United goalkeeper Anders Lindegaard watches Demba Ba's inch-perfect opener sail over into the net
Wednesday 4th January 2012
Newcastle United 3 – Ba 33′, Cabaye 47′, Jones (O.G.) 90′
Manchester United 0
Sports Direct Arena
Manchester United suffered their second successive defeat at the hands of an overwhelming Newcastle side at the SDA.
By Connor Whitmore (see poll at bottom)
As 89 minutes and 41 seconds had passed on the clock at the Sports Direct Arena, Phil Jones had a look of unparalleled despair across his face.
Having converted a woeful own-goal that cried of his inexperience as an uprising centre-half, the young Englishman took the few steps back towards the centre circle with an expression more bewildered than that of his manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
The recently-turned 70-year-old on the sideline was flabbergasted. His king-size puffer jacket gave him nothing in the way of support. He appeared to check whether he’d put on the correct glasses, such was the humbling they’d born witness to from an exceptional Newcastle side.
And as their shock reverberated around the Geordie walls one couldn’t help but recall their unabashed confidence just over 100 minutes earlier.
Despite the 2-3 loss to Balckburn at Old Trafford only four days before, Manchester United appeared almost smug as they warmed up at Newcastle – especially Wayne Rooney, fresh from his most recent off-pitch controversy. His memory was only of the six goals he scored in his last six games on Tyneside.
And it was not only the swaggering Rooney that created this optimism: Dimitar Berbatov came into the game with six goals in his last three games. In addition a comeback for Rio Ferdinand was further supplemented by the increasingly-versatile Antonio Valencia at right-back, completing a sturdy back five. The Red Devils organisation shone through their self-satisfaction and seemed to say: “Hey, we’re Manchester United, we can take a defeat.”
There was one element of the five, however, that reeked of uncertainty in the warm-up.
On the back of that home loss to Steve Kean’s rock-bottom battlers last Saturday, goalkeeper David de Gea had further increased his status as a liability.
The £18.6m signing from Atlético Madrid has done well to replicate fellow Spanish compatriots Iker Casillas (Real Madrid) and Victor Valdés (Barcelona) well at times with his shot-stopping and kicking distribution respectively. But horror shows in games against Manchester City (twice), West Brom and Benfica have seen him rival Fernando Torres for money wasted during transfer windows.
It was therefore replacement goalkeeper Anders Lindegaard who the young Spaniard exchanged awkward glances with pre-match, no doubt full of respect and consideration in the knowledge of what this job requires. The Dane had not conceded in his 7 games up until this contest.
Even so Lindegaard seemed agitated, with a frightful demeanour embodying the real task at hand. Whether it was the heightened expectations, or the augmenting atmosphere that had crept into Lindegaard’s comfort zone, a combination of nerves and history was weaving through every sinew of the Dane’s helpless anatomy.
Watching Lindegaard, De Gea seemed almost happy to be the bench warmer.
As it turned out, no one could blame Lindegaard for the goals conceded and he performed with aplomb where Gea would have failed, with his dropping of crosses and reckless thwacks at back-passes.
Moreover, it’s likely that Lindegaard was not up to speed with the history of the clash of these two clubs – providing some of the most Premier League memories, for its amalgamation of quite divine moments of football.
Going right back, one can remember Kevin Keegan’s infamous “I will love it if we beat them, love it!” speech directed at Ferguson in the 1995/96 season to spark the explicit rivalry between the two.
Where a difference in class has prevented an authentic friction between these two momentous clubs, there is history between them that has continued to delight audiences with glimpses of utter class. One could look to Rooney’s thunderous volley in the 2004/05 at Old Trafford, or Alan Shearer’s belting free-kick two years earlier in Manchester – his 200th Premier Legaue goal.
My personal top Premier League memory? Paul Scholes’ cameo in the reverse fixture of Shearer’s milestone year: a hat-trick, which saw him stake his claim as England’s best midfielder since Glenn Hoddle and answer the question as to what Sven Goran Eriksson’s side was missing in their quarter-final matchup with Brazil just nine months earlier in Shizuoka.
Sadly for United was there was no Scholes on a night where Newcastle did extremely well to replicate their form at the start of the season which saw them get three clean sheets in their first four games.
No one was present to unlock the fused partnership of Fabricio Coloccini and Mike Williamson. Ryan Giggs thread one sumptuous pass through to Rooney, but the striker’s acclaimed torturing of past Newcastle defences eluded him.
Ferguson brought on Anderson in the dying moments in the hope that he could provide some consolation through his Brazilian heritage. But apart from one lofted ball over a ridiculously high line that consisted of defenders who were already basically celebrating their win, he had almost nothing to show for himself.
And so the scene was set for Danny Simpson and Gabriel Obertan – a late substitute – to provide the biggest smiles at the end of the game against their old club. Ba had reduced two of the most renowned English centre-backs to bashfulness, whilst Yohan Cabaye and Cheick Tioté had further enhanced their positions as two of the best central midfielders in England – the former scoring a staggering free-kick just moments into the second half to effectively seal the game.
Yohan Cabaye watches on as his stunning free-kick beats the hapless Lindegaard
At the back Tim Krul’s performances in goal provide reliability which puts him up there with the best in the league. Unfortunately for him, his competition on the national front for Holland comes in the form of Michel Vorm and Maarten Stekelenburg – both currently matching Krul’s standard for Swansea and Roma respectively.
Wherever you look things are positive for the Magpies: Davide Santon displayed his Italian roots in his first Premier League start, defending resolutely and beginning to deserve the “new Maldini” title he carried in his youth.
This therefore begs the question as to why no top four challenge?
As thrilling as it is that United have only taken one point from them this season, this win was only their first triumph over a top six side this term. Having lost to Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool and drawn with United, Arsenal and Spurs, their claim is more to Europa League football than the Champions League. This lack of consistency against the top teams, as well as against those in the lower half of the table, puts them in that exact position.
In hindsight, this is because they are simply a less-skilled Tottenham. With a courageous English manager who knows more than most how to deal in the transfer market, plus a sturdy back-line, a concrete midfield and a thin-looking squad, there’s much similarity between the two teams. It’s the differences between Modrić and Cabaye, in Gutiérrez and Bale, that see them slightly lower in the English top tier hierarchy.
In a pre-match interview, Demba Ba confessed that he can’t go a day without some strawberry syrup to fuel his hunger for goals.
Newcastle will be hoping that Ba – with 16 goals in his last 16 Premier League games - can carry on getting his fix, diluting and confusing the stickiest of defences.
Man of the Match: Demba Ba
If there was one performance to prove the cliché ‘a constant threat’, this was it. Scored a fantastic goal to set the tone for his side’s win, got the foul for the second goal and ultimately did the job as a holding striker and threat further up the pitch. In his post-match interview he knew that he’d “put in 100%”. He sure had.
Villain of the Match: Nani
The Portuguese winger seems to either have fantastic matches or very poor matches. This contest proved to be one of his worse affairs, where his derisory crossing and overall lack of attention to detail in his dribbling and work rate showed him up as the game’s worst player.
