'Tottenham started with a system designed to counteract the threat of Manchester United and particularly Paul Scholes. But because Scholes was not playing, the formation ended up doing Spurs more harm than good. It was only in the second half, by which point they'd changed to 4-4-2, that they got into the match.
It looked like a lot of work had been done on the basis that United would use Ruud van Nistelrooy up front and Scholes just off him. Spurs had a back four, giving them two centre-halves to pick up Van Nistelrooy, and Mbulelo Mabizela as a sitting man to look after Scholes.
The trouble was that United played two strikers, Van Nistelrooy and Alan Smith, and Mabizela looked lost.''