A brace from Darron Gibson against the run of play in the first half gave Manchester United a comfortable 2-0 win over Tottenham.

By Vincent Lai

Spurs were lively early on in the first half, but Gibsons first salvo knocked the wind out of Tottenhams sails; and his second sank the Lilywhites completely as the Red Devils took full control in the second half.
Man United:

Tomasz Kuszczak: 6
The Polish custodian was the busier of the two keepers, but good work from his defence ensured that he had only to come out for crosses and snuff out the occasional through ball.

Gary Neville: 6
Didnt look entirely convincing back at right-back. The veteran Red Devil was even charged with a foul throw late in the first half.

Wes Brown: 7
The centre-back shielded Kuszczak well in this game, and held the backline relatively well with Vidic.

Nemanja Vidic: 8
The Serb is close to returning to his best form, marshalling the back well when Tottenham was having much of the possession in the first half.

Ritchie De Laet: 6
Probably the only weak link in the defence, giving the ball away unnecessarily. But the young left-back redeemed himself by blocking a Jermain Defoe sitter when United were leading 1-0.

Park Ji Sung: 6
Looked short on fitness as he tried to hustle his way in the midfield. Had a chance to score from a Berbatov cross by headed the ball wide.

Darron Gibson: 9
The midfielder earns a 9 for two well-taken rockets on goal, the first being a square pass from Anderson with absolutely no defender in the vicinity, and the second, a beautiful one-two with Welbeck to free him up for the shot. Gibson showed flashes of Roy Keane, especially on the offensive end.

Anderson(off 82) : 8
Terrorised the Spurs midfield with his constant activity with the ball. Had a chance to score on a one-on-one against Gomes but dribbled the ball out. Good job finding Gibson for the first goal though.

Gabriel Obertan (off 62): 6
Wasnt able to pull out many of his tricks or use his blazing speed against the Spurs defence due to a lack of touches, but had the ball enough to keep Bale and Bassong honest.

Danny Welbeck: 6
Only contribution to the game was his one-two with Gibson, and was well-marked by Bassong most of the time.

Dimitar Berbatov (off 62): 7
Show some of the intelligent flicks and passes that hes known for, but lacked the fitness and the industry to score when he was put through by Obertan.

Subs:

Zoran Tosic (on 82): No Rating
Didnt see enough of him.

Michael Carrick (on 62): 6
Tidy on the ball. Played decent football in the 30 minutes he was on.

Frederico Macheda (on 62): 6
Almost had a chance to score, and was lively playing deep for the Red Devils.

Tottenham:

Hurelho Gomes: 6
Hardly had anything to do, other than pick the ball out of the net. The Brazilian was unlucky to be on the losing side, and could do nothing to stop both of Gibsons missiles on his goal.

Alan Hutton: 6
Showed some good skill and pace but just could not deliver the killer final ball when he overlapped.

Sebastien Bassong: 7
Rendered Welbeck invisible and kept things generally in order in his zone. Could do nothing to stop Gibsons long shot though.

Michael Dawson: 6
The centre-back was pulled away from Gibson for Man Uniteds first. But apart from that, looked competent and cleared a number of crosses.

Gareth Bale: 7
Looked lively and played well in tandem with Lennon. Crossed in the killer ball for Defoe, only for the hitmans shot to be blocked by Da Laet. Had another go with a cross to Bentley, but his team-mate shot straight at Kuszczak.

Aaron Lennon: 6
Wasnt as effective as usual, as he was deployed on the left flank. Still his pace did cause Man United some problems.

Jermaine Jenas: 6
The central midfielder provided some pace, but could not provide anything to unlock a stubborn United defence.

Wilson Palacios (off 46): 6
Hustled and bustled his way to the bench at halftime. The effort was there, but Tottenham really needed guile on the ball, not industry.

David Bentley: 6
The former Blackburn star still looks a little off, probably due to a lack of confidence from not playing for so long. His set-pieces were either short or rugby penalty conversions. His runs were tentative and his dribbles werent fooling anyone. Bentley did have a great chance to score in the 58th minute but he shot straight at the keeper.

Jermain Defoe: 6
The goals looked to have dried up after his five-goal barrage against Wigan. The chances were there for him to score, especially in the first half, but the diminutive striker did not take his opportunities well.

Robbie Keane (off 65): 6
Had a weird habit of cutting the ball back to his left foot to shoot in this match, when he is well-known to be a right-footed player. Played his heart out but the effort did not translate into any tangible returns.

Subs:

Tom Huddlestone (on 46): 4
Was brought on for his skill on the ball, but all he did was give the ball away in dangerous places.

Peter Crouch (on 65): 5
Spurs looked surprisingly stagnant with him on the pitch. Still the wiry giant provided a rare outlet for Bale and Bentley on the byline.