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Match Report - Newcastle 3 Manchester United 0
by Matthew Rush
After the strong and committed performance from league leaders Manchester City, it was the turn of their fierce rivals, Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United to lay down their intention on winning the title this year as they travel up North to surprise package Newcastle United. History of this fixture put all expectations on a Manchester United victory with Newcastle having not won this fixture since the year 2001 and United striker Wayne Rooney having scored 6 goals in 6 games at St. James' Park, which is now known as Sports Direct Arena. The game was to be played under extreme weather conditions with gale force winds and heavy rain showers pouring all over the country, it suited Sir Alex's team a lot more than Alan Pardew's side. The game was played with a good, quick, firey tempo with neither team letting the opposition settle on the ball. But it was Newcastle who were quickest out the block with strike pairing Demba Ba and Newcastle-born Shola Ameobi battling away with Rio Ferdinand and Phil Jones, it was going to be a tough night for those four individuals. The first major attempt of the game came from a deflected Dimitar Berbatov header which went past a scrambling Tim Krul and clipping the outside of the post. The first talking point came on the 25th minute when Rio Ferdinand seemingly took Demba Ba's feet away from under him inside the penalty area, everyone could see it was a penalty apart from referee Howard Webb and his officials. But that didn't matter too much, as on the 33rd minute, in form Ba scored a technically gifted finish from inside the area hooking his effort past goalkeeper Andres Lindergaard, who was conceding his first goal in five apperances, following a Shola Ameobi flick on. The second half followed the way of the first half, wave and wave of Newcastle attack, and with the wind blowing towards Lindergaards goal, it was looking promising for the Toon Army, whose fortunes got better on the 47th minute, French man Yohan Cabaye curled in a wonderful 30-yard free kick, making sure it clipped the underside of the bar on its way in. Sir Alex made changes to try and rectify his teams sloppy play by bringing on Danny Welbeck, Havier Hernandez and Anderson who replaced a returning Wayne Rooney after a bust up with the gaffer. But that wouldn't matter or help as on the 89th minute of play, a Tim Krul launched ball into the Manchester United penalty area causing panic for young defender Phil Jones who put the ball into an empty net, seemingly with his arm, after Lindergaard came for the ball but appeared not to give a shout to the young defender. This was arguably one of Manchester United's worst performances of the season, but boss Sir Alex Ferguson came out prior to the game and claimed that his side struggled to deal with the strong winds and failed to cope in the difficult conditions. Due to problems with spam only SalfordOnline members can now leave comments. Becoming a member of SalfordOnline only takes a minute, just hit the red Join Us button at the top right hand side of the page to create your Personal account. |
