even Jones regained his confidence quickly after that odd backwards pass to De Gea. Some people will focus their criticism on this mistake but the truth is that he played very well. We expected that Tottenham would try to hit us from the left wing with a pacey player trying to get past Blind and unbalance our defense. The truth is that Jones was always there to cover for Blind and he deserves credit for that.

Rooney, what a difference a forward who can get first on the ball in the final third can make for a team... Typical Rooney, chasing all the balls coming towards him and helping with the pressing and the tracking back too.

In general, all the players played more aggressively, they attacked the open spaces in the midfield and behind the Spurs' defense and they provided an extra option for a pass with their off the ball movement. Let's hope we continue like this, there's a massive game ahead of us next week.

 

[Ramshock]

But but what about the emo's?

 

[Inigo Montoya]

We were very energetic today, we showed some urgency after a very long time and LvG got his tactics spot on. Kane and Eriksen barely saw the ball and that tells you all you need to know about how well prepared we were for this game.

What made the difference today? I'd begin with the midfield triplet. Carrick was hegemonic in front of the back four. He controled the tempo and always picked the right pass to get the ball out of the defense, whether it was a pass towards an unmarked teammate or a switch pass to break Tottenham's pressing. He also did an excellent job off the ball as both Eriksen (in the first 30 minutes) and later Kane could not find a single inch of space in between our lines. His beautiful assist and the goal he scored were the icing on the cake of what was a "lesson" on how to play the holding CM role.

But he also got a lot of help from Herrera and Fellaini. This was a rather convincing box to box midfielder performance from Herrera. He was very calm and highly concentrated on his duties, he covered his area of responsibility effectively and most importantly he made himself available in our third whenever it was necessary, both defensively and in our build up process. You can see that he's been working hard to become the player LvG wants him to be.

Fellaini had one of his best games for us and he was absolutely vital today. He and Valencia didn't play well against Arsenal and one could see how much they wanted to perform well today. The big man linked up well with Rooney and he was generally a big treat for the Spurs' defense. LvG read the game well and he had spotted their weakness in covering the channels between the FBs and the CBs (mainly because Bentaleb and Mason usually don't track runners in the box). Fellaini was always looking for that specific run in the box.

Smalling was pretty solid at the back and it's needless to say that we need him to continue playing like that. Even Jones regained his confidence quickly after that odd backwards pass to De Gea. Some people will focus their criticism on this mistake but the truth is that he played very well. We expected that Tottenham would try to hit us from the left wing with a pacey player trying to get past Blind and unbalance our defense. The truth is that Jones was always there to cover for Blind and he deserves credit for that.

Rooney, what a difference a forward who can get first on the ball in the final third can make for a team... Typical Rooney, chasing all the balls coming towards him and helping with the pressing and the tracking back too.

In general, all the players played more aggressively, they attacked the open spaces in the midfield and behind the Spurs' defense and they provided an extra option for a pass with their off the ball movement. Let's hope we continue like this, there's a massive game ahead of us next week.

Is this a first for Redcafe?

 

[Inigo Montoya]

But but what about the emo's?

Emo's what?

 

[matt23]

Brilliant, first game I've not watched all season. Sounds like we bossed it.

 

[TheRedDevil'sAdvocate]

Is this a first for Redcafe?

Probably, i was looking for a fancy word . Not much love for Carrick lately on the Red Cafe, had to do something about that.

 

[royboy16]

Great performance,it reminded me of the game at WHL except we managed to find our shooting boots.
Hope we stick with this team and formation for liverpool

 

[redevil2]

So glad with performance and result, I avoided the caf for a week after the Arsenal loss and just glad I can roam around freely again without reading some idiotic posts.

Well good for you. I haven't avoided the CAF like you have and guess what? We were subject to opinions asking for big spending in the summer as we have no alternatives and that "the talent genuinely isn't there", strikers past their best, poorly balance midfield... That the team is so poor they can't even challenge for top 4... It's so depressing these people keep complaining about our team and not examining the root cause.

Today the first half showed we can play like a united team! Hope this keeps going.

 

[siw2007]

Definitely the best performance of the season. I thought this was going to be a difficult game at the start. Spurs were a very good team, had the most in form striker in the league and their manager had coached them to press relentlessly which as we know makes us nervous. But in the first half we were excellent, we weren't just better than them, we were vastly superior all across the pitch and deserved our 3 goal lead at the break. Second half was comfortable and we created a some chances but was a shame not to get the fourth.

Our best performers were Carrick, Rooney, Fellaini and Young who were brilliant all game. Jones had his best game in a while and credit to Smalling for keeping Kane quiet while making a few runs forward of his own. Can't fault a single player today as they all at least had a good game.

Massive game next week which will have a huge bearing on where we will finish the season probably. I would have feared going into it before today but if we can play that way at Anfield then maybe ti is them who should fear us.

 

[bosnian_red]

Brilliant game from us. Second half was just going through the motions but we could have scored a few anyways. First half was the best I've seen us play in a very long time though, great to see. A big feck you to all of the doubters as well, there have been plenty of encouraging signs in our play recently we just haven't sustained it and combined it with the end product we had today.

 

[Ramshock]

Emo's what?

Exactly mate...exactly

 

[Roosney]

In Mr. Burns manner: "excellent".

Herrera and Mata combination just seems to work well, and Carrick was suprerior today.
Basically that was a perfect performance from the whole team and the tactics were spot on.

Only complaint is for Fellaini's second half perfomance, lost the ball too many times and appeared rather lazy. No way the MOTM for me that performance.

 

[Solius]

But but what about the emo's?

Nobody has used the term emo since about 2009. Keep up.

 

[Ramshock]

Nobody has used the term emo since about 2009. Keep up.

Sorry Captain Current

 

[Eto'odinho]

Brilliant performance from the boys. That was very much a controlled performance right from the word go. Our movement particularly off the ball was fantastic, so much drive and intensity throughout.

Were we really that good or were Spurs just unbelievably shit?

 

[Livewire1974]

8 points off top place, and we still have to play Chel$ki. Just had a sneaky few quid on us to win the league at 90/1.

 

[Big Ben Foster]

This was my first match at OT, what a performance!

 

[Sarni]

We were great in that first half today, obviously stepped down a bit in the second half because it was pointless trying to put 5 past them when we have Liverpool away next week. If we could put a similar performance at Anfield next week it should warrant at least a point and if Swansea can cause a surprise against Liverpool tomorrow we may have all but sealed a top 4 place by this time next week (on the other hand it's quite possible we'll be outside top 4 at this point next week too).

 

[Winrar]

Was that really Manchester United I watched today?

 

[SirAF]

I just have to say it again: I'm so bloody chuffed! Fair enough, it's still a long way to go in terms of securing 4th - but my God how everyone associated with the club needed this today.

 

[Brightonian]

Brilliant performance from the boys. That was very much a controlled performance right from the word go. Our movement particularly off the ball was fantastic, so much drive and intensity throughout.

Were we really that good or were Spurs just unbelievably shit?

It was more us being good than Spurs being shit, although a little of both. Spurs were poor because they couldn't get the ball off us or keep it in good areas, and that dominance is something we've been doing in almost every game for months now, so it's hardly fair to blame it on them. The difference is that today we actually did something with the ball when we had it.

 

[RedFish]

At long last we seemed to gel as a team. The first touch from our players was fabulous and I don't remember us laying too many stray passes. We certainly hit a groove today and I really hope we carry this intensity into the remaining games of the season. A United team without tempo is not a United team at all. Well done lads. Bravo!

 

[RedRover]

I've been critical recently so credit where it's due. Good performance today against a usually decent side.

The players seemed to play with less fear. That's a good sign.

 

[Maestro14]

Hard to pick out just one standout player from today's match. Everyone played well, and in particular our front six were each immense in the first half. The biggest difference was the players played as a team and there was some excellent link up play going on in the attacking third. Probably our best performance this season (against a top 4 rival as well) and if we continue like this, qualifying for the CL should be straightforward. Hope to see the same team against Liverpool.

 

[Kag]

This was my first match at OT, what a performance!

Keep going then!

 

[GloryHunter07]

8 points off top place, and we still have to play Chel$ki. Just had a sneaky few quid on us to win the league at 90/1.

Bloody hell

 

[VanGaalEra]

Well good for you. I haven't avoided the CAF like you have and guess what? We were subject to opinions asking for big spending in the summer as we have no alternatives and that "the talent genuinely isn't there", strikers past their best, poorly balance midfield... That the team is so poor they can't even challenge for top 4... It's so depressing these people keep complaining about our team and not examining the root cause.

Today the first half showed we can play like a united team! Hope this keeps going.

Yeah the kneejerk is ridiculous, best decision I ever made staying away.

 

[saivet]

Might sound weird but I was really pleased with the 2nd half. It was certainly boring, but we saw the half out with no issues whatsoever, while also looking the team more likely to score.

Really happy with the performance but that performance by Spurs was absolutely dire. They didn't show up at all.