Red Devils crush sorry Magpies
By Alex Livie - Created on 01 Oct 06
Manchester United returned to the top of the Premiership table with
an impressive destruction of Newcastle United at Old
Trafford.
The Magpies showed little by way of attacking intent, but they did
not possess the defensive quality to keep Sir Alex Ferguson's men
at bay and a brace of goals from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer hardly did
justice to the home side's superiority.
Only the woodwork, some good keeping and profligate finishing kept
the scoreline respectable, but this should in no way detract from a
performance which confirms United as genuine challengers to
Chelsea.
Glenn Roeder's decision to leave Obafemi Martins on the bench gave
an indication that The Magpies made the trip to Old Trafford in a
mood to stifle and it was the home side who started much the
brighter, with Gary Neville nearly embarrassing Steve Harper with a
cross-shot and Wayne Rooney almost nipping in between Steven Taylor
and the Newcastle keeper.
Harper has had a couple of shaky moments
since replacing the injured Shay Given, but he proved his class 15
minutes in as he arched his back to tip over a powerful header from
Nemanja Vidic who had beaten Craig Moore with ease at a
corner.
Rooney has yet to hit form this term and he flattered to deceive on
20 minutes when striking a shot wide from 20 yards.
The England striker was involved in a quicksilver move which almost
yielded the first goal. Solskjaer, Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo
combined to play in Darren Fletcher on the edge of the box and his
shot thudded against the post.
Newcastle's defensive approach had reduced Red Devils keeper Edwin
van der Sar to the role of spectator for the opening 30 minutes and
his first piece of action was a routine save from James
Milner.
Harper, in contrast, was far more busy and he was relieved to
collect a deflected free kick from Ronaldo on 37 minutes.
The keeper could do nothing to prevent Solskjaer from opening the
scoring on 41 minutes as the Norwegian was on hand to tap home from
six yards after a shot from Ronaldo had bounced off a post and into
his path.
Solskjaer effectively put the game beyond Newcastle two minutes
after the interval with one of the most fortunate strikes of his
illustrious career.
An awful defensive header from Taylor fell at the feet of Vidic who
shot towards goal but his effort spun off the heel of Solskjaer and
into the net.
Newcastle looked like rabbits in headlights and Ronaldo should have
added a third a minute later, but his drive from eight yards
crashed against the crossbar.
The woodwork was proving a real thorn in the side of Ronaldo as it
came to Newcastle's rescue once again after the Portuguese star had
slid in a shot after mesmerising Stephen Carr inside the Newcastle
box.
With Paul Scholes orchestrating play like an experienced general
and Ronaldo's box of tricks tying Carr in knots, the only surprise
was that The Red Devils failed to rack up a cricket score.
An arm from Taylor denied Fletcher a third and to rub salt into the
wounds the incident was not picked up by Mike Dean, while van der
Sar ensured he would keep a clean sheet when pulling in a drive
from Peter Ramage.
Harper had made a number of fine saves during the 90 minutes and he
was on hand to push away a powerful drive from Scholes with nine
minutes remaining.
Solskjaer came within inches of registering a hat-trick, as his
deflected shot drifted just wide of the far post with Harper well
beaten, but it mattered little as Ferguson's charges fired out a
title warning to Chelsea and co.
