Manchester United's title hopes took a blow after they suffered a second successive Premier League defeat at Newcastle.
An impressive Magpies side went ahead through in-form Demba Ba with Yohan Cabaye's fine free-kick doubling the advantage after the break.
Sir Alex Ferguson's Reds - who lost 3-2 against Blackburn on New Year's Eve - tried to rally but went further behind when Phil Jones scored a bizarre own goal late on.
United remain three points behind Manchester City - the team they face on Sunday in the FA Cup third round.
Setbacks
The champions have been brilliant this season at swiftly turning disaster into devastation with their spirited responses to setbacks.
Revivals after the City derby debacle and the Basle blow were impressive but when they visited the well here following the New Years’ day defeat by bottom club Blackburn it was well and truly dry.
Ferguson's team selection response to the Rovers shock was to drop David de Gea for the first time after a headline-making mistake.
With only one goal conceded in Anders Lindegaard’s seven appearances this campaign it was a good idea. After the Rovers stunner United needed all the psychological insurance they could muster.
Early on it appeared that the goalkeeper selection was going to prove a correct one as Lindegaard handled safely and saved well from Cabaye.
United’s initial response wasn’t bad as Tim Krul stopped a decent Nani effort and Dimitar Berbatov had a header shave the post.
But after the Bulgarian’s misfortune United were forced on the backfoot by Newcastle.
Newcastle pumped the ball forward and for once Phil Jones missed out in an aerial duel and Shola Ameobi’s glance on was met with a volley from Ba that caught Rio Ferdinand out before he could react. Likewise with Lindegaard who was heading to cover his left side as the spectacular effort whistled past him on the right.
The Reds have revelled in some glorious goal fests on Tyneside in the last decade but after going a goal down they never looked like conjuring up anything that could upset the Geordies.
The stadium and Newcastle’s pressure kept up a frantic atmosphere and pace and United had nobody able to put their foot on the ball and take stock as the frenzy went on.
Newcastle kept the Reds waiting on the pitch for the start of the second half and they were certainly caught cold when the action began.
Jones was forced into a cynical obstruction to halt Ba’s surge on goal and then Yohan Cabaye’s resulting free kick smashed in off the cross bar.
Even if De Gea had joined Lindegaard on the line it is doubtful the pair could have kept out the perfect execution.
Back in November Salford lad and ex-Red Danny Simpson made an astonishing late goal line block that stopped Javier Hernandez snatching a winner and the right back was at it again.
This time he broke Wayne Rooney’s heart as he flashed in a shot from close range in the 59th minute.
United’s belief they could snatch a desperate point seemed to fade in the moment Simpson kept his goal intact.
It looked like they might just about make it without any further damage to their inferior goal difference but then Phil Jones made a terrible hash of dealing with a high ball and his calamitous stooping attempt was missed with his head but steered past Lindegaard with his thigh.
What is your verdict on the action? Have your say.
Newcastle 3 Manchester United 0 - Stuart Mathieson's verdict
January 04, 2012
Comments
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Fantastic.
the gap is closing on barcelona.
our midfield is the best in the world.
rio still has another five years at the top.
carrick is better then xavi.
giggs could play for another ten years in the midfield.
park is a great player.
rooney deserves every penny of the 250k aweek he gets.
we dont need to buy in the transfer window.
glazers are great owners.
We got waht we deserved again...nothing!!! Im not going to criticse individuals because im too upset and annoyed to even bother, but the club I love is making too many excuses for too many average players...Sir Matt would be ashamed of some of the 'players' wearing that shirt!!!
United forever!!!!
Its official! The worst United side I have seen in a long long time!!
There is no team. Some good players who sometimes click but no team.
God help us on Sunday. I hope i'm wrong, but I can see us getting another hiding at City.
cant find any players in the world to improve this team?
all the bs fergie's been saying is coming back to haunt him.
Oh dear never mind..
We have to be honest and accept that Newcastle were better than us in every department from start to shambolic finish.
For every good thing a United player did, they did at least one in reverse. Much improvement and consistency needed or it reaqlly will slip away from us.
No need to panic. We don't need to buy anyone. Happy with squad we have. Yada yada yada.... Still so sure are we oh eternal optimists T&C et al?
No title this season for united. We need good goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders, and a striker. Please buy this january..
Come on the Fergie - explain that there is no value in the transfer market when 3 players (Tiote, Cabaye and Ba) with a combined value of much less than our goalkeeper whom you dont deem good enough to play for us just dominated us completely!
Secondly we looked so much better for a few games when Jones was away from our goal in midfield, I hope to be proven wrong about him and he turns into this quality player everybody keeps saying he will be but he reminds me of a baby elephant and every appearance in central defence appears to create problems for us! All the points and goal difference we managed to claw back in December have just evaporated in 2 very very mediocre performances!
ferguson has lost the team if he has any shred of guilt he needs to resign immediatley he is dragging the club down all his luck has run out,for all you fergie lovers if you buy a brand new car today it isnt the same after 25 years it detoriates.have no doubt he,s been the best ever but its now time for a change.new blood,fresh ideas,just look at sunderland under oneill.maybe im wrong but is it not possible i could be right.frightening
the truth is we are heading the same way liverpool did in the 90s.but for some strange reasons fergie,the owners and some fans are in denial.
Absolute disgusting rubbish!We don't need to spend during the transfer do we?
Two midfielders.
There is not 1 centre midfield player in the United squad as good as either Cabaye or Tiote.
A massive shake up is required. Giggs at 38 was our best player. Carrick did his best but with Nani, Park, Berbatov and Rooney all seemingly incapable of controlling or passing the ball the result was inevitable!
That was worse than watching the 6 - 1 drubbing. Out fought , out muscled all over the park. Rubbish performance.
All talk about Moronio or Pep or even Moyes taking over from Fergie... why not get Herr Low. With his philosophy I think United will be back on track. He said:
"I tell my team: if we win the ball, I want to see the ball in the goal in eight seconds. That's my philosophy.
"The Spaniards do not win with aggressiveness and strength in the challenge," Low said. "They are mentally very fast. And that's an important function in the development of all football players: it's about becoming faster in the thought.
"If a player has good technique and a good basic speed, but is slow in the head, this may reduce his value to the team."
That would rule out the whole current United team based on this performance.
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/1004253/joachim-low:-germany-do-not-play-like-barcelona?cc=3888
What a bloody circus that was!
Keeping positive, I did see Valentia complete a pass with his left boot.
Come on United!
We weren't good enough. Passing too wayward, getting caught in possession easily.There's a lethargy about us. Newcastle played well and fully deserved their victory. I fell sorry for the United fans having to travel up there to watch that on a Wednesday evening. Very disappointed.
That was truly awful.
Newcastle had the team spirit and passion you would expect from Manchester United, and gained a deserved win. 3-0 was not flattering. What just happened?
Seeing Rooney go off was sad. He was not worth 200.000 for this game. But he's not alone. Many didn't show up. Nani. Did he play at all? Park - waste of space tonight. Giggs - all wrong passes and losing midfield battle. Carrick - se Giggs. The lit could go on.
when you have off nights it's important to have somethoing scary on the bench. We don't have anything. Injuries or not. We must buy someone in January. Or we can might as well hand the title to City now.
It will be intresting to see the next moves from SAF. This is just wrong. Something must be done.
3yrs I will not be renewing my season tickets.Fergie has managed to build one of the worst teams that has ever played at United in the last 50+yrs
What poor overpaid players we have a squad so tactically inept Fergie is just living in the past.
Tactics almost childish All Carrick lovers wake up so slow and negative kills any chance of moving at pace.
We need a new manager to build from scratch he can start by selling Rooney and 80% of the squad.
2nil down 15mins to go,who do you look to? Your top scorer,right? We have to take him off because hes had another in a long list of awful performances in the last 3 months.What makes it worse is that he doesnt seem to care.United and England fans have to wake to the fact that Rooney is quickly becoming the most overrated player for club and country since Beckham.But at least Beckham cared.
I tell you what: we are in a world of hurt. Look at your veterans on this team. Rooney, Nani, Evra, Giggs...not a one of them gets higher than a 4 for today, and probably less than that for effort.
I am so glad DeGea wasn't exposed to that in front of him (again) as, surely, he would have been blamed for all three goals.
Now, we must look at reality. We have no fire whatsoever, and that falls on our "leadership", both on and off the field, both players and management. United plays as though they simply need to show up and the other team will bow down. Those days are clearly over.