Coming into this game everyone expected plenty of free-flowing, offensive-minded football given the history and the two managers taste for attacking football. Score lines involving six, seven, or even eight goals are not uncommon here.
However, a cutting edge would be missing from the match, with Wayne Rooney a late scratch after picking up a groin injury on Thursday, ruling him out today and quite possibly for the rest of the season.
Rooney has been irreplaceable this term due to his blossoming into a complete, world-class center forward, with his relentless energy, pace, and strength leading United's frontline.
Keeping the same formation, only substituting Berbatov for Rooney, lacks the threat of a through ball behind the defenders, as Berba's better suited to play with a pacy partner that allows him to maximize his languid, possession-keeping style in the space around someone else's industry.
A Rooney-less Red Devils, you felt, might just inspire the in-form Spurs. “Today is a real chance”, Harry Redknapp must have believed, while Old Trafford faithful were nervous, according to several blogs, about the prospect of an ineffective attack that could have difficulty scoring goals.
The first half presented itself as a boring, if not tedious, affair that confirmed United fears. Some half-chances were created but that final-touch quality was poor. United lacked an edge. Spurs played like a team missing an away victory against the Big Four for 66 games.
Obviously, a draw suited Spurs, with United requiring victory. Only the match's gravity made things compelling.
Initially things looked ominous for United, with misplaced passes and with Evra taking a knee and getting sick on the pitch several minutes into the second interval. Thankfully, Evra soldiered on to ultimately win a penalty from a deft, back-heeled pass from Berbatov at the top of the box after a penetrating run from the wing.
Ryan Giggs from the spot: one-nil to United.
Afterwards, United played like a club freed up, much more like the fluid Red Devils we've come to know at Old Trafford: confort, control, and confidence.
But, one-nil leaves the door open, which Ledley King was only too happy to step through.
King took a corner and placed a perfectly-struck header to the far post past van der Sar and a wayward Rafael, who left his post for some inexplicable reason in the 70th minute. One-one. Game on.
Ultimately, it was Spurs who took control afterwards, with Aaron Lennon and Gareth Bale playing wide as well as Modric moving to central midfield. Harry threw his last roll of the die by introducing Peter Crouch to add a new, aerial threat. Sir Alex Ferguson countered minutes later with the introduction of Macheda and change of formation to a 4-4-2.
It was Macheda's through ball that freed Nani to demonstrate his sublime skill with one touch past Ledley King and a breathtaking lob over the charging Gomes. Composure grounded in supreme confidence, a marvel of technical wizardry.
Much of this season I've criticized and cajoled the Number 17 to step up and fulfill his potential within the squad. And, as seen at Highbury earlier this season, he possesses the rarest of gifts at this level: the ability to beat anyone – and sometimes two players – with the ball.
But, when he's on, he's on. When he's off, he's really off.
Which makes today all that more germane in the development of one Luís Carlos Almeida da Cunha. On a different day, with a different circumstances, Sir Alex may have been tempted to substitute Nani whose crossing was wayward most of the match.
Thus, it's lovely to see Nani carve out such a magnificent goal, especially after struggling some, as too often, we've witnessed his play get worse as the minutes wear on.
Not today.
His superb run, touch, and lob in the 81st minute demonstrated that Nani's learning to let go of frustration, never give up, and trust his mad skills, especially with the match on the line. Today's tally was a deserved match-winner and a candidate for “goal of the season” for United. And, quite possibly, an important marker in Nani's development, one we can look back on and say that was a turning point in his ability to win games for United.
Yes, United are a team in transition, with the press constantly speculating about the evergreen threesome's departure and the end of SAF's reign at Old Trafford.
Yes, there is a gulf in match-winning class at United, with Scholes and Giggs providing too many get-out-of-jail moments for this club.
But, the gap has narrowed today, along with Rooney's season long development, with Nani playing through poor form to provide a moment of brilliance much to the delight of Red Devils everywhere. Sir Alex's blueprint for the next generation squad becomes clearer and clearer with time, much to the astonishment of onlookers everywhere.
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Back at you after next week's away match against Sunderland.
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