Man Utd vs Spurs (26.08)

[bandini]

Tottenham boss Martin Jol felt his side were better than Manchester United - and bemoaned a lack of luck that saw the champions grab a 1-0 win.Jol, whose future at White Hart Lane has been under question this week, claimed the north London team should have been awarded a penalty when Wes Brown blocked Dimitar Berbatov's shot.

Asked if he felt Spurs were unfortunate to come away with nothing to show for their efforts, Jol said: "Certainly I do. I felt very comfortable and the second half could have gone either way.

"We had has as many opportunities and I thought it was was a penalty. He (Brown) used everything like a keeper - and he is a defender - to keep the ball out of the net.

"It's the same all the time. Sometimes especially at these grounds you need a bit of luck and I felt we could then have come away with a win.

"In the first half we had a couple of opportunities and in the second I thought we played better and I felt Manchester United - even though they were at home - weren't the better team."

The Dutchman denied he was feeling the heat at White Hart Lane, adding: "I'm not under pressure and if the chairman says he is backing me then there is no problem."

United counterpart Sir Alex Ferguson denied Spurs' claims for a penalty although he admitted the hosts had to dig in for victory.

Ferguson said: "At the time they protested so much I thought it was a penalty, but when I've seen it (it was not) and Wes has said it has hit him on the chest. It does hit him on the chest, I'm sure of that."

Asked for his thoughts on the game, he added: "Narrow margin, touch and go, nothing to choose between two sides.

"I knew it was going to be almost a war of attrition in the second half.

"They dug in and got forward a bit. There was really nothing in it in the second half.

"(With the goal) I think Carlos Tevez touching the ball decided it."

Ferguson admitted his relief at finally claiming the first victory of the season.

"I thought we lacked a little bit of confidence. Players are anxious, there is a lot of expectation here, there are new players here," he said.

"It was a reasonable performance from us. What was required was to dig in, show great commitment.

"Tottenham are in the wrong position just as ourselves. The expectation level for both sides is very high."

source: United were lucky to beat us - Jol - Yahoo! Eurosport UK

It was a painful game to watch because we had quite a few chances and some possible penalty decisions overturned. Forgetting for a minute that we got nothing out of the game, we actually looked pretty decent in this one. Sure we were playing a weakend United side, but tactically we were pretty solid. Bale looked good and Berbatov showed his usual moments of magic. Even Rocha played decently. We are still missing Lennon badly, but the performance and heart are there. Just need to get some results under our belt and move to the other end of the table.

[MUFC]

Bale was man of the match for me, he was really impressive along with Chimbonda.

[bandini]

Yeah. Imagine when he gets more exeperience under his belt and gets used to our defence (or lack of it). He also took so many good set-pieces. I think he's gonna be a star. It's a great investment especially compared to the crazy money we spent on Bent.

[russe||]

I think we're going to regret missing out on him.

[NJ10]

Yeah he looked the business considering it was his top flight debut. He's so good on the ball, you could see that he never panicked in possession and clogged it a la Riise or other more experienced left sided players, his ball through for Berbatov was worthy of a creative midfield player, and defensively he did very well.

Impressed with him big time.