SOCCER/ ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE: JAW-DROPPING comebacks are something of an art-form at Manchester United. Now they can add Tottenham 2009 to a list that started with Sheffield Wednesday 1993 and most famously of all includes Barcelona '99.
The 5-2 win over Spurs on Saturday was more like an Everton 2007 vintage. Two goals adrift at half-time, their Premier League title challenge apparently holed below the water line. United were sinking fast.
The enormity of what followed is probably lost on Harry Redknapp, who must have spent the weekend cursing Howard Webb and the vital decision he got wrong 12 minutes into the second half at Old Trafford. But like a great white shark, United are deadly when roused. All the hapless victim can do is close their eyes and hope the end comes quickly.
For Tottenham it was 14 minutes. The time from Ronaldo tucking home his penalty to Jonathan Woodgate failing to keep out a Wayne Rooney shot that crept over the line. Title won, surely.
“It is ours to lose now,” said Wayne Rooney. “If we win it, we might look back on this game. It always gives you a great feeling to come from behind and win any game. I remember that Everton game very well. This is similar. It is a great step for us.”
With two goals and two assists in a sparkling contribution, Rooney claimed man-of-the-match honours in a truly remarkable victory.
He was not the only contender though. Cristiano Ronaldo kept his nerve to bring United back into the match once Webb had made what Redknapp described as the “terrible mistake” of ruling Heurelho Gomes had brought down Michael Carrick, missing the fact Tottenham’s goalkeeper had also played the ball.
Carrick himself and Paul Scholes helped turn the United juggernaut to full speed. And what of Carlos Tevez, seemingly destined to leave Old Trafford in the summer frustrated by a lack of opportunities, whose half-time introduction was the catalyst for what followed?
“The first half was really poor,” reflected Rooney. “We were flat and we needed a lift. Carlos provided it. He got the crowd up and started to find space. He was a big reason why we got the result.”
Like most United comebacks, it was more amazing because no one would have spotted it coming in the first half even if they had been using a telescope.
Darren Bent and Luka Modric snaffled the kind of close-range chances Spurs’ last Old Trafford match winner, Gary Lineker, used to adore and nothing, it seemed, would prevent them emulating that 1989 triumph. Enter Webb.
“We have watched it 50 times,” grumbled Redknapp. “It is a great bit of goalkeeping. The referee has not done it on purpose but it was a terrible decision.”
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger reflected on the “best preparation” for Wednesday’s clash with United after they saw off the challenge of relegation-threatened Middlesbrough 2-0 at Emirates Stadium with a brace from captain Cesc Fabregas yesterday. With leading scorer Robin van Persie still sidelined by a groin problem, and Russian playmaker Andrey Arshavin cup-tied in Europe, the double salvo by Fabregas and the return to fitness of goalkeeper Manuel Almunia could not have come at a better time.
In defence, where William Gallas and Gael Clichy are out, Mikael Silvestre’s withdrawal at half-time on Saturday with a back spasm has left him “50-50”, in Wenger’s words. Johan Djourou, however, came through the second half after his knee injury.
Meanwhile, with Ashley Cole suspended, Jose Bosingwa auditioned for Chelsea’s left-back role in the London side’s 1-0 victory over West Ham on Saturday with a view to him marking Lionel Messi at the Nou Camp tomorrow night. Centre-back Ricardo Carvalho will miss the trip.
Barcelona, who prepared for the Champions league game with a 2-2 draw at Valencia on Saturday, have no new injury concerns
