Wayne Rooney floored Tottenham Hotspur with Manchester United’s third goal and then mocked the tale of the tape depicting him being knocked out.
Rooney’s celebration was one of the best responses to a front-page story since the England pair of Teddy Sheringham and Paul Gascoigne found a water-bottle at Wembley during Euro 96 and reprised their Dentist’s Chair refueling.
Splashed across a Sunday newspaper, Rooney was pictured flat on his back in his kitchen, having seemingly taken a punch from Phil Bardsley, the Stoke City full-back. Both were wearing boxing gloves and their play-acting sparring was filmed by a friend. In explaining the tale of the jape, Bardsley’s wife Tanya tweeted that they were having “a laugh” and that the “video doesn’t show Wayne jumping straight up and laughing with Phil”.
Off the mark: Marouane Fellaini shoots past Eric Dier to get United on the scoresheet
Clearly annoyed by a story which he felt to be an invasion of privacy, and rather begging the question of how the newspaper acquired the footage, Rooney marked his sixth goal in six games in style. Standing in front of the old Scoreboard End, Rooney threw a flurry of punches, conjuring up memories of his schoolboy days when he flirted with the dream of becoming a professional pugilist. He then fell backwards, mimicking the video. Old Trafford roared its approval. Rooney certainly enjoyed giving his left and right to reply.
If Rooney delivered an individual riposte, the whole United team gave a collective response to recent criticism. This was the best United have played under Louis van Gaal. The first half contained good goals from the excellent Marouane Fellaini and Michael Carrick as well as from Rooney. The half was spiced with plenty of assertive attacking, far more in keeping with United’s tradition.
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Here was the tempo and boldness in possession that Old Trafford craved.
United were well organised, expansive in possession and compact when Spurs had the ball. Van Gaal has assessed assorted systems but this worked best, nullifying Spurs’ usual strengths and empowering United’s own players.
The system was effectively 4-1-4-1 with Carrick holding, Fellaini pushing through the middle towards Rooney while Ashley Young gave United width and threat on the left. Young, who linked well with his left-back Daley Blind, was a high-speed, twisting nightmare for Kyle Walker, who endured one of his worst performances.
Out of reach: Hugo Lloris is unable to keep out Michael Carrick's shot as Wayne Rooney looks on
Juan Mata tucked in on the right, linking well with Ander Herrera while Antonio Valencia was invited to attack from right-back. Chris Smalling was too strong and quick for Harry Kane, even dribbling around the Spurs forward just before the break to howls of glee from the Stretford End.
United have been picking up points but few plaudits of late.
They amassed both here, moving to within two points of second-placed Manchester City. In what Van Gaal called the “rat race” for the Champions League positions, this was a useful weekend for United.
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The mood was as good as the system. Rooney had given a speech to the players the previous evening and had clearly struck a chord, inspiring them. From the opening whistle, United hunted the ball in packs. They attacked swiftly. Their supporters had been expressing their concerns about the number of sideways, even backwards passes under Van Gaal so the return to the starting line-up of Carrick for the first time in two months was well-received and hugely important. United went through the gears quicker, going for Spurs’ exposed jugular faster.
Spurs were hugely disappointing, unable to handle United’s pressing, struggling for space, and let down by individual errors from the likes of Walker, Nabil Bentaleb and Eric Dier. Mauricio Pochettino is building a young, hungry team which is still learning, still prone to off-days. There was nobody of real experience and leadership to confront the questions constantly posed by United.
On target: Wayne Rooney scores the third goal for Manchester United
One wretched half cannot dull the gleam in the eyes of Spurs fans at Pochettino’s impact this season. They are going places under Pochettino. It was, unfortunately, just down a cul de sac here. They will recover. There is too much talent in the dressing-room and intelligence in the dug-out for this to be more than a temporary setback. Kane was being watched by the England manager, Roy Hodgson, and he will have better days.
It was one of their old players, Carrick, who began inflicting the damage on them. With Luke Shaw and Marcos Rojo injured, Van Gaal moved Blind to left-back, allowing Carrick all the responsibilities in the centre. He made his mark after nine minutes, gathering the ball and immediately sweeping it forward before Spurs had time to re-organise.
Carrick released Fellaini, who was helped by Walker being distracted by Young. Fellaini held off Dier before shooting from left to right low past Hugo Lloris.
The tall Belgian ran away, punching the air and the club crest on his shirt. So often belittled as simply a target for long balls and used only for his expertise in the mixer, Fellaini demonstrated an eye for goal that Rooney would have admired.
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If Fellaini was man of the match, Carrick was not far behind.
Carrick’s sense of adventure kept United on the front foot. He even set the ball rolling for the second, starting as well as finishing the 20th-minute move. Spotting Young hugging the touchline on the left, Carrick drilled the ball swiftly his way, clearly a prepared tactic as United felt that Young could get at Walker, who never knew whether to stick or twist.
United forced a corner, taken by Mata. The Spaniard curled the corner out left-footed to Fellaini, whose ease in reaching the ball was assisted by weak defending from Dier. The young centre-half failed to react quickly enough and was easily outjumped by Fellaini. Nacer Chadli came off the post to make a half-clearance, allowing Carrick to head the ball back in through the untended space for his first goal in 13 months.
Spurs have been so industrious and inventive this season but not here. They were too sluggish, too confused. Kane was isolated and dominated by Smalling. Pochettino removed Andros Townsend for Mousa Dembélé but did not really alter a system that allowed United too much space in the centre. United just passed their way through Spurs.
Louis van Gaal salutes Old Trafford (PA)
It got worse for the visitors. After 34 minutes, Rooney took control of the back-page headlines. Christian Eriksen laid the ball back to Bentaleb, who bizarrely played it straight to Rooney. The England captain was off and running, driving straight through Spurs defence, embarrassing Dier with a touch before slotting the ball past Lloris and then celebrating in that special style.
United were in such control that the second half was mainly a song recital for the Stretford End, who began lauding past luminaries from Andy Cole to Cristiano Ronaldo. Spurs’ sole effort on target came a minute from time when Kane finally tested David de Gea. Van Gaal was even able to give the promising 19-year-old, Andreas Pereira, his Premier League debut.
A glimpse of a new hopeful, a win, an entertaining display, coherent tactics and that Rooney celebration: Old Trafford loved it.
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