Manchester United Vs Newcastle United match report / stats / highlights…
Posted on November 29th, 2011 | 71 Comments |
Date: Saturday 26 November, 2011
Kick-off: 3.00pm.
Referee: Mike Jones (replaced Phil Dowd).
After such a great result was over-shadowed by the deeply sad news of the death of a true Geordie Legend, Gary Speed, I’ve found it very hard to commit to a match report. It’s with a heavy heart that I put finger to keypad to type out something that pales into insignicance in such upsetting circumstances. It times like these that football takes a backseat.
The game:
Newcastle traveled to Manchester for the second week running to pit themselves against the current champions at Old Trafford. Having not won there in almost 40 years, every pundit and their dog probably had us down for a loss. But despite playing the final 15 minutes with ten men after the senidning off of Gutierrez, and receiving everything Manchester United had to throw at us including the kitchen sink, once again it was some great last ditch defending including a few more great saves from Tim Krul helped Newcastle to snatch a rare point from Old Trafford.
The game started at breakneck speed, Man U attacking from the off trying to gain an early advantage. After the first ten minutes though, Newcastle started to settle and you could see that we weren’t here to make up the numbers.
Obertan, playing against his former employers was having a great start to the game, constantly finding space on the right and once Newcastle found their feet, Man U knew they were in a game. In the 10th minute, a brilliant dink over the defence from into the path of the marauding Demba Ba could have given us the lead. Whilst his low shot forced David de Gea into making a good save, he could have got a bit more power into it if he had made a better connection. It was some good play from the lads though which brought us back into the game though after Manchester’s early dominance. Very soon after that, it was Gutierrez’s turn to release Ba once again but this time Ba was judged to be offside.
At the other end our defence was showing why they are one of the best in the league. Blocking, tackling and playing out to the midfield with confidence. Obertan wriggled clear and sent over a sweet cross that evaded everyone, finding Ryan Taylor unmarked at the back stick. Unfortunately though, it came onto his less favoured left foot and he could make a clean enough contact to worry the Man U goal.
It wasn’t going the home teams way and that was highlighted by yet another contentious temper tantrum by Rooney. As Colo tackled him, won the ball, whilst down on the turf, Rooney thought hacking away at our
Captain was a good idea. This upset Hatem Ben Arfa to the point of running the length of the pitch to remind Rooney of his mental deficiencies. The ref decided in his wisdom that Hatem was out of order, yellow carding him for dissent. It’s hardly surprizing Hatem was so bothered after what he’s been through in the last year, recovering from another trip to Manchester.
The Lads were holding their own in a pulsating and pretty even half of football. Krul was plucking balls out of the air, Guthrie and Cabaye finding willing runners in Jonas and Obertan However whilst both sides fashioned some reasonable chances forcing the odd save, neither Krul nor De Gea were greatly tested at this stage. Playing at the front for the Reds, Javier “Chicarito” Hernandez, though lively, his finishing was generally quite poor for a player of his stature, miscuing many of his chances when they came. Even when he scored later in the match, it was something of a fluke. Wayne Rooney, who joined Hernandez at the front in a somewhat unexpected 4-4-2 formation seemed to be playing in more of a supporting role, and was somewhat anonymous by his usual standards yesterday too, though it was his shot which ricoched off Hernandez for that later goal.
Half Time Manchester United 0 – 0 Newastle United.
The second half started much as the first with the home team on the attack. After just 4 minutes a very weak free kick decision was given against Steven Taylor just outside our box. I feared the worst. Rooney piled it into the wall that had stood tall. It bounced back into his path and he smashed it again, this time making it through the forest of legs. Krul looked to have it covered, it landed in front of Steven Taylor who hammered it out, only for it to riccochet off the poaching Hernandez, seemingly going beyond him but it did a 90 deegree turn and trickled over the line, leaving the helpless Krul with no chance. To this onlooker it seemed to have come off of his elbow, but anyway it was given. Manchester United 1 – 0 Newastle United
It looked as though it was going to be all one way traffic from then but Newcastle regrouped and started to show some of their first half form. Not unlike last season at SJP, the Lads rolled up their collective sleeves and took the sting out of Man U’s offence. It wasn’t all defence for the Magpies though. From a corner, a curving ball bounced invitingly for Coloccini who caught it really well on the half volley, hitting it down at the ground, it sprang up towards the net only for De Gea to tip it over the bar with a top save.
Newcastle continued going about their business until the ball was worked up to the tricky Hatem Ben Arfa. He took the ball about 35 yards out and started to wind his way towards the Stretford end goal. Jinking past their defence, he made his way into the box, pushed for the by-line, Ferdinand slid in when shephearding him out may have been a better, safer option. Clattering into Ben Arfa, Hatem rolled from the collision, looking for something from the ref. It seemed as if he was pointing for a corner, but it became apparent that the ref’s Ass. was flagging for something else. The usual surrounding of the ref ensued, all respect given over to moaning.
Penalty!
Unbelievable!
Probably for the first time in, well, forever that a ‘debateable’ Penalty has been given to an away team at Old Trafford. I can tell you, this humble narrator was er, quite pleased!
Ba took the responsibility, placed the ball, checked, re-placed the ball, found a nice tuft on the penalty spot, gathered himself and calmly dispatched the ball into the right hand corner, sending De Gea the wrong way.
Get in!
Manchester United 1 – 1 Newastle United.
The game was ebbing and flowing now, Manchester United were crying for every decision and mostly, the ref was going along with their protestations. Jonas slid into a tackle and picked up a yellow. That was our third of the game. A few short minutes later, Jonas was drawn into another tackle on Nani. A bad move. Whilst he did clip Nani, Nani then leapt like a man shot down in his prime and there was only going to be one outcome.
Red card Jonas…Off!
The red horde sensed blood, maybe for the first time since the first 5 minutes of the game. Everything, including the kitchen sink, was now thrown our way. With 15 minutes plus OT (Old Trafford) time, there was little let up. A series of shots, crosses, deflections, saves, abuse were directed towards the Newcastle goal.
Krul made fine stops from point blank, curved shots and the like. Steven Taylor got inbetween numerous chances, Ryan Taylor hacked away for a corner. Danny Simpson then made the ‘old boy’ save of the day, stopping a seemingly certain goal on the line with an amazing foot in, Krul beaten. They even hit the post, but nothing was going to breach this heroic defensive display of 11 v 10 away from home Lads a share of the spoils.
They kept coming and coming, and Hernandez even managed to get the ball in the back of the net in the very last knockings of the game, only to be correctly ruled offside by the other ref’s Ass. A little help on from Carrick forced Hernandez into an offside position.
No goal!
That was with literally seconds to go in the fourth minute of extra time. On any other day at Old Trafford, the ref would have seen fit to give in to virtually insurmountable pressure from 70 odd thousand expectant glory hunters; but not this time, no dice!
Final score: Manchester United 1 – 1 Newastle United.
What a defensive performance, against all odds at probaly the hardest place to get any ‘luck’. It’s no fluke though that we have the best back 5 currently. I always thought we had a chance in this game and so it proved. Well done to all involved, manager, coaches, fans but mostly the team.
I’d like to finish by dedicating this article to the late, great Gary Speed, a TRUE Geordie Legend, you will be missed, but never forgotten. Thanks for all your fantastic service to N.U.F.C.
My deepest condolances go out to his family (especially his bairns) and friends. Rest in peace.
Howay the Lads!
Man of the match: Tim Krul for several more matchsaving saves
Teams, Stats etc…
Teams
Manchester United (4-4-2): David De Gea, Fabio, Patrice Evra (Federico Macheda 88), Nemanja Vidić, Rio Ferdinand, Nani, Ashley Young, Ryan Giggs, Michael Carrick, Javier Hernandez, Wayne Rooney.
Subs: Anders Lindegaard (G), Frederico Macheda, Chris Smalling, Ji-Sung Park, Darron Gibson, Antonio Valencia, Jonathan Evans.
Newcastle United (4-4-1-1): Tim Krul (G), Danny Simpson, Steven Taylor, Fabricio Coloccini (C), Ryan Taylor, Gabriel Obertan, Yohan Cabaye, Danny Guthrie (James Perch 74), Jonas Gutierrez, Hatem Ben Arfa (Lovenkrands 80); Demba Ba.
Subs: Rob Elliot (G), Davide Santon, James Perch, Dan Gosling, Sammy Ameobi, Peter Lovenkrands, Shola Ameobi.
Stats.
Goals: Javier Hernandez 49, Demba Ba (Pen) 63.
Yellow cards: Hatem Ben Arfa (26), Fabio (54), Jonas Gutierrez (65), Danny Guthrie (67).
Red cards: Jonas Gutierrez (79).
Possession: Manchester United 59.9%, Newcastle United 40.1%.
Shots on target: Manchester United 7, Newcastle United 5.
Shots off target: Manchester United 12, Newcastle United 1.
Corners: Manchester United 11, Newcastle United 3.
Passes: Manchester United 421, Newcastle United 280.
Pass Success: Manchester United 81.2%, Newcastle United 66.1%.
Territorial advantage: Manchester United 53.6%, Newcastle United 46.4%.
Match highlights and post match interviews
Unfortunately, the half hour highlights we posted on Saturday are no longer available, however there are still some shorter ones (below) along with the post match interviews from Alan Pardew and an absolutely livid Alex Ferguson. :lol:
NUFCBlog Author: CLiNT FLiCK
Cut me in half & it'll say Newcastle United F.C. just like a stick of Black 'n' White rock!
CLiNT FLiCK has written 42 articles on this blog.
Thanx worky,
nice ‘tickle’ too.
:)
Forgot to call hernandez ‘petit pois’.
:lol:
BTW, do ya’ get ‘big peas’?
;)