What a difference Adams makes, again!

It would have been too good to be true to turn the English League Champions over, as well as the Italians, in the space of just five days - wouldn't it? Well that's just what we have done. As with Lazio, this was initially a cagey affair in which neither side were prepared to risk conceding the first goal - Henry's 30th minute "wonder goal" changed that of course. The brilliant marksman broke his very short barren spell with a magical bit of skill in front of Irwin who was marking him as well as could be expected. Henry received a through ball from Grimandi, but instead of trying to round Irwin, in a split second, decided to create a shooting chance with his back to goal. Just outside the area he used the momentum of Grimandi's pass to flick the ball up with his right and then again with his right lofted it over United's 2nd and 1st line of defence. Its ascent made it look as if it would go over the bar but Henry new how far Barthez likes to come off his line and Barthez new where the ball was heading.

The preceding 60 minutes were characterised by significant MU possession albeit creating few clear goal-scoring chances. With 14 shots at goal (to our 7) Seaman surprisingly had only 2 to save all game. A lot of this can be put down to Parlour and Grimandi who out fought Keane and out-thought Beckham and Scholes in midfield. Whilst dominating possession MU were thwarted time and again by tenacious tackling and relentless tracking down. And when they did get through to Sheringham or Cole (and later Solskjaer and Yorke) we had Keown and Adams on hand to provide an exhibition in the art of interception, tackling and heading. (If they can keep this up England will have nothing to fear on Saturday against Germany).

By comparison Barthez, who has proved to be a great buy already, had to be at his best to keep MU in touch with the game. Our fewer attempts on goal were of higher quality and we looked particularly dangerous on the counterattack, which is ironic considering that scoring on the break is traditionally our opponent's stock-in-trade. The most notable were from Bergkamp, Henry and Ljungberg in the 2nd half where Barthez had to be brave to thwart their attempts. This was never a classic because there was so much at stake and Barber, the referee, did well to keep the game going and only book five players. Adams could have been sent off after a challenge on Sheringham (who to his credit got up without a fuss). Beckham, likewise, was rightly booked for a tackle on Ljungberg and could have also been shown red for a succession of petulant and churlish acts - the first of which directly lead to Henry's goal. (Keegan, what are you doing giving this twerp the responsibility of Vice Captaincy? He has great skill but seriously lacks mental fortitude and leadership qualities).

Neville and Henry clashed continually for the last 40 minutes, an example of a number of one-on-one encounters that on balance were won by our sheer determination not to relinquish the lead. So of course as MU began to run out of time and ideas and one stock-in-trade element of their game did come out - the whinging and complaining. Scholes, Beckham, Keane and Neville were all at it, "same old MU, always moaning"! I don't quite agree with comments that a MU win would virtually have ended the title race - there are still too many games left to play. However I do believe our win, in difficult circumstances, might inspire other teams to face MU with a bit more ambition than just containment and that's more important to us than 3 points right now. As with Lazio, we put in one of our best team performances for well over a year against MU. However, I believe we're going to get much better. Unlike MU, this team is still settling down: KANU, Silvinho, Luzhny, Ljungberg and Grimandi started on the subs bench for more than half their games last season; and Wiltord, Pires and Lauren were just rumours.

If we can keep our captain fit and Viera on the pitch, and the team settles before February, we will take 3 points at Old Trafford as well and then we can talk about where the championship is heading.