Newcastle 2 United 2: Verdict

Stuart Brennan

January 02, 2007

DEADLOCK: Nemanja Vidic challenges Antoine Sibierski

HURRICANE Scholes hit Newcastle for the second time in four years, but it was the Reds who had their Premiership hopes blown off course.

Scholes, who scored a hat-trick at the same ground in the 6-2 thrashing in 2003, scored two trademark goals from outside the box, after the Reds had gone behind to James Milner's thunderbolt opener.

That brace looked like putting the Geordies' New year celebrations on hold for the second time in 24 hours, after high winds had forced the abandonment of a planned party to herald the beginning of 2007.

And it should have sent United a telling nine points clear of Chelsea at the top of the Premiership. But one moment of defensive slackness allowed teenager David Edgar, making his home debut, to score a deflected equaliser.

Command

It should not have happened as United were in command for much of the game and missed a great opportunity to turn the psychological screws on Chelsea to an excruciating level.

Jose Mourinho's side face a trip to Aston Villa tonight, and increasingly have the look of a side trying to cling to United's coat-tails, but they will take some heart from the Reds' failure to kill off the vulnerable Geordies.

But a draw was still a decent result, especially on the back of three Christmas wins, and the Reds would nave been ecstatic with a seven-point gap going into this period of the season.

For the first time this season Sir Alex Ferguson has chopped and changed his line-up during the hectic holiday schedule, but to no noticeable effect until yesterday.

The fact that Ferguson has been able to be so free and easy with his line-up is encouraging for United fans because it is only a couple of months ago that the Reds' strength in depth was being questioned. The team was just one or two key injuries away from a catastrophe - that was the prevailing view, even among those closest to their cause.

In a twist of sweet irony, it is Chelsea, supposedly better-equipped to ride the blows of football fate, who have started to come apart at the seams as soon as they lost goalkeeper Petr Cech and skipper John Terry.

Now it is United who look healthy, whether or not they bring anyone in during the transfer window.

With Ole Gunnar Solskjaer back to a level no-one had dared to hope he could regain, with Henrik Larsson set for his debut and Giuseppe Rossi back in the fold, there are now plenty of attacking options. The midfield is strong without being overly impressive, and the first-choice defence is as solid as it has been for years.

Do you agree? Have your say.

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Mick, Dublin (02/01/2007 at 12:30)

It's certainly interesting that, considering our so-called "lack of strength in depth" we comfortably won all the games in which SAF made wholesale changes but dropped points when we played 10 of our best 11 players! In fact, I think the only games we've dropped poings all season have been in games which didn't feature any of our "squad players". Whereas Chelsea, with their supposed "mega-bench" have dropped points left, right and centre every time Mourinho gives his second-string a run-out.

Mick, Northumberland (02/01/2007 at 12:50)

"In command for much of the game" is stretching reality a bit. Given United's incredible injury list and the youth team players at the back I thought we did well and in the end also had the chances to win it.

Keane was right Sell Ronny, Birmingham (02/01/2007 at 12:55)

Yes we're doing well but Chelski will be back starting tonight by hammering Villa. I trust SAF will not start playing free & easy with his team selection as last night was very strange at times and the use of Fletcher always bodes for a poor midfield. He has had enough time to raise the bar and just hasnt done so. Ronny had a quiet game - only Premiership rather than world class last night !!

Mary, Sale (02/01/2007 at 13:09)

Chelsea certainly will not hammer Villa,however Newcassle pushed us back to much Neville and Rio being the main culprits Rio does not like it tough Hienze and Brown would have been a better option.

de Meester, Amsterdamned (02/01/2007 at 13:10)

All-in-all a good disply.
However we should have taken all points.
They were understrength and we should have pushed home that advantage!
It was maybe meant to be, the goal-bound efforts cleared and chances missed.
Of course we have no divine right to win, they gave it their all however on the babaqlnce of paly we should have been out of sight by half-time!
Maybe a good thing that FA Cup is next! (Which of course also won't be easy!)
Up The Reds

Ephrem, Ethiopia (02/01/2007 at 13:19)

a game marking the need for concentration-tried well to open up opponents but this happens in football so we have to live with it. Larson must have come at the right moment since Saha has limped off-he will fill in well I guess-title hope is still wide open. Beware you Reds

chris, oxford (02/01/2007 at 13:19)

I still say that our squad is weak, we can cope playing 'fringe' players for one or two games but should we lose one of our key players for long periods we will be found out. Chelsea haven't had any injuries to speak of for the last few seasons so it's interesting to see how they cope now which it has to be said isn't very well. It's also interesting that as soon as Carrick came on yesterday the midfield starting looking more composed which it hadn't really done all game, shame he wasn't brought on at half time.

alo, Brampton,Ontario (02/01/2007 at 13:22)

In command for most of the game, yes! although they looked a little susceptable defensively at times. United should have put this game away in the first half, missed opportunities by giggs and saha to name but two. You have to point your finger at Fletcher, he turned away from milner on the first goal and it was his man who scored on the second. Still concerns me that United don't have a killer instinct at times particularly away from home. But all in all a good xmas period for united.

macca, cornwall (02/01/2007 at 13:23)

HOW has our title aspirtations been 'blown off course'? We are at worst going to be 4 points clear tonite. i expect that kind of statement about chelsea from an article about villa beating chelsea. any points were good last nite, The team has done well to keep the results coming with constant changes over a hectic period, this was maybe one game too many, but why do chelsea play tonite and not yesterday? thats wrong in my opinion. an extra days rest we could be looking at 3 points v the toon

Red Family Man, Lancaster, UK (02/01/2007 at 13:29)

Chelsea were always due a wobble, the league was theirs to lose this season. And so it goes..... Should see what they are made of tonight, this is a critical game for them. If they draw or even lose it will be a huge blow, and bearing in mind they are missing Ballack, Robben, Cole, Terry and Cech the result is far from a formality.
Jose is definitely looking a bit less cocky recently, and as for criticising his players, what was that all about? Not exactly engendering team spirit!
United are favorites to win the league, and Chelsea and looking more and more like a team struggling to cling to United's coat tails.
You would have thought that Hansen and all the others would have learned by now, NEVER write off United!

Tunji Babatunde, Acton, London (02/01/2007 at 14:31)

The two goals United conceded both resulted from Darren Fletcher failing to close down Milner and then Edgar. This exposed Gary Neville and Rio Ferdinand and gave the excellent van der Saar no chance. When are the Old Trafford hierarchy going to realise that Fletcher is not a United class player? Two glorious chances fell to J.S.Park in the box and were squandered. Ruud would have at least put one of those away and United would have been home and dry. Was it in the best interests of United to sell van Niestleroy especially when everyone knew that, brilliant a striker as he is, Saha is always a few games away from injury? The defeat at Upton Park and the failure to beat an understrength Newcastle United side have most likely cost us the Premiership title. We are sure to drop points at Anfield, the Emirates Stadium and at Stamford Bridge and this will enable Chelsea to overtake us. If this happens, we should not blame the players or the Glazers but the manager who weakened the strike force by selling Ruud for non-footballing reasons and persists in playing Fletcher even when we have a classy £18m central midfielder like Carrick. The biggest problem at United is that Sir Alex and most of us Man U fans think that every decision he makes is in the best interests of the club! Tunji Babatunde, Acton, London.

mark, norris (02/01/2007 at 14:41)

Match stats !! 7-7 on shots on target. A VERY weak Newcastle side held us off, give them some credit ! the comment saying "we should have finished it first half" is rubbish ! did you watch the game ? they played as well as us !

zimmer501, malaysia (02/01/2007 at 14:47)

No doubt that Scholes show great performance at St James Park but his fellow Fletcher didn't assist much to defence. PS need to covering up deep down and at upront. SAF take a risk to partnered this player. Better to put O' Shea instead of DF. When Saha out there's no one to take the NEW's last man, WR play wide, PJS still lack of skills when he wasted a golden chance.
Again solid defence by RF and NV is key of the team. Bring on Rossi will be ab options and if the rumours is right, SAF will bring Pavel Nedved to boost the midfield

Max Powers, Durham (02/01/2007 at 15:07)

mark, norris nice to see someone went to (watched) the same game as I did. I didn't particularly like the way you complained about every single foul that was commited (on both sides) but I guess that's the way it is these days. Giggs should have been booked early on and another ref may have given a penalty for Vidic's hand-ball. No post match reviews have mentioned that Sibierski missed at least one sitter when he headed straight at Van der Saar they all revolve around Ronaldo's missed chance and some fairly straight forward goal-line clearences from Man U attacks. Personally I felt it was a fair result overall but clearly your players didn't since they decided to surround the ref after the whistle, perhaps for not giving you enough free-kicks:). It certainly wasn't as clear cut as the tabloids are portraying it. As for having another day to recover helping you to get 3 points do you think that Newcastle wouldn't have got that same day as well?

Mick, Dublin (02/01/2007 at 15:56)

But you see, if the game had taken place 24 hours later our players would have been rested while Newcastle would have picked up some more injuries. What odds Dyer blowing off one of his toes after stepping on an unexploded NYE firework?

Phil, chester (02/01/2007 at 16:20)

Yet another game with no attacking options on the bench.There have now been about 10 + games with this formation. I cannot believe that we sh this season .We must never play a single game without attacking options

cantona's upturned collar, work (02/01/2007 at 16:47)

Anyone notice Kuszczak wasn't on the bench yesterday? Why was that? I hope he's not injured as I think he'd have played in the cup vs Villa. My XI for that match would be: Kuszczak; O'Shea, Brown, Silvestre, Heinze; Park, Fletcher, Carrick, Richardson; Larsson, Solskjaer. SUBS: Heaton, Evra, Ronaldo, Smith, Rossi

Tufty, Runcorn (02/01/2007 at 16:57)

We were pony & trap. Even FC beat Newcastle 5-1 this weekend. Why didn't we? Is it because they have a bigger squad than our 'pared to the bone' collection?

Fredrik, Sweden (02/01/2007 at 18:27)

I would attribute the five points lost at West Ham and Newcastle to the lack of The ball-winning CM we so desperately need. Milner scored a screamer but no one was there to close him down and the same happened when Edgar scored, and no-one was determined enough to follow Reo-Coker's late run into our penalty area. What makes it so frustrating is that you don't need to be a rocket scientist or even a football manager to figure out what we need, but still nothing happens. Transfer window after transfer window.

Duncan, London (02/01/2007 at 18:52)

Max Powers - and what about the Parker hand ball matey and 2 shots off the woodwork? Not biased eh?

Pat, Bickington (02/01/2007 at 19:02)

every game is different and you are going to drop points somewhere along the line. If we didn't drop any we would would be a perfect outfit and nobody is that. Not even Chelsea. I feel we wasted our opportunitys and Newcastle showed great courage and determination to get a point, but that's football. I don't expect us to roll newcastle over on their home turf and neither should anyone else. It is true that Fletcher wasn't exactly brilliant but that's a blessing in disguise for me, it proves just how valuable Carrick is to our midfield. As soon as he came on we looked more comfortable in possession and more shielded at the back.

mark mclaughlin, sydney (02/01/2007 at 19:29)

Disapointing not to get the 3 points and I think the one gambles that didn`t pay off was not having solskaer on the bench.But that`s the gambles that have to be taken and it`s great to see chelsea panicking.

squirel, malaysia (02/01/2007 at 22:00)

man utd..20 shot on goal 10 corner and 53 % possession compare to newcastle 8 shot on goal 1 corner! chelsea have similiar stat but they drop 2 pts too!! hey guys..this is foatball! some tactic work some did't..stick with our player n manager! 16 games to go..42 pts we need to be champion again..utd 4ever

Pat, Bickington (02/01/2007 at 22:02)

I have got one thing to say to all those Chelski fans who keep coming on, ye the gap is really going to be 4 points isn't it? a third draw on the spin blues and a distinct lack of energy and effort, compare that draw today at villa with our draw against Newcastle.

Roger, Hamilton (02/01/2007 at 22:15)

Didn't cost us immmediately.

Need to make hay while these Chelsea players are out injured.

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