BBC Sport matchday blog takes vicious swipe at Man United despite win vs Tottenham
Manchester United’s 2-0 win over Tottenham on Saturday has still not won some observers over.
Michael Carrick‘s side came out as comfortable winners in the Old Trafford clash, with help from Cristian Romero.
The Tottenham captain was sent off after 29 minutes, which helped the Red Devils, who took the lead through Bryan Mbuemo less than 10 minutes later.
Bruno Fernandes put the result beyond doubt in the second half, piling more misery on under-fire Thomas Frank.
What has been said about Manchester United?
Carrick strengthened his case for the permanent Man United job, with an impressive win over the Lilywhites.
However, the BBC live blog still took aim with a vicious swipe on 7 February, as they responded to a supporter who claimed that United are in the title race.
He said: “Make no mistake, United are in this title race. Certainly more so than City or Villa are.”
The reporter running the blog relied, saying: “I mean, they’re not.”
How far are Man United from title contention?
United are still far away from contending for the Premier League crown, that fact cannot be ignored, despite their recent positive form.
They are 10 points behind Arsenal for starters, and Mikel Arteta’s team have looked unstoppable this season, with Manchester City left trailing in their wake.
| Position | Played | GD | Points |
| 1. Arsenal | 25 | +29 | 54 |
| 2. Man City | 24 | +26 | 47 |
| 3. Aston Villa | 24 | +9 | 47 |
| 4. Man United | 25 | +10 | 44 |
However, more importantly, Carrick or whoever is in charge in the future, needs a few more game-changing signings to truly compete at the upper echelons.
They need to get the summer transfer window right, then go from there, but expectations should be tempered for now.
It will take a while to get out of the mess that they were in under Ruben Amorim, there is no quick fix, and they cannot put too much pressure on the manager and the squad.
United are not consistent enough to be considered as title challengers at the moment, although things can change quickly in football.
Red Devils supporters will look at their arch-rivals Liverpool, who have gone from champions to fighting for top four in just a few months, and perhaps think that could be them but in the reverse order, in the near future.
United look to be on an upward trajectory, but we will only truly know what direction they are heading in after the current season concludes and when their summer business is done.