Damen Francis's Contributions

Well Mr Freud Tottenham were indeed very poor but to suggest United were the better team is absurd. United were there for the taking and but for poor finishing and amateur defending (Bassong had a 'mare) they would have lost. Anderson was, I agree, the best player on the park. He was extremely effective in breaking up play and ensuring Spurs were unable to lift the tempo of the match. He had little support though and Tottenham dominated long spells of the match and created more chances. Keane has been useless for the majority of the season so no surprises there, and Lennon suffered from the lack of intensity in Spurs' game which meant they were unable to provide him with the ball in decent areas. The change in Lennon's performance after the introduction of Huddlestone proved as much. Also to suggest Bentley is, as you put it, one of "the EPL’s supposed best wingers" is humourous considering there are few who consider him to be among the best wingers at his club at present. The ineffectiveness of the wingers though was superceded by the performances of the fullbacks Corluka and particularly Bale who got forward to good effect and created opportunities spurned by the likes of Keane and Defoe. Mind you, De Laet aside, United's defence was made up of Brown, Vidic and the Neviller - hardly muppets. Finally your point about the quality of Gibson's strikes was not only acknowledged in the article but backs up my argument. Gibson made the most of a rare opportunity to start and his performance was rewarded with a game (and a goal) against West Ham in the league on the weekend. Hard to imagine he would have been at the forefront of SAF's thinking before the CC tie. Anyway I think the CC offers something different and has produced some tremendous matches over the past few seasons. It's good for player development and open football as no-one cares enough to "park the bus."

There’s plenty of magic left in the League Cup

9 Dec 2009