How bad were Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford on Saturday? Atrocious, according to the talking heads on television. Harry Redknapp’s team were accused of being hopeless and diabolical by some of the former Manchester United and Spurs players who were covering this match for ITV and MUTV. The pundits and viewers wanted an old-fashioned Cup-tie and instead had to settle for a game that ended as a meaningful contest when United recovered from going a goal behind to take the lead nine minutes before the interval.

When players such as Lou Macari and Teddy Sheringham were in their pomp the FA Cup had more value than it has today, but the combined might of the Premier League and the Champions League and the FA’s short-sightedness has robbed it of much of its magic and charm. If the FA wanted the FA Cup still to be special it should have thought twice before knocking down the old Wembley Stadium, signing a sponsorship deal with E.ON, staging semi-finals at Wembley and allowing ties to be played when it suits ITV and Setanta on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays.

The FA needs money and professional players need rest. Players cannot be expected to perform 70 times a season. Something has to give and at the moment that something is the FA Cup. Redknapp, who is focused on keeping Tottenham in the Barclays Premier League, had been tempted to play his weakest team and although he did not follow up his threat, his take it or leave it attitude towards the competition infected his dressing-room.

Tottenham took the lead in the fifth minute thanks to a fine glancing header by Roman Pavlyuchenko, but they created next to nothing for the rest of the game and played as if they were going through the motions, despite Redknapp’s protestations otherwise. “I had loads of players who can pass the ball but I didn’t have anyone who could open United up and hurt them,” the manager said. “We’re not overloaded with aggressive players.”

No one could accuse Dimitar Berbatov of being aggressive but even the Bulgaria forward managed to get in a few tackles against his former team-mates as Tottenham sat back on their early lead and hoped for the best. Carlos Tévez hit the bar from distance and Cristiano Ronaldo just missed the target from 30 yards before Paul Scholes scored his first goal of the season with a deflected strike in the 34th minute. “It is not great to be talking about my first goal of the season in January,” the former England midfield player said. “You want to be scoring a bit sooner than that.”

United supporters did not have to wait long for a second goal. Two minutes later, Berbatov scored after he had been set free by a clever pass from Michael Carrick and Tottenham threw in the towel. “We were just passing the ball without doing anything special,” Redknapp said. “Old Trafford is not an easy place to get a result.”

After the interval, United and Tottenham treated the game as a glorified training session in front of 75,000 fans, with Redknapp using the opportunity to have a look at Giovani Dos Santos — “I thought I might as well,” he said — and Ferguson sending on Richard Eckersley and Zoran Tosic for their debuts. Tosic caught the eye with a neat and tidy display on the left wing, but Ferguson will have been even more pleased with the contribution of Fabio Da Silva.

The 18-year-old Brazilian defender may turn out to be even better than his twin brother, Rafael, the United right back, and he linked well with Ronaldo before both were substituted in the second half. “We gave Spurs a start, but recovered well,” Ferguson said. “We were always comfortable.”

The United manager used a television interview after the game to deny that he had considered deploying an obscure FA rule to avoid playing replays in this season’s competition. “There was never any doubt about Manchester United not playing a replay,” he said. “Think about teams like Southend or Torquay who could get a draw and get a big gate. You cannot deny these clubs an opportunity to get some revenue.”

Manchester United (4-4-2): B Foster 6 — J O’Shea 6, G Neville 7, N Vidic 6, Fabio Da Silva 7 (sub: R Eckersley, 53min 6) — D Welbeck 7 (sub: D Fletcher, 86), M Carrick 7, P Scholes 6, C Ronaldo 6 (sub: Z Tosic, 72) — D Berbatov 7, C Tévez 7. Substitutes not used: T Kuszczak, R Giggs, R Possebon, J Chester. Booked: Vidic, Tévez.

Tottenham Hotspur (4-4-1-1): B Alnwick 7 — C Gunter 6, M Dawson 7, V Corluka 6, B Assou-Ekotto 6 — D Bentley 5 (sub: J Defoe, 72), T Huddlestone 5, D Zokora 5, G Bale 5 (sub: A Taarabt, 67) — L Modric 4 (sub: Giovani Dos Santos, 46) — R Pavlyuchenko 6. Substitutes not used: H Gomes, Gilberto, R Rocha, D Dervite.

Referee: P Walton Attendance: 75,014