View From The Pressbox

The Grauniad

It is hard for any club to believe they are playing for their lives in August. Manchester United grappled awkwardly with the idea and each hamfisted moment left them facing a draw that would have had Chelsea holding a seven-point advantage. Nani, with the minimally deflected effort that gave him his first United goal, averted a forbidding prospect.

Sir Alex Ferguson's comments in the match programme had given the impression of a person fidgeting anxiously as he conceded that three games without a win had already put the club under "a lot of pressure". It bore down on them so severely that they must have felt they were on the ocean floor. With a win that puts them 10th in the table they have started to float towards the light.

Tottenham Hotspur could just as easily have been the club moving in the right direction. Their predicament is much greater than that of the Old Trafford club because the disappointments on the field are paired with machinations in the boardroom. The situation is now so convoluted that the official comments on Martin Jol's situation were a combination of a vote of confidence and final warning.

Whatever else the manager needs, a little luck would be of immediate service. Defeat was harsh on them because they were at least as likely to score as United. The players felt wronged, although there was no miscarriage of justice. In the 66th minute, Robbie Keane played a pass through from the right and Dimitar Berbatov eluded Nemanja Vidic and Edwin van der Sar before claiming that Wes Brown had blocked his finish with an arm.

The referee, Howard Webb, ruled correctly that the shot had brushed the defender's torso. Berbatov, back from injury, had shown yet again how much wider Tottenham's repertoire is when he is in action. After 64 minutes Gareth Bale, on his debut, sent a pass through the middle and the Bulgaria attacker survived a collision with Vidic. His prodded finish would have reached the net had it not been for the pace of Rio Ferdinand, who booted it off the line.

United had several scrapes. It had been galling for them to produce technically admirable football in three previous matches without making the most of it, but that failing looked as if it would be replaced by an even more serious vice. They were predictable and mostly boring. It was hard for them to get started when the passing of, say, Michael Carrick was prone to sudden error.

Jol's team had received a fillip within seconds of kick-off as Berbatov put the ball deftly into Keane's path and his attempt clipped the top of the crossbar. And yet, United were victorious. They will prefer to pretend that this was a siege in which the visitors' fortifications were steadily damaged.

The 20-year-old Nani had been one of the least likely to end a deadlock. There is a jibe, cruel for one who is at an early stage of his development, that he is a Cristiano Ronaldo wannabe. He did not bring his suspended compatriot to mind very often and whichever wing he tried there was little scope to show his abilities.

The centre was to prove more productive in the 68th minute. Moments after having a shot kicked off the line by Jermaine Jenas, Carlos Tevez scuffled to turn a pass from the substitute Chris Eagles back into Nani's path. The Portuguese, 25 yards out, got power and movement into his drive but it brushed Tevez's head and that may have been a factor in preventing Paul Robinson from blocking it.

The Telegraph

Smarting at the contentious way Manchester United amassed three points at Old Trafford yesterday, Tottenham Hotspur still made a significant point of their own. Through impassioned word and deed, Spurs fans and players demonstrated their wholehearted support for Martin Jol as assorted club directors shifted uneasily in the smart seats. The Dead Man Walking of popular perception is alive and kicking - for now.

The defining moment of one of the season's unlikelier relegation scraps came with Nani's magnificent strike, confirming that reports of United's demise have been exaggerated, yet a draw would not have flattered Jol's well-balanced, well-motivated Spurs. In the elegant Gareth Bale and buccaneering Pascal Chimbonda, Tottenham boasted two of the best three players (Owen Hargreaves being the other), while they headed home fuming at Howard Webb's refusal to award at least one penalty.

Hargreaves' outstanding work in deep midfield, winning the ball and using it intelligently, highlighted a quality missed by England in midweek, and the nimble recruit from Bayern Munich made Michael Carrick almost redundant yesterday. Hargreaves and Scholes must be Ferguson's first-choice central midfield.

But then came the controversy. When Nemanja Vidic accidentally collided with Berbatov midway through the second half, Spurs fans screamed for a penalty. Berbatov managed to slip the ball under Van der Sar, but Ferdinand sprinted back to clear off the line.

Then frustration really flowed through lilywhite veins. Berbatov hurdled Van der Sar and flicked the ball goalward. Wes Brown dived in and stopped the ball with a combination of chest and arm, a blur of movement which Webb had to pass instant judgment on. Even a succession of replays from different angles could not clarify whether chest or arm had been hit first.

As the visitors' focus was distracted by self-pity, United went through the gears, suddenly exuding more menace. Robinson saved from Nani, and then Jermaine Jenas cleared off the line from Carlos Tevez. Just as Spurs fans, aggrieved by Webb's officiating, were chanting "that's why you're champions'', United showed why they simply cannot be written out of this championship race.

The irresistible combination of persistence, swift passing and devastating finishing swept United ahead. Brown, Hargreaves and Tevez carried the ball deep into enemy territory, before Tevez laid it back to Nani 30 yards out. Facing away from goal, the Portuguese winger turned and gratefully advanced into the space fatally granted him by Spurs' backpedalling defenders.

Nani let fly, the ball kissing Tevez on the back of his neck before racing past Robinson, who had no chance. Ferguson claimed afterwards that the goal should be credited to Tevez, an observation greeted with sustained hilarity in the press-room.

The Times

Timing is all. At the moment when, stung by what was wrongly perceived to be a harsh penalty call, the travelling Tottenham Hotspur contingent chose to voice their displeasure with a taunt of "that's why you're champions", Nani unleashed a shot that defied all obstacles, including terrace sarcasm. No, that's why we're champions, it seemed to say.

From a distance of 30 yards, the ball dipped and clipped the top of Carlos Tévez's head, eluding Paul Robinson, the goalkeeper, who, Steve McClaren, the England head coach, will ruefully note, is having one of those weeks. Beaten last Wednesday by a Germany striker whose alter ego is a rapper called Funky Pee, his tormentor on this occasion celebrated his goal with a series of somersaults and back-flips. It is as if the circus has come to town, and is camped on his lawn, mocking him through the windows.

Robinson was not the only visitor feeling cursed by events at Old Trafford. The majority of Tottenham's players, plus Martin Jol, the manager, were convinced that Tottenham had two second-half penalty appeals falsely rejected by Howard Webb, the referee, although further investigation suggested that the policeman from Yorkshire had actually played a blinder.

Sir Alex Ferguson was frank enough to admit that the teams were not separated by much yesterday, but there is no doubt that now is the time to play the champions, with Wayne Rooney and Louis Saha injured, and Cristiano Ronaldo suspended. Familiar problems pervade. United have forwards, but no goalscorer.

Everybody is happiest playing in the hole, so it is no surprise that at times it more resembles a crater and the front line disappears into it. That is what happened for long periods here. Tévez worked hard but to little end and there was something approaching anxiety about Ferguson's attempt to credit him with Nani's goal, too keen by half to see his big summer signing get off the mark.

Few of United's chances were clearly defined: Ryan Giggs, Ferdinand and Michael Carrick foiled comfortably by Robinson, a chip by Paul Scholes that looped over the bar. Only in the 66th minute, when Robinson unconvincingly punched out another shot by Nani, straight to Tévez, whose return was cleared off the line by Jermaine Jenas, were United harshly denied. From the next attack, however, they scored and after that Tottenham's resistance was lost in a fog of deluded injustice.

Instead of chasing phantom handballs, it would have been more helpful had Tottenham taken their chances, particularly from set-pieces, when United were vulnerable. With expert delivery from Bale and Jenas, Tottenham posed their greatest threat in the air and Pascal Chimbonda and Ricardo Rocha were unfortunate with headers steered just wide.

In between trading knowing barbs with his board of directors - supposedly out in Seville to assess the model of a club with an identical structure to Tottenham - Jol was still smarting over Brown's more controversial intervention. "He is not a goalkeeper, yet he used everything to keep the ball out of the net," he said. A pity the man between Tottenham's posts did not.

Two can play that sarcasm game.