Not many games bring seasoned journalists to their feet, yet the buzz around the White Hart Lane press room after one of the Premiership's greatest ever displays suggested that this was something very special.

And it was. Brilliance comes in several forms, yet none are more devastating than this Manchester United side at their magical best. Love them or hate them, there is no denying that they are the finest side in the land and if their rivals wanted proof that they are not likely to surrender their crown without a fight, they should acquire a copy of the video from this game.

When Tottenham stormed first half goals from Dean Richards, Les Ferdinand and Christian Ziege saw the home side race into a 3-0 half-time lead.

But United hit back in the second period as Andy Cole, Laurent Blanc, Ruud van Nistlerooy, Juan Veron and David Beckham ensured one of the greatest comebacks ever in the remiership.United substitute Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was introduced as a substitute for injured Nicky Butt, who has a suspected fractured rib, to act as a catalyst for the 5-3 victory.Ferguson said: "In the first half they (United) played as though they were feeling sorry for themselves after the disappointment of losing in Spain on Tuesday and the heavy press criticism we've had for that result.

"You can either do something about it by determination or you can give into it."I'm not saying exactly what I said to them at half-time. But the essence of it was to stop feeling sorry for themselves."These are the best players in the country and they should play like that."It is what I expect, but sometimes we've played like it was a practice-match: Saying 'you score, and we'll score'."Once the first goal went in for us, though, I thought our football was fantastic."You need a bit of luck when you are behind like that and the goal right after half-time was key to it. It also brought a little order to the game."We had done all right up to a point in the first half but there was just no end product."Let's face it, Spurs had three strikes and were three-up. But they deserved it. They got stuck in and made it difficult for us."

Ferguson added: "Solskjaer was another key. He made the space for Paul Scholes to come into it and it gave us a lift."Butt's injury came after a clash with Tottenham's Mauricio Taricco but Ferguson, asked if it was a fair challenge, diplomatically said: "I'll have to look at the video first."But Spurs fans were furious when Cole's challenge on Taricco left the Argentinian hobbling, although he returned to the game after treatment.

Ferguson said: "I said to Cole straight away 'You didn't touch him, did you' and he confirmed that."But Spurs manager Glenn Hoddle was left shell-shocked after seeing his side torn apart in the second period.Hoddle said: "We attacked brilliantly and also nullified United's attacks in the first half, but the second half was just the opposite.

"We lost our belief and they got theirs from the early goal in the second half. It looks like a Jekyll and Hyde performance from both sides."But a great game? I can't take much comfort from that because I've got to look at my own team."We're in the business of trying to win football matches. That's the bottom line.

"We've had excellent games against Chelsea and Liverpool and now Manchester United but it is no consolation when you've missed nine points."What we know with United is that they've got a clinical finishing ability and don't stop playing."You saw that against Newcastle when they were 3-1 down there and came back to 4-3 before they lost it.

"I think it was lucky for Deportivo that they scored two late goals against them on Tuesday or else United would probably have done something similar to them."It was not a case of us sitting back when we were three-up. You can change things from the bench but the difficulty is getting the lads to see it.

"We needed to create some more but what happened was that we just defended too deep in the second half because we couldn't get any pressure on the ball like we did in the first half."It is tempting to say that the way United played in the second half would have overwhelmed almost any side, but I can't hide behind that."

The Premiership trophy has never before been handed out in September, but in just 45 second half minutes, champions Manchester United have made their statement of intent.