Sir Alex Ferguson has praised the grit and determination of his Manchester United side after they beat Tottenham 3-1 at White Hart Lane on Sunday.
Goals from Wayne Rooney and an Ashley Young double gave the Premier League champions a comfortable lead, before Jermain Defoe pulled one back for the hosts late in the game.
The Scottish coach hailed the performance of his men after the game, but also acknowledged that the home team had the better of things in the first 45 minutes.
“It was a great performance by Tottenham and maybe we got our tactics wrong in the first half,” Ferguson told Sky Sports after the game.
“In the second half we improved, we told them at half-time to get pushed up on their back four and not let them build up their play. After the second goal we played very well.
“We had a bit of luck, and we scored right on half-time with our first shot on goal.
“We’ve played all the big teams since January, it was a really busy spell and we’ve come through that and played well in most of the games. We showed a determination to get the result, the goalkeeper (David De Gea) made a fantastic save in the second half.
“Tottenham are a very good team and this is only their second defeat at home since the start of the season. It was a massive result and a massive performance from our defenders,” he admitted.
Spurs manager Harry Redknapp berated the side’s luck after a good first-half performance, and was full of kind words for his central midfielders in particular.
“I couldn’t believe we came in 1-0 down,” he confessed, also to Sky Sports.
“It was everything we worked on during the week, Jake Livermore and Sandro were top class. Really there was only one team who should have been in front at half-time and we came in 1-0 down.
“I couldn’t have asked more from the players. Sometimes you need the luck and we didn’t get any today.
“There was nothing much we could change, the two lads (Livermore and Sandro) dominated against (Paul) Scholes and (Michael) Carrick. We just needed a break but when you’re 2-0 down thinking you have bossed the game, mentally it’s difficult,” he concluded.
United have closed the gap on rivals Manchester City to two points again at the top of the standings, whilst Spurs are now only four points ahead of Arsenal in third.
By Gareth McKnight
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