Tottenham gave everything and really rattled United in the opening stages but Manchester United ran out 2-1 winners despite Jermain Defoe and Robbie Keane combining to dissect the United rearguard.
However, the pain of being a goal down was doubled in a cruel fashion when Lee Young-Pyo was caught in possession inside our area by Park Ji-Sung. Rooney applied the simple finish past an unprotected Paul Robinson.
The response following goals from Rooney and a two-goal half-time deficit was fine and Jermaine Jenas replied, but it was always going to be an uphill struggle.
There were a couple of promising dashes from Defoe at the beginning of the second period before the deficit was deservedly reduced.
The boys pressed patiently as United quickly got numbers behind the ball. Danny Murphy was soon introduced in place of the quiet-ish Edgar Davids with 20 minutes remaining.
Calum Davenport and Michael Dawson (returning from suspension) replaced injured pair Ledley King and Anthony Gardner. Edgar Davids started in place of Teemu Tainio (also injured) while Nourredine Naybet and Stephen Kelly were added to the bench.
Martin Jol: "I can't remember a game where we were 2-0 down having played so well. In the first 20 minutes we played our best football since the first half against Arsenal at home but we didn't score a couple of goals which is what we needed. It was a shame because we thought this could be a big day for us. Instead, we punished ourselves by making mistakes. We lacked a bit of experience, and our shape from our corner led to them scoring. They broke on us and that was a big disappointment because we had five chances before that. The second goal nobody could do anything about apart from Lee himself, but we can cope with. We looked well and continued getting crosses in and even the central defenders had chances. We might have beaten them without the mistakes. In the second half we stood up and everybody made themselves accountable for getting a better result and I was happy with that. Having said that we came back in the second half and Lee Barnard used his body strength and physical presence, which is what I hoped for. I thought if we could get a point it would be another example of our character, but it wasn't to be. Calum Davenport played against Van Nistelrooy and Rooney and it was a big test for him but he came through well. We didn't really have problems after the goals – the only one was when Van Nistelrooy broke through and it was offside anyway. To lose against United at home and see a lot of positives, I think is not such a good thing though."
Jol on Mido's injury: "Mido came in for an early fitness test but it's an injury that has niggled away at him and was just too painful for him. We all agreed he was not fit to play, we also thought he might have a bit of an infection so it was sensible that he returned home. All season he has trained hard and he desperately wanted to play. We missed him in the last 20 minutes because in the circumstances we were in, looking to try and get that equaliser, we would have loved to have a big man up front."
Robbie Keane: "It certainly was a strong performance we definitely deserved to get something from, and who knows, if we had scored the first goal we might have won it. We did play well and had something like four or five chances in the space of ten minutes but no luck. I was all over the place. I was too tired to stay up front, to be honest. With two big fellas at the back for Man Utd, we had to try and force the issue a little bit and put Daws and Calum in there and go route one and we nearly got a goal from it."
Calum Davenport: "I thought we played well and on the whole I think the lads can be pleased with the performance. We created a lot of chances, which unfortunately we didn't take so we didn't get the result and obviously we are disappointed. They hit us with a good counter-attack, then there was a sloppy second goal from our point of view. We got back in the game early in the second half and deserved at least a point. Like I said to the lads, what a game to make my home debut in. When you haven't played in the Premiership all season it is hard. I got a bit of cramp so they told me to go up front and cause a bit of havoc."
Sir Alex Ferguson (MUFC): "Spurs deserve a lot of credit for their performance."
Source: Official sites