11 September 2006, by Sean Gillen

Out-of-sorts United scrape narrow win

Manchester United 1-0 Tottenham Hotspur

Manchester United remain top of the Premiership after a Ryan Giggs header was enough to see off Tottenham in a jaded performance at Old Trafford. The result sees United maintain their 100% record in the league this season, but the visitors may count themselves unlucky not to have come away with a point.

United started well, and Cristiano Ronaldo, who switched flanks in a 4-4-2 system, drew a good save from Spurs’ goalkeeper Paul Robinson when he curled a superb left-footed shot from the edge of the penalty area.

Ronaldo then played a major part in the goal that gave United the lead on nine minutes. The Portuguese struck a fierce free-kick from all of 40 yards, and Robinson’s parry was followed up by Giggs, who nodded in for his second goal of the season.

Despite plenty of possession during the following 20 minutes, United created few clear-cut chances, with Tottenham ending the half looking the more dangerous side and putting United under a spell of pressure in the ten minutes before the break.

The visitors came close to equalising in bizarre circumstances early in the second half when Ronaldo’s attempted challenge on Pascal Chimbonda ricocheted off the Frenchman and almost lobbed United ‘keeper Edwin van Der Sar, who tipped the ball over the bar.

Ronaldo goes close

A rare chance for United fell to Ronaldo in the 65th minute when the Portuguese made room for a shot inside the box, but his powerful finish was tipped over the bar by Robinson. Tottenham continued to enjoy good spells of possession, and Egyptian striker Mido may have scored with a header, while substitute Jermaine Defoe caused the United backline problems.

Louis Saha should have sealed the win for United in the dying minutes when he outmuscled Assou-Ekotto to find himself one-on-one with Robinson, but the French striker shot straight at the England number one.

After the match, United boss Alex Ferguson admitted that he was relieved to secure three points, after seeing so many of his players away on international duty during the previous fortnight.

“After the internationals, I’m very pleased getting that result. As you can see from the other results for teams at the top, they found it hard today,” said the Scot.

“We will improve. There is a far better maturity and you saw that in the final stages of the match today. There was good composure. We didn’t panic and took our time, and that’s what I call increasing maturity in a football team.”

Man Utd:
Van der Sar, Neville, Ferdinand, Brown, Evra, Ronaldo (Silvestre 90), Carrick (Fletcher 79), O'Shea, Richardson (Park 70), Giggs, Saha
Yellow Cards: Richardson (67), Evra (92)

Tottenham:
Robinson, Chimbonda, Dawson, King (Murphy 81), Assou-Ekotto, Jenas, Zokora, Davids (Ziegler 57), Ghaly, Keane (Defoe 57), Mido
Yellow Cards: Mido (58), Ghaly (58)

Goals:
[1-0] Giggs, 9