please log in to view this image Manchester United host Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford on Sunday 15th March 2015 (KO 16:00) in the 29th round of matches in the 2014-15 Premier League season. It will be the 187th meeting between the two clubs and Spurs will be looking for their third consecutive win at Old Trafford for the first time in history. United come into the match in 4th place on 53 points with Spurs in 6th place on 50 points. Tottenham Hotspur's first meeting with Manchester United came in the old 1st round (today's 3rd round) of the FA Cup in January 1899 when United were known as Newton Heath. The match was drawn 1-1 at Northumberland Park, but Spurs won the replay 5-3 at Bank Street in Clayton, Manchester. A decade later the two clubs met for the first time in a Football League match with United drawing 2-2 at White Hart Lane in the First Division. The reverse fixture at Old Trafford was easilly won by United 5-0. Tottenham's first League win over United came in November 1911 2-1 at Old Trafford. Both clubs met for four seasons in the Second Division during the 1930s. Since the start of football after WW2, all League meetings have taken place in the Top Flight of the English League system. In 1952, both clubs toured North America and played two exhibition matches with Spurs winning 5-0 in Toronto, Canada and 7-1 in New York, USA. The clubs were drawn together in the 1963-64 European Cup Winners' Cup with Spurs winning 2-0 at the Lane and United winning 4-1 at Old Trafford. Old Trafford was the venue for the 1967 FA Charity Shield with League Champions United and FA Cup Winners Spurs drawing 3-3 in a game most remembered for goalkeeper Pat Jennings' long-range goal. The Charity Shield was shared. August 1979 saw the clubs meet for the first time in the Football League Cup and Glenn Hoddle's magnificent volly was the winning goal in a 2-1 Spurs victory at White Hart Lane. United went on to win the second leg at Old Trafford 3-1. In June 1983, the clubs played two matches in Swaziland, Southern Africa, resulting in a win each. Prior to this season, Spurs last win at Old Trafford came in December 1989 thanks to a Gary Lineker goal. The clubs have only ever met in one Domestic Cup Final - the 2009 Football League (Carling) Cup Final at Wembley, which ended in a 0-0 draw after extra time. United won the subsequent penalty shoot-out. Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur were founder members of the Premier League in 1992-93 and are two of the seven clubs who have been ever-present up to the 2013-14 season - Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Everton and Liverpool being the other five.The fixtures during season 2010-11 saw United win 2-0 at Old Trafford in October while the reverse match at White Hart Lane ended in a 0-0 draw. 2010-11 was the first season when both Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur competed together in the UEFA Champions League. Both clubs won their respective Group Stages and progressed to the Knock-Out Phase. Spurs eventually went out to Real Madrid in the Quarter Finals while Manchester United made it to the Final, only to lose to Barcelona. The away 2011-12 fixture at Old Trafford in August resulted in a 3-0 win for United with goals from Danny Welbeck, who headed in Tom Cleverley's cross just after 60 minutes and he then produced a wonderful instinctive flick to set up a second for Anderson. Wayne Rooney scored with a pinpoint late header from Ryan Giggs's centre. The game at White Hart Lane in March 2012 was won by United 3-1. Wayne Rooney scored on the stroke of half-time to put the visitors ahead at the break. Further goals were added with a brace from Ashely Young before Jermain Defoe got one back for Spurs with three minutes remaining. The September 2012 fixture at Old Trafford resulted in an historic 3-2 win for Tottenham - their first in the League at Old Trafford in 23 years. Jan Vertonghen's second minute strike was deflected-in off Jonny Evans and Gareth Bale added a second goal after 32 minutes. United hit back through Luis Nani after 51 minutes but Spurs restored their two goal cushion a minute later with a Clint Dempsey goal. Shinji Kagawa scored United's second goal a minute later and Spurs survived the pressure for a United equaliser to come away with three very well earned points. Former Manchester United defender Zeki Fryers joined Spurs in January 2013 from Standard Liege in Belgium.The match at White Hart Lane in January 2013 resulted in a 1-1 draw. Robin van Persie put United ahead on 25 minutes but an injury-time goal from Clint Dempsey meant the points were shared. United went on to win the Premier League Title and Sir Alex Ferguson resigned at the end of the season. Kyle Walker put Spurs ahead after 18 minutes in the 2013-14 game at White Hart Lane in December but Wayne Rooney equalised in the 32nd minute. Sandro's 54th minute goal was cancelled out by a Wayne Rooney penalty three minutes later for a final score of 2-2. Tottenham's good recent form against United continued on New Year's Day 2014 at Old Trafford with a 2-1 win. Emmanuel Adebayor put Spurs 1-0 up after 34 minutes and Chrisian Eriksen doubled the lead after 66 minutes. Danny Welbeck immediately pulled a goal back for United but Tottenham came away with all three points. The game just after Christmas 2014 at White Hart Lane finished in a goalless draw and will be most remembered for a fantastic display by Tottenham's French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. Overall, United have a very good record over Spurs with 86 wins to 51 with 49 of the 186 matches played so far drawn. please log in to view this image Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester United Complete Match Records 1899 to 2015 please log in to view this image They Played for Spurs & United.... Jamie Attwell David Beckham (United player, Spurs trainee) Dimitar Berbatov Bill Berry Alan Brazil Jimmy Brown Fraizer Campbell Michael Carrick Garth Crooks Harry Erentz Quinton Fortune Zeki Fryers Terry Gibson Tommy Gipps Greoge Graham (United player, Spurs manager) Jack Hall Stewart Houston (United player, Spurs asst. manager) David Gwilan Jones Joe Jordan (United player, Spurs coach) Cyril Knowles Chris McGrath James McNaught Fred Milnes Louis Saha Teddy Sheringham please log in to view this image Tottenham Hotspur Premier League Player's Squad Numbers 1993-94 to 2014-15 Manchester United Premier League Player's Squad Numbers 1993-94 to 2014-15 please log in to view this image please log in to view this image Created by @THFC6061 Full Match Article on MyFootballFacts.com
Why are the player names down the middle, I hear you ask. Because the bloody thing keeps aligning the whole article everytime I try and change the names to sit on the left, that's why Anyway, it's a surprisingly short list for they played for both, isn't it? Hugely important game for both on Sunday but I'm glad the knives are being sharpened for their manager rather than ours
I'm hoping they'll be tired after they put out all their first team players for the under 21s game last night
A win would be a massive result, but I'd be pretty happy with a draw, in all honesty. Utd aren't playing well and they look vulnerable, but they've got a lot of good players and I think it's a matter of time until van Gaal gets it right. Their missing players might contribute to him stumbling on the correct formula, unfortunately. I'm hoping that our week without a game will freshen the side up a bit, as there's been a few signs of fatigue recently. Most of the team will be well used to playing a lot though, so it might not make that much of a difference. There were so tired legs in the tie at WHL and I thought Man Utd created enough to win that game, despite Rooney's obvious foul on Kane late on. If we can keep it tight and get on the ball early on, then the crowd should show their unhappiness with the manager and unsettle the side. Their confidence can't be great right now, so the longer we can keep a clean sheet the better. Shame that we don't look like doing that against anyone at the moment, though.
I see two teams who are both a work in progress. Both managers have chopped and changed personnel and systems, but Pochettino is certainly more assured in his selections now. He also has two talismen in Kane and Eriksen, one of whom always seems to make the difference. Van Gaal probably saw di Maria and Falcao as talismen, who could paper over the cracks by creating and scoring goals, but neither have performed. Had they done so, he would have had time to look at how other players fitted into the team around them and could have persevered with his preferred system. Instead, he is left to juggle with a number of individuals, all of whom are talented and commanded big transfer fees, but none of whom can be expected to perform at their best when they are in and out of a disjointed team with no clear role or tactics. Some of the selections are crazy too. Valencia and/or Young can never be defensive full backs in a team which is not solid in the centre. Rafael and Evra could play like wingers with the insurance of Rio and Vidic at the back, but not with Jones or Smalling or Rojo or inexperienced kids like McNair and Blackett. When it was announced that van Gaal would have big money to spend, the media linked him with ten or twelve up and coming Dutch players, who will probably be playing together in the Holland national side in two to three years time. Why didn't he buy some of these? Dutch players are always technically good and adaptable and the team would have had a much needed injection of youth and most likely, pace. The team at present plays at too slow a tempo and too many players want to be on the ball, rather than making runs back and forward and stretching teams. Utd have always played with pace and width at Old Trafford. It's a big pitch and teams can't defend all the space for 90 minutes if they are stretched. It's an impossible game to predict. Which defence might hand the game to the opposition? Which 'keeper will save his team with world class saves? Which striker might snap up the one or two chances created? Any result is possible - any result is as probable as any other.
I would be very tempted by a draw if offered one. I think we need a win to get a CL spot, though. We’re three points plus GD out of fourth with ten left. The first question is whether we’re going to be in fourth for a nanosecond. Time’s running out. Leave Man U three (or, of course six) ahead plus GD and I doubt we’ll ever get there. Our recent history is to avoid elimination from the CL race while just off the pace for the last few games, then finally lose out after playing well, thanks to the team or teams ahead of us more or less matching our results. The only time we did get a CL spot, it was thanks to a huge win late in the season over a team from Manchester. We need another one of those, I’d say. Man U and Spurs do have a certain amount of common atm. But I think Spurs look just a bit better right now, and certainly more settled. So the question to me is, which is more important: the current state of the team, or its recent history of falling just short? Of course, the answer may very well be dumb luck. In any case, Man U knows its fans will be very happy with them if they play well Sunday. I’m hoping a week off will help Eriksen have a big game. He’s played the most of our outfield players, and has looked tired at times.
United have a lot of players who can make a difference and therefore they can always nick a win. They are not an integrated team atm and therefore they are not as big a threat as they perhaps should be. Spurs are coming together under Pochettino and beginning to look like a team with potential. They are however still a young team with a defence prone to making mistakes. I agree with Luke it's impossible to predict but I think the biggest factor will be how Van Gaal decides to play it. If he decides to rely on his impressive collection of forwards and play an open game this will increase Spurs chance of taking the points. If on the other hand he plays a more cagey game, Spurs youth maybe their own downfall, but always remembering that there are enough winners on the pitch to change the course of the game whatever the tactics.
Lloris Walker, Dier, Vertonghen, Rose Mason, Bentaleb Townsend, Eriksen, Chadli Kane The only change I'd consider making to that side is putting in Fazio in at the back, not because I rate him but he's aerially quite strong and van Gaal has set up his Utd team at times to lump balls into Fellaini so he'd be ideal to hopefully deal with that. Both defences are basic but both teams are pretty strong on the attack, amazed the game at WHL ended 0-0 if I'm honest but I'm predicting a high scoring game this time around, 3-3 was my prediction and I'd take that, but if we could nick a win then it'd be pandemonium amongst us travelling fans.
If I had a pound for every predicted draw on this thread... 10-0 to us. There, I said it. C'mon you Spurs!
Its time we put these chaps to the sword. A really small 1-0 sword. C'mon, after all this chat this game has 0-0, 1-0 or 0-1 written all over it.
Training video in the buildup to this game: Looks like everyone's fit and available, including Adebayor, Capoue and a couple of the youth players. All three keepers involved and it looks like we've got a very big squad. Needs a bit of a trim, I think.
That's the problem with The Baldini Splurge, neither approach benefits everyone: AVB tried to benefit everyone by chopping and changing the squad even though it means the team lacked cohesion, while Poch has a settled first xi which means some players benefit from regular games while others sit on the sidelines for extended periods.
Pochettino and Spurs’ staff deserve credit for the squad being relatively injury free. Spurs’ history is to be one of the most injured teams. I also find it hard to fault Pochettino’s approach to rotation. He rotated heavily when we had a heavy schedule, and continued to rotate when trying to determine his best 11. Now that we’re in the run-in, we have a settled, injury free 11.
He dragged a lot of players around Europe unnecessarily, which may prove costly yet. It's one thing not being injured; it's another being 100% fit and fresh for games in the last two months of the season when your team has played more games than anyone else. Only time will tell how well the squad has been managed. There have been quite a few PL teams who have suffered over the years because of the physical demands of the EL.
Did he? Like when he took a load so they could get the 1 training session before the cup final in? That was hardly unnecessary
