Moyes Out To Bridge Gap

Manchester United manager David Moyes accepts the champions need to be closer to Arsenal at the top of the Barclays Premier League.

While the entertaining 2-2 draw at Tottenham was surely a good result in isolation, it leaves the Reds nine points adrift of the Gunners and in eighth spot in the division.

With Everton and Newcastle both above United and coming to Old Trafford in the next week, the opportunity is there for Moyes' side to climb the table ahead of the Christmas period.

"I think the way we are at the moment, we have to win all of our games," explained the boss to MUTV. "I feel we’ve dropped two points. In normal circumstances, coming to Spurs, and it’s been a tough game, you’d feel it was a good result.

"It was a tough game and we had to come from behind twice. Thankfully we did that, but we just couldn’t get the third goal.

"I think if you’d said to me before Leverkusen and today that we’d win in Germany and draw here you’d say: ‘Hey, they are good results and it’s not bad’. The disappointment is going back to last week when we drew at Cardiff.

"I'm concerned we're not as close as we'd like to be [to Arsenal] but it's a long season and hopefully we'll be there or thereabouts. There are a lot of games to go. I think the Premier League is tight and we'll try to stay on the shirt-tails and put ourselves in a good position at the start of next year."

Wayne Rooney's brace ensured the Reds claimed a point and the manager is running out of superlatives to describe his in-form striker.

"A lot has been said about Wayne," he added. "Rightly so because of how well the boy has played with his assists, goals and all-round team play. He deserves people saying how well he’s doing. Maybe, at times, it was not as good for him last year as he wanted it to be, but the boy turned it around with his hard work and dedication and has got himself in a position where he is playing well, scoring regularly and getting the correct recognition for it."

Sandro's spectacular long-range effort had regained the lead for Spurs, following Kyle Walker's free-kick opener, and United were unable to snatch a winner at the end. Indeed, the champions had to defend stoutly from a number of a set-pieces in the closing stages.

"It was a wonder strike by Sandro and you cannot take that away," explained Moyes. "You can’t stop it once he’s hit it. I am just wondering why we’re giving him space and the room to hit it. Once he’s done that, nothing was going to stop it.

"I thought the amount of free-kicks that were given against us and we gave away in the last 15-20 minutes... I thought it was going the way of a few games we have played recently. I was concerned from that point of view but we had one or two chances ourselves as well.

"Danny Welbeck got to the byline once and Chicharito and Wayne were looking to get a shot away but didn’t quite do it. So we had some moments but just couldn’t turn it into a third goal."