Off Day For Strikers

Manchester United limitations clear as they fail to find finish at Spurs, writes Sarah Winterburn...

There are plenty of conclusion that can be drawn from Manchester United's 0-0 draw with Tottenham, largely covering familiar ground about United's lack of a dominant midfielder, a paucity of energy and ideas in the latter stages reflecting obvious fatigue and a defence that looks vulnerable under the slightest bit of pressure.

It all adds up to a Manchester United side some way short of title contention, whatever the players would have you believe after their latest home stroll.

But there is only one real conclusion to be drawn from White Hart Lane and it’s best to leave Louis van Gaal to simplistically explain: "We were fantastic in the first half but if you don't score goals, you can't win."

You can look at the statistics that show United completed only 71% of their passes (down on a seasonal average of 85%) while their players were dispossessed a frightening 19 times, but despite missing a Nemanja Matic in midfield, a Mats Hummels in defence and any semblance of genuine attacking options on the bench, United still created more than enough clear-cut chances to beat an incredibly limited Tottenham.

Van Gaal named an unchanged side from the Boxing Day cruise over Newcastle, rightly confident that he only needed one of Radamel Falcao, Robin van Persie, Wayne Rooney and Juan Mata to take inevitable early chances at White Hart Lane before tiredness took hold. Tottenham have surfed their luck to record narrow wins against Swansea, Burnley and Leicester; Van Gaal's gamble was that his significantly better attacking players would have the match won by half-time.

He probably sighed as Falcao hit the ball tamely at Hugo Lloris, tutted as Van Persie inexplicably tried to ball-juggle rather than lash home from close range and looked to the heavens as Mata's deflected free-kick sparked a penalty box melee that only needed the slightest touch in the right direction.

Surely there would be more chances as Tottenham's midfield duo of Ryan Mason and Benjamin Stambouli allowed Mata the space to create and Rooney the freedom to burst into the box?

There were indeed more chances and they too were spurned as United's quartet of stellar attacking players - scorers of 23 Premier League goals this season - all chose the same day to look befuddled by the combination of two white posts and one in-form goalkeeper. Hugo Lloris was excellent but he should have needed a far better performance to keep a clean sheet.

Van Gaal described the second half as "a struggle for life" but it was clearly a struggle he was expecting after choosing the same 11 players just 43 hours after the conclusion of their last match. His bench was packed with defensive options not only from necessity but also because he had rightly foreseen a late surge from a Tottenham side who have picked up ten extra points in the last five minutes of matches this season. But he was expecting a struggle to protect a 2-0 lead rather than a 0-0 stalemate.

This Manchester United side does not have the personnel to win the Premier League this season but that is not a conclusion that can be drawn from a 0-0 against Tottenham they should have won by half-time; anybody who still needs 90 flawed minutes to draw that conclusion has not been paying attention since August.

Credit: Skysports.com