UPSIDE - DOWNSIDE

One would think from today's result from Old Trafford that Manchester United had their butts right royally kicked, but that could not be further from the truth.  After a very poor effort and display at Brighton last week.  Today the United players to a man upped their game, they recognized their failure the week before and sought to make amends. 

The United players tried, they subdued a Tottenham team in the first half, out shooting them 10 shots to 2 to underline their dominance.  Yet there is trying and then there is trying to hard.  When Lukaku missed an open goal in the opening minutes, the script was being written for the creation of a mini-crisis.

In the weeks before this match, it was Tottenham who were cast as the crisis club. Much was said about Tottenham becoming the first team to spend zero pounds since the transfer window was created.  Yet it was not lack of spending that was the story that unfolded today but not selling their top rated Belgian center-half Toby Alderweireld.  That was helped by Edward Woodward vetoing the sale because Spurs wanted too much.

It is a player that Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho desperately needed and had Toby been playing in red today, the results for United would probably mirror the great start Tottenham have experienced.   Ironically, all the hullabaloo about Tottenham not signing players and not having their new stadium ready for the new season, actually has seemed to lower expectations for Tottenham - yet remain absolutely high for Manchester United.

What was a perceived downside for Tottenham at the beginning of the season has become an upside and the Tottenham defense that included Toby did not concede today and the score and success Spurs achieved today, will add to their upside. That upside came with them simply having nothing to lose.

Jose Mourinho - a master of the moment applauded his fans at the end of the game.  Protests are expected at the next United game against Burnley - and as the disappointed Manchester United fans applauded Mourinho back, and that calculated move took the angst towards the United front office.  That added to the downside for them because even if they wanted to fire Mourinho - doing so now will only accelerate that downside for them.

If Tottenham can win the 100% Win Club game against unlikely top four position club Watford, the upside begins to grow even more.  The confidence instilled by winning at Old Trafford in an absolutely emphatic manner will grow and it will grow even more if the confidence instilled gets them past Liverpool at Wembley Stadium, a game which was meant to be the opening game at the new stadium.

If Manchester United lose at Burnley next week, the downside accelerates exponentially.  Yet if they had converted their chances today and had been a little more relaxed to enable that conversion, then the club would have poured cold water on all the detractors ready to cite a club crisis and condemn the team.  This is the difference between being on an upside and sliding on the downside and today the desire by the United players to give their best - simply backfired.

As each shot was either blocked or saved or inches wide, trying too hard came into being a factor, and as Tottenham began to find the net in the second half, just like someone knocking nails into a coffin, a crisis was being born before our eyes.  For sure the United supporters have had a long running feud with the owners The Glazers  - and have wanted them out of the club.  Now that is calculated into this rising downside.

Mourinho instinctively knew that this fire was in the offering and knew that either way - either he was saying his goodbye to the club or he can create the backlash against a club that did not support their manager in fullfilling his wishlist - that included a Spurs player who played in a defense that shut his team out. 

The next chapter will be its own story but the story today is the narrow line between what becomes an upside and what becomes a downside - and how trying too hard to win can actually be the start of that downside.  Spurs were relaxed, United were desperate to perform - these are the cruel ironies of life - and so it was how this played out what fans call the Theatre of Dreams at Old Trafford, Manchester.

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