Manchester United 3 Tottenham Hotspur 0
This was an afternoon when the Louis van Gaal “philosophy” finally appeared crystal clear. As in old times under Sir Alex Ferguson Manchester United were an unstoppable force that went for the jugular to allow Tottenham Hotspur zero chance of affecting the contest.
The vital factor here was the component missing-in-action for most of the season: tempo. Where this bunch of United players who have seemed in a permanent torpor found the zest from is intriguing, and the manager will surely demand this be the benchmark in the final nine games that will be decisive for the club's Champions League qualification hopes.
The victory solidifies United's fourth place, putting five points between them and Liverpool – who play on Monday night – and a further one to Spurs, whose hopes of a top-four finish now appear moribund.
After the recently KO'ed Wayne Rooney led the United XI out the opening question, as is the case in these Van Gaal days, was how they would line up. Today the answer was a 4-1-4-1 formation which in the latest tinker featured Daley Blind at left-back and Juan Mata on the right side of midfield: each of these hardly their regular positions.
The first opening came within two minutes and arrived along Blind's flank though he was blameless. Phil Jones was the culprit, the central defender's heavy back-pass requiring David De Gea to scramble and stick out a boot to save an own goal. The alarm bells rung by this hapless moment were turned up higher when the ensuing corner had to be scrambled away by Marouane Fellaini and the thought came that here could be another long outing for United.
By the time – on 34 minutes – that Rooney had scored a barnstorming third for United this was all forgotten. What passed in the intervening moments was a passage of play that was certainly the best seen under Van Gaal.
Rooney’s fifth strike in six games came from a shocking ball from Nabil Bentaleb that went straight to the No10. Now came the sight of the Rooney of yore, the Liverpudlian charging at the backpedalling Spurs rearguard before he made a mug of Eric Dier, removing him from the equation by swerving left and beating Hugo Lloris with a cool finish to the goalkeeper’s right. The celebration? A few shadow punches and a fall backwards in jest at being knocked out by Stoke City’s Phil Bardsley, a story that had emerged on Sunday morning.
Pace was proving the key to the iron grip United had on Spurs’ throat. This was an outing where the long ball and pass along the ground were of equal aesthetic and material appeal due simply to how quickly Van Gaal’s side were playing.
In Fellaini United had a footballer who turned in a near-perfect first half performance, the Belgian the fulcrum whether heading on a high pass or zooming into space to cross or score, as he did after nine minutes to register United’s opener.
This derived from a smooth slide rule Blind ball to Michael Carrick – impressive in a first league start for two months – whose own precise pass found Fellaini and the Belgian made no mistake with a left-foot finish that had Old Trafford in raptures and the big-haired forward beating the United crest on his chest.
It was the Fellaini head that had a starring part in the second. This was 10 minutes later and as with Rooney’s goal, Mauricio Pochettino will be bitterly disappointed at his side’s defending. Juan Mata swung over a corner from the right and Fellaini rose to bully Dier, who was having a torrid game, to head towards Lloris. Nacer Chadli hooked the ball away and when it fell on Carrick’s head, his placement to Lloris’s left was supreme.
Rooney’s third was followed by the home congregation chanting “attack, attack, attack!” as Old Trafford had been taken back to the days when the relentless red blur was the norm in this stadium.
As the second half started the Jones-error and flaky defending at the subsequent corner remained the closest the Tottenham had come to threatening De Gea’s goal.
If the watching Roy Hodgson was here to assess Harry Kane he will have learned little as English football's coming man was offered barely a sniff of an opening from his insipid team-mates.
All the standout performers were in United’s colours with Chris Smalling having a rare match in which he sparkled. One 40-yard diagonal along a right-left trajectory to Young was Beckenbauer-esque as it allowed the winger to drive at Spurs, while in front of the defender Fellaini continued to boss proceedings.
A pivot-then-hit of a first-time cross might have been finished by Rooney for the latter’s second and Fellaini was also doing as significant spoiling job in midfield.
How Pochettino will wish he had even one player on the Belgian’s level. Instead so desperate did the visiting manager become that Emmanuel Adebayor was given a first run-out since January 22nd as a second half replacement.
For Van Gaal he could give Andreas Pereira a league debut, and end the 90 minutes particularly content.
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