Graphic: Bill Edgar's tactical analysis

As half-time approached at Old Trafford yesterday, it was tempting to wonder just how high a price Manchester United would pay for their money-spinning jaunt to Saudi Arabia last week. Limbs looked heavy, minds appeared fuzzy and, as Tottenham Hotspur threatened to add to their 1-0 lead, the odds of 25-1 for United to win the treble, which were being flashed up on the perimeter advertising boards, seemed very short indeed.

Fast-forward an hour or so and United were coasting into the fifth round, leading 3-1 with Cristiano Ronaldo having claimed his second goal of the afternoon with two minutes remaining. The odds on a United repeat of their unprecedented treble of 1999 – the Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup – had been trimmed again, but it would be wrong to characterise this as a game of two halves. It was a compelling tie that swung back and forth and would surely have ended in a Tottenham victory had Juande Ramos’s team shown just a little more composure at both ends of the pitch.

As it was, this was more like the pre-Ramos Tottenham: a team with plenty of skill but a soft centre. The acquisition of Jonathan Woodgate should provide some of the leadership that is sorely lacking in their defence as Ledley King continues his gradual return to the fold. Michael Dawson played well for long periods yesterday but paid a heavy price for his two aberrations, the first a wayward header that led to Carlos Tévez’s equaliser and the second a desperate handball that earned him a red card and United a penalty from which Ronaldo put the home team ahead for the first time.

It was harsh on Tottenham. For an hour they had been the more convincing team, setting about their opponents with a vigour and an enterprise that was lacking from the United ranks. Whatever the scoreline may suggest, United did not look refreshed, reinvigorated or “bursting with even more energy”, as Sir Alex Ferguson suggested they would after their trip to Riyadh. As he admitted, they were “a bit slack” in the first half and their attacking players were “quiet”. He felt that Robbie Keane’s goal, in the 24th minute, had woken them up, but it was arguable that they were still sleepwalking for much of the second half.

Ramos felt that a 3-1 victory flattered United and certainly Tottenham were guilty of missing more clear opportunities than most teams would dream of creating at Old Trafford. They threatened as early as the fifteenth minute, when Wayne Rooney cleared a header by Dimitar Berbatov off the line, and then took the lead when Keane slid in to score from six yards after a crisp diagonal pass from Dawson allowed Aaron Lennon to dance past the challenge of Patrice Evra and deliver a menacing cross.

However, seven minutes from half-time, Lennon sent the ball forward aimlessly as Tottenham again looked to counter-attack after a corner for United. Rooney dropped deep to chip the ball back into the penalty area and as Dawson, at full stretch, succeeded only in sending it skywards, Ryan Giggs’s layoff allowed Tévez to score with an instinctive left-foot shot.

Tottenham continued to threaten.

Jermaine Jenas was sent clear by Steed Malbranque in first-half stoppage time but lacked the conviction to beat Edwin van der Sar. There should have been no such slip-up when Jenas was presented with another one-on-one opportunity by Keane ten minutes into the second half, but this time, his earlier miss evidently preying on his mind, he shot hopelessly wide. In between times there was a near-miss from a free kick by Jamie O’Hara (memo to Fabio Capello: this is an Englishman with a left foot) and another poor decision from Lennon after he again got clear of Evra.

Keane was the outstanding attacking player on view,but self-destruction is never far from the surface where Spurs are concerned. From a punt forward by Van der Sar, Dawson misread the flight of the ball, giving Rooney too much time. As the United forward pulled the trigger, Dawson punched the ball away: a red card, penalty and goal for Ronaldo. Ramos had no complaints. “If it was a handball, it was the correct decision,” he said.

Insult was added to injury with two minutes remaining when Ronaldo’s shot squirmed under Radek Cerny’s body after taking a slight deflection off Malbranque. Suddenly United’s players had a spring in their step, but was it really the Saudi sun wot won it? It did not appear so.

Manchester United (4-4-2) E van der Sar 7 J O’Shea 6 R Ferdinand 6 W Brown 5 P Evra Y 5 C Ronaldo 7 M Carrick 6 O Hargreaves 7 R Giggs 7 C Tévez 7 W Rooney 7. Substitutes: P Scholes 6 (for Carrick, 65min), Anderson (for Tévez, 81) Not used: T Kuszczak, D Simpson, Nani Next: Portsmouth (h)

Tottenham Hotspur (4-4-2) R Cerny 5 Lee Young Pyo 7 M Dawson R 6 T Huddlestone 7 J O’Hara 7 A Lennon 6 J Jenas 6 T Tainio 7 S Malbranque 7 D Berbatov 6 R Keane 7. Substitutes: C Gunter 6 (for Lee, 59min), K-P Boateng (for Lennon, 72), J Defoe (for Tainio, 81) Not used: P Robinson, Y Kaboul Next: Everton (a)

Referee P Walton
Attendance 75,369

Explore Football

• Premier League

• Football League

• Scotland

• European Football

• International Football

• TheGame

• Live Match Tracker

• The Fink Tank

• Fantasy Football