THE late Steve Death was so confident of his team’s dominance that he would spark up a cigarette while play took place in the opposition half.
Van der Sar is smoking
I wouldn’t recommend it to Edwin van der Sar . . . cancer claimed Death when he was just 54.
But Van der Sar, who broke the old Reading keeper’s English shutout record last night, and his team-mates can already start reaching for the imaginary cigars.
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Sir Alex Ferguson put up the usual smokescreen after his team went five points clear at the top and entered their 19th hour without conceding a Premier League goal.
There’s a long way to go. We’ll all drop points. It’s an advantage but not a great advantage. We’ve just got to keep focused. Etc. Etc. Etc. But through the clouds of diplomacy and psychology, United are again emerging as an unstoppable force.
Certainly an impenetrable force. The pound was worth something when they last conceded a goal.
It is now 1,122 minutes since Van der Sar last felt the whoosh of a ball bypassing him en route to the net. Death’s domestic mark of 1,103 minutes has been eclipsed.
Boring
One more clean sheet and the Dutchman breaks the British record held by Chris Woods — achieved at Rangers. Two more and the world record of Atletico Madrid’s Abel Renso will fall. Many more and it will get extremely boring.
“It is a credit to Edwin’s composure and experience because, during this time, we have had to change the defence around nearly every game,” said Ferguson.
Never mind composure. Van der Sar was more endangered by exposure yesterday such was his inactivity in the cold weather.
David Moyes’ team irritated United like an ill-fitting suit but, for all Everton’s doggedness, Van der Sar could have taken up Death’s fatal habit for the evening.
“They have so much energy and kept going right to the end because we didn’t kill them off,” said Ferguson. “We had them by the throat but didn’t finish it.”
They had to rely on a soft penalty late in the first half to make it 29 points out of a possible 33. The danger seemed minimal but Mikel Arteta dangled an irresponsible heel as Michael Carrick charged past him.
The first contact occurred just outside the area but the second — and the more crucial — was just inside. Carrick cartwheeled and Mark Halsey, who did Everton few favours, pointed to the spot.
Cristiano Ronaldo waited for Tim Howard to stop clowning on the goal-line and promptly smashed in the spot-kick. His celebrations seemed to blow away a few myths. You know the ones.
Mentally, he is already wearing the white of Madrid. His agent has already given a nod and a wink to Bernabeu bigwigs.
All those awards have gone to his head, by the way. Yep, that Ronaldo — his heart just ain’t at Old Trafford.
Well, you could have fooled me, Everton and the rest of the Premier League yesterday.
Ronaldo has exactly the same drive, determination and hunger as every one of this formidable squad. And that is saying something.
This wasn’t a peak performance but United’s impregnability is now the stuff of legend. And that one strike from 12 yards was always going to be enough.
Moyes thought Halsey got it wrong. Fergie disagreed. “It was a definite penalty,” he said. “And we should have had another one but you are never going to get two in one game.”
There was no suggestion that Carrick had duped Halsey but he certainly tried in the second half — the second incident Fergie was referring to — when he cannoned into Joleon Lescott after realising he was running the ball out of play.
Halsey didn’t buy it. Carrick, though, was emerging as the game’s most influential performer.
He has added a steeliness and a half-yard of pace but, for all his prompting, United struggled to extinguish the blue flame.
And had Halsey spotted a rogue Rio Ferdinand arm around the neck of Lescott, Van der Sar might have faced a major threat to his astonishing record. But Halsey feigned ignorance and United march on.
Halting their procession suddenly seems a formidable task for Liverpool, Chelsea or whoever.
Ferguson’s options are so plentiful. With Wayne Rooney out, Carlos Tevez has stepped up to the plate.
Come the summer, Tevez will add millions to his bank balance wherever his destination. Yet he seems hell-bent on convincing Ferguson to keep him in Manchester.
Only Howard’s contortionist impressions kept him out but his energy and commitment typified a United team who know they have title-winning momentum.
They know that because they have felt it before and that will be decisive in the final third of the season.
Sat high in the Old Trafford stands last night was one of the world’s greatest sportsmen, Ernie Els. Which was appropriate.
Because Manchester United are turning what is supposed to be the tightest title race in years into the Big Easy.
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