Tottenham 2 Man United 2: Andre Villas-Boas hails Spurs ‘character’

Andre Villas-Boas hailed his Tottenham side’s character and team spirit after the north Londoners held Manchester United to a draw at White Hart Lane.

Kyle Walker fired Spurs into the lead with a free-kick that flew under the United wall in the 18th minute, but Wayne Rooney was on hand to net an equaliser from close range 10 minutes later.

Sandro’s stunning long-range shot put the north Londoners back in front in the 54th minute, before Rooney’s penalty moments later earned a point for the defending champions.

“We showed character, particularly after a moment like we had at City [last weekend],” said Villas-Boas.

“To respond in this fashion against a team that has just put five past the second team in Germany was good for us.

“We showed great strength of character, played extremely well and had the chances to win the game.

“We are extremely happy with the performance but not so much the result. A win would have take us above them.”

The result sees Tottenham stay in ninth place in the Premier League table, 10 points behind leaders Arsenal after 13 games.

But Villas-Boas insists that his side still have plenty of room for improvement in the coming months.

“You can only look at the position in the table to see the Premier League champions one point from us,” he said. “There is obviously an agenda that goes against Tottenham’s results, it’s pretty clear.

“We know that we have to do better, we have to bounce back. I think we’ve done that in great fashion today, just not with the result that we wanted.

“We showed great team spirit, great belief and great unity to bounce back once again and when we do we will be ever so close to the top again.

“We have to remind people that we are on the brink of the semi-finals of the League Cup, the last 32 of the Europa League and a position in the league that is not decisive yet, so there should be some respect.”