Sent off for the ninth time in a glittering career, it wasn’t just Paul Scholes who saw red after he was given his marching orders this evening.
Referee Andre Mariner’s decision to give him his marching orders, while a touch harsh, was understandable. Already on a booking after a wild lunge at Jermain Defoe in the first period, his tangling of legs with the disappointing Tom Huddlestone risked everything and was avoidable.
The decision raised the ire of Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, but it is possible to feel that Scholes’ reckless streak could come back to haunt his side at some point in the season.
There will be other tests for the impressive United machine which will require both a full complement of players and the presence of their midfield inspiration to conquer.
On another day, Tottenham Hotspur could have used his dismissal to mount the sort of comeback that would have rocked the club’s bid to claim a record breaking fourth successive Premier League title rather than surrendering to a 3-1 defeat.
Regularly banded out by every banal commentator out there, the joke that Scholes hasn’t learned how to tackle is a truism that is as accurate as it is over-played. His dismissal tonight bore a striking resemblance to his moments of madness against Roma in 2007 where his pair of bookings led to a Champions League Quarter Final defeat.
Calculated and elegant when in possession, it is his work in defence that bears scrutiny. It is strange how someone with the ability to pick apart top class backlines with ease could lose his cool so often.
Before leaving the fray, he was majestic - giving Spurs’ young pretenders, Huddlestone and Wilson Palacios, a lesson in midfield control. Pinging the ball about for fun and finding his team mates with monotony, the thought of a United squad without him in it is a scenario that Ferguson will not want to face for some time.
Thankfully, a successor to the throne could already be in place. Anderson’s performance tonight will bring great heart to a manager who had seemed to have given up on the errant genius he invested upwards of £17 million on two years ago.
His relegation to the reserves while the rest of United’s stars represented their countries across the world seemed to have worked. A reality check has been given to the Brazilian, who on this goalscoring display seems in prime position to save his Old Trafford career.
Anderson played with a maturity rarely exhibited before. If only this lesson had rubbed off on the 34-year-old veteran sitting next to him.
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