WAYNE Rooney's early double secured victory over Newcastle in a one-sided encounter at Old Trafford.
Newcastle avoided a landslide solely because the Red Devils spurned at least half a dozen golden chances, with Rooney himself culpable, hitting the post with a second-half chip which would have completed a richly-deserved hat-trick.
And all Alan Shearer could do was watch on, little more than a bystander as Rooney took control.
If, as he continues to insist, this is Shearer's final season, the only reason he will have to look back on his last visit to Old Trafford with any affection will be because of the brilliance of Rooney's performance.
There are few better to judge the merits of strikers and for all the black and white blood which flows through his veins, Shearer is magnanimous enough to know, unlike him, the best English striker of the current generation did choose to play for Manchester United.
After signing his '5million, five-book deal, Rooney is clearly under orders to find some material. And his first-half display warrants a chapter on its own.
Poleaxed
Within 12 minutes, the 20-year-old had scored twice. He might have had a hat-trick inside quarter of an hour and with his final kick of the half, he poleaxed his captain Gary Neville with a ferocious volley which sent the United man to the floor in theatrical fashion and left him ruefully clutching his jaw as he made his way to the dressing rooms.
Had Rooney's team-mates showed the same clinical instincts, Glenn Roeder could have had no complaints if Newcastle had been five behind at the break.
Louis Saha, once again preferred to Ruud van Nistelrooy, had two golden opportunities but spurned them both, initially through a heavy first-touch, then a weak shot.
Park Ji-Sung ballooned an excellent opportunity over and John O'Shea appeared to trip over his own feet as a pass rolled unexpectedly into his path inside the Newcastle box.
Even Rooney was fallible on a couple of occasions, although his wondrous talent had already left the visitors on the ropes.
Given how events were to unfold, Rooney did not need the present Peter Ramage provided him with after just eight minutes.
Under pressure from Mikael Silvestre by the touchline, Ramage opted to play a blind pass to Shay Given instead of taking the obvious option of booting the ball out of play.
Merits
Unfortunately for the full-back, Rooney had read his intentions, skipped onto the loose ball, then beat Given with the most delightful of chips.
On pure goalscoring terms alone, there is no debate between the relative merits of Saha and Van Nistelrooy.
The Dutchman remains top of the Premier League scoring charts and is only two goals away from becoming the eighth player in United history to hit 150 for the Red Devils.
Saha, though, brings pace and strength and United look a far more formidable side as a result.
It was the Frenchman's delicate touch that found O'Shea, who in turn fed Rooney for number two, a brutal strike after Ramage had been held off with some considerable ease.
From that moment on, it became an almost personal crusade for Rooney to complete his hat-trick.
That it did not come was no reflection on a Newcastle defence totally outsmarted from start to finish but more because of the boy wonder's own fallibility.
In the Newcastle goal, Given was giving a passable impression of a coconut shy as missiles rained in from all angles. Bravely the Irishman stood firm.
But there was nothing he could do to deny Rooney his best chance, which came when Jean Alain Boumsong only succeeded in nodding Wes Brown's long punt forward a bit closer to his own goal.
Rooney was onto it in a flash, skipped past Given but chipped his shot onto a post, with Robbie Elliott racing back and getting the slightest of deflections.
Van Nistelrooy eventually made his entrance 15 minutes from time, yet even his predatory instincts let him down as he failed to convert from 10 yards as, not for the first time, Boumsong had found himself outmanoeuvred.
What is your verdict on the performance? Have your say.
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Credit where credit is due...a convincing win. Every team member made their mark, made telling contributions..brilliant, even Evra and Oshea looked more composed. Roony's goals were fabulous. Well done...
Rooney genius, simple. Saha offers a more persistent threat for the 90 mins but thats useless if he cant finish. His finishing was nothing short of shambolic today,Ruud should have been on much earlier. Impressed with O'Shea against the much fancied Parker
Where was Alan Shearer's elbow?
It was Rooney 2 Newcastle 0.
What a match!!!!!great performance today from pretty much everybody who played. each and everyone of them was on fire and newcastle were well and truly given a footballing lesson. Rooney and park were particularly outstanding, but ronaldo, saha and even oshea were also impressive. defensively we looked solid, but were not really tested. this was by far our most convincing and entertaining performance for some time. well done lads. not doubt there will be so FOBs on complaining about the 20 minutes that newcastle got involved in the game, but they will always find something to winge about.
mmmmmmmm only 15 points behind chelsea now mmmmmmm DONT GET EXITED
nice to come home smiling great attacking football should have scored more but who is complaining
Good win against a poor side.
OSHEA HAD PROVE TO ME HE CAN PLAY IN THE MIDFIELD BUT FOR SAYING THAT WE CAN USE HIM AS A BACK UP NEXT SEASON WHEN THE 2 OR 3 WORLD CLASS MIDFIELD ARRIEVES. WHEN WE TALK ABOUT WORLD CLASS MIDFIELDERS I DONT ASSOCIATE THE LIKES OF SCOTT PARKER, CARICK AND THE REST- DONT GET ME WRONG THEY ARE GOOD PREMIERSHIP PLAYER BUT THEY CAN'T OFFER US THE EXTRA QUALITY WHICH WE SAW IN ROY KEAN, ROBBISON AND SCHOLESY. WE DEMAND PLAYERS WITH THAT QUALITY LIKE THE LIKES OF GERALD,REQUELME.
o'shea and giggs won the match for us.
Great performance - could have had double figures, but it was indeed the performance that mattered. We've improved quite a bit since this time last season - that's indeniable. We are at least playing exciting football, Rooney si maturing fast and Ronaldo is beginning to make the right decisions. Add Mascherano & Riquelme and we'll be challenging again. Oh and by the way, does anyone seriously still believe Scott Paker "could do a job for us"?? - he couldn't get to grips with our current meagre centre-midfield. Sorry Scott, but you were 2nd best to John O'Shea and that's not exactly a resounding endorsement!
Old times coming back. Thanks SAF. But more teamwork needed for next year. Watch out Chelski. Well done Rooney, VDS, O'Shea, Brown, Rio, VN, Park and all.
If only we started the season using 4-4-2 since we have switched the team has played so much more fluently. It now seems that the 4-5-1 was purely to compensate for Keano. The man is a legend but we should give SAF credit that he made the decision that has in fact turned around our general play. It was good to see the fast flowing football again. I know Saha is not a polific as Ruud but with him, Rooners, Ronnie and Park up front our attack has not been so mobile since the Becks/Giggs/Cole & Yorke combination. 5 points in front of the Scousers... Ha Ha Ha
Funny old game, innit? Last Monday we had the media bitching on about how United were slumming it at Wigan while real teams prepared to conquer Europe. Here we are a few days later, better placed than any team except one, and two of the Real Teams have been embarassed in Europe and are out. Oh, and we've got a trophy, which is more than Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs etc. are going to get. Fergie out! :)
Yeah you deserved to win, (though without that Liverpudlian you all worship, probably not). But christ, what an awful excuse for an atmosphere. Embarrassing. I've heared louder home fans at a Whitely Bay under 11's game. Even 'Highbury the Library' creates more of a noise. All together now....shhhhhhhhh
I echo Lawrences comments good game.
Well Done Man Utd. Credit where credit's due. Well done to you Sir for bravely dropping your Fletcher experiment. Although, I am yet to be convince with JOS and Giggs in the middle of the park, it is much better than having the so called player there. I too notice that you're always having this variation of switching wingers from left to right and vice versa, and I think it's quite an ingenious plan to unsettle the opponents. Nevertheless, these wingers (i.e. Ronaldo & Park) need to practice using both legs in the training to be more effective than they presently are in order to carry out your plan (if there is indeed one.) I am however perplexed that you continue to leave out RVN. My only guess is that you're either a) preparing to sell him due to the emergence of Rossi b) trying to see if Saha can make that transition into a credible alternative or c) trying to get RVN to try harder (as if being the top scorer in the Premiership is not enough). Regardless, we shall know in time. My only hope is that you start looking for 2 really good CM...
Other than that, well done Sir
Yet again the crowd is declared at 300 MORE than the official capacity; fans stand throughout the game AND there can quite clearly be seen loads of empty seats. How can the ground be overfull yet there be empty seats? What do Trafford Council have to say about these standing fans? What does the HSE have to say about more than capacity being admitted?
simonblue from blackley how would i get exited, exactly? When you go to the boo camp are you entranced by the the masive game your about to sea or are you happy that Man C Benevolent Club are doing their bit four the smaller clubs?
come on lads newcastle just stood off us and allowed us space,time and two goals,if i was one of their fans i would feel ashamed.we wasted an opportunity to at least close the goal difference on chelsea,lets not kid ourselves HEY.
simonblue, I guess you find losing to a bottom club more exciting..
It has been a long time since the team put on such a brilliant display, especially in the first half. The key of the good performance was the short-sharp accurate passes between the team mates, and the absence of the wasteful long balls seen in previous matches. It was the fast, clever inter-changes between the players which broke the Newcastle defence and created probably the biggest goal scoring opportunities seen this season. It showed that we have the individual quality to do well when the players played collectively as a team rather than 11 individuals. This point could be best illustrated in the second half when, in a few occasions, Ronaldo reverted to his bad habit and danced too many steps, slowed down the move and lost the ball for the team. He played brilliantly until then and was rightly substituted. Football is a team game. Chelsea lost to Barca not because they lack quality individuals but because they didnt play as a team like Barca did on the day. Chelsea players pumped too many long balls and lost, while Barca players knitted together smooth passes. We are behind Chelsea in the league and were knocked out in CL, I believe, not because we dont have the quality players but because our players too often didnt fuse together and played as a team as we did against Newcastle yesterday. Hopefully, yesterday will mark the change for us.
Great victory, we dominated, even if our finishing was rather casual. But we are taking about inches making the scoreline 4 to 0. Today, well done lads! Tomorrow, back to the practice pitch. We have the time now that we are out of the Champions League and the FA Cup.
SAF says Rooney is special, he is a fine player, but the only real special one is called Jose.
More like it. Entertaining against a poor team. If only we had a midfield!