Self-doubt is hardly a problem for Manchester United, not even after four defeats in five matches, but the way in which a United team practically at full strength were beaten by a weakened Tottenham side on Saturday surely demands a brief period of self-analysis.
The statistics will cause Alex Ferguson no great concern; after all one of those defeats involved United's reserves being knocked out of the League Cup by Aston Villa. Yet Old Trafford's habitual sense of well-being cannot have been enhanced by the knowledge that having won the initial battle of wits at White Hart Lane, United then lost the battle of wills.
The torrential downpour had the players splashing back and forth and struggling to judge the pace of a ball which was inclined to stop unexpectedly. But Spurs coped better with the conditions and Stephen Carr, their right-back, completed their victory with an outstanding goal when the weather was doing its worst.
At the heart of Tottenham's win was the commitment of their midfield players. So successfully did Steffen Freund, Tim Sherwood and Oyvind Leonhardsen lock horns with Roy Keane and Paul Scholes, soon to have a hernia operation, that after the game Keane and others appeared to be waiting in the tunnel to shake Freund's hand; well, shake some part of him anyway.
George Graham, deprived by injuries of Chris Perry in defence, Allan Nielsen and Darren Anderton in midfield, and Les Ferdinand and Chris Armstrong up front, won the game with a patched-up team which functioned as well as any side the Spurs manager has put out.
It was the first time Spurs had beaten United at home in the Premiership since winning 4-1 on New Year's Day in 1996.
All had seemed well for the champions when, after 23 minutes, a cleverly judged pass from Andy Cole found Ryan Giggs turning away from the close attentions of Luke Young and Sol Campbell to nudge the ball past Ian Walker.
Enter Mickael Silvestre with a myopic header in the 37th minute which caught Mark Bosnich out of position. The ball rolled just wide but Leonhardsen's corner was glanced on by Sherwood and Iversen, sliding in at the far post, knocked the ball towards goal with a hand. Bosnich made a blocking save but the Norwegian forced the rebound over the line.
United had barely had time to ponder the Hand of Odin when a short corner on the left led to a centre from David Ginola which skimmed the head of Young before going in off the unwitting head of Scholes. Carr's stunning cross-shot from 30 yards beat Bosnich into the far corner of the net to complete Tottenham's victory.
That moment, and an excellent tackle by Young which had earlier denied Scholes an equaliser, summed up the spirit of Spurs' performance.
Tottenham Hotspur: Walker, Carr, Campbell, Young (Vega 76), Taricco, Fox (Piercy 87), Freund, Sherwood, Leonhardsen, Iversen, Ginola. Subs Not Used: Baardsen, Edinburgh, Dominguez. Booked: Fox, Sherwood, Freund. Goals: Iversen 37, Scholes 40 og, Carr 71.
Manchester United: Bosnich, Neville, Stam, Silvestre, Irwin (Greening 82), Beckham (Solskjaer 68), Scholes, Keane, Giggs, Yorke, Cole. Subs Not Used: Van Der Gouw, Berg, Higginbottom. Booked: Beckham, Keane. Goals: Giggs 23.
Referee: J Winter (Stockton-on-Tees).
