United capitalise on penalty decision

FA PREMIER LEAGUE: Manchester Utd 5 Tottenham 2:MANCHESTER UNITED failed to keep a clean sheet for the seventh time in eight Premier League matches, showed vulnerability in the full-back areas and needed the aid of Howard Webb's mistaken award of a penalty to spark the comeback.

All in all, however, it turned out to be a very heartening occasion for the victors. Out of necessity, they learned their energy levels are high as they enter key weeks of the campaign.

Alex Ferguson not only has a large squad, but one with the variety to deal with emergencies. Tottenham Hotspur led 2-0 at the interval. The manager’s response was to replace the regularly disappointing Nani with Carlos Tevez, an attacker whose quality is dwarfed only by his energy. Instantly, the visitors lost control.

Webb’s bad decision did galvanise United, but Tottenham showed how much is yet to be achieved if they are to fulfil their manager Harry Redknapp’s ambition of competing for a top-four position next season. Having their lead trimmed to 2-1 was no excuse for capitulation.

If any harm was done to United, it lay in the unease Aaron Lennon caused Patrice Evra. Another fast and dangerous right winger is coming to Old Trafford. On the weekend evidence, Theo Walcott may be a telling factor when Arsenal arrive for the start of the Champions League semi-final on Wednesday. The subject is incongruous since Evra, unlike Rafael da Silva on the right, is no novice.

“I’ve always rated Evra as the best left-back in the league, along with Ashley Cole,” Redknapp observed, while commenting Lennon seems to have “a hoodoo” over the defender. The United flanks must be an area of interest for Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.

Ferguson does have resourceful players in what is a rather worldly group. “I am confident,” Evra said of the game with Arsenal, “because we are more experienced and that will show.” It had not appeared probable the Frenchman would eventually be speaking in those terms when Darren Bent and Luka Modric scored for Tottenham.

The transformation to come contained several elements, but Tottenham fans may settle for seeing Webb as the key, as the referee had been badly placed to award the penalty, converted by Cristiano Ronaldo in the 57th minute. When Michael Carrick broke clear on to a Wayne Rooney pass, Webb’s view was of the midfielder’s back. Although Carrick got to the ball first it was then touched by the hand of the goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes before any contact between the players.

The Tottenham approach afterwards was to speak highly of the official in general while damning him in this case. “I think that was a prime example of a referee crumbling (under]) pressure at Old Trafford,” said Jermaine Jenas. Redknapp called for the use of technology. “We were watching the replay before (Ronaldo) even took the penalty,” he said, arguing matches would not necessarily be disrupted if a fourth official reviewed video evidence.

By making his case so insistently, Redknapp also distracted attention from the collapse of a side that, it should be remembered, was still ahead then.

Bent scored when a Vedran Corluka cross broke to him and an unmarked Modric extended the lead after chesting down a ball from Lennon. Most of the visiting players were competent, but they collapsed collectively. United improved radically and former Tottenham attacker Dimitar Berbatov had his most effective showing in months. The Bulgarian initiated the move in the 67th minute that saw Tevez find Rooney, who equalised with a drive that flew through the legs of Corluka.

Rooney, running amok on the left, set up Ronaldo to give United the lead with a header. The Englishman also had a second goal of his own when he chested down a cross from the Portuguese and struck an effort that Jonathan Woodgate helped into his own net. Berbatov scored, with United’s fifth goal of a 22-minute spell, after his header, from another Rooney delivery, bounced back to him off the goalkeeper and Jenas.

Ronaldo classed this the most dramatic game of his career. That sounded far-fetched, but it reflected United's relief at maintaining control at the top of the table. Guardian Service