This was always going to be the match of the day on most weekends but this particular game has some added ingredients to make it super-tasty. Both clubs are on same points and it will be a matter of winner takes all.
The winner of this match will not only be second on the league table, it will also have valuable three points advantage on the loser. A few people would have been shocked by United’s loss to Huddersfield last weekend but honestly, I was not. I could see it coming. You see, United started the season brightly, playing with a swagger and knocking clubs for four goals here and there.
Then came Liverpool, the manager slowed down the pace, he mellowed the team down just because he was looking for a draw at Anfield. Imagine the amount of work that would have been put in place to control the players’ adrenaline so they would curb the natural instincts of attack and attack so they would be disciplined in defence for just this one game. Logically, it would also require similar efforts to return the now gentle tigers to the hungry lions they were before the Liverpool game.
The effort was not obvious in the next game, probably because it was an away game to Benfica in the Champions League. It was clear to observers that the Manchester United team was still in the slow paced defensive mood of Anfield. It was believed that if Benfica had been brave and taken the game to United, they could have created an upset. Now, that was what Huddersfield did.
They started the game fast and furious. They showed they wanted it more and the sluggish United players could not cope with the momentum. By the time they got into the second gear, the game was already lost.
Mourinho is not a new manager. He knows, or should know, these things. Players thrive on confidence. The Manchester United of Sir Alex Ferguson’s era won more games than anyone else in the league mainly because they went into games with the confidence that they would beat you.
Now take this match-up between United and Spurs. Which group of players are more likely to be confident of a victory? United players who had to defend as if their lives depended on it against Liverpool or Spurs’ players who wiped the floor with Liverpool beating them 4-1?
Manchester United players will have doubts in their minds about whether they are good enough to battle with Spurs, the destroyer of Liverpool. Spurs’ players will be flying high based on recent excellent performances against Real Madrid and Liverpool. Except Mourinho can do a proper job and lift his players to top performance, I can only see one winner here and it is the high-flying warriors from North London.
The best Manchester United can get from this game is a draw and that is if the manager decides to “park the bus “. This will be a big shame and a major dent on the great club’s legacy. And may spell the beginning of the end of Mourinho’s reign at Old Trafford.
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