Alan Pardew made three changes to the side that lost at Aston Villa last weekend as fit again Shola Ameobi, Cheik Tiote and Tim Krul, deputising for the injured Steve Harper, were all called upon, and to their credit they all did a job against a team that has an awesome record against us.
The home side started brightly, but they could have been a goal behind before they got into their stride had Tim Krul not spread himself well to prevent Javier Hernandez tapping in a Wayne Rooney square ball. From then on though, the home side took control of proceedings.
Alan Pardew clearly had his players up for it and they got into Manchester United and forced errors. They had chances through Jonas Gutierrez, Shola Ameobi and Joey Barton and registered five attempts at goal and numerous corners in the blink of an eye. St James’ Park approved of this and the noise volumes cranked up a few levels in response.
You have to score when you’re on top though, and Newcastle nearly paid for their profligacy when Wayne Rooney clipped the ball over Mike Williamson to put himself through on goal. I fully expected the fat chav to get his annual goal against us, but to my surprise he spooned the ball at Tim Krul who deflected the **** high over the Gallowgate net.
After a frantic start the game started to settle down and Manchester United started to get into it a bit more. They had the bulk of the possession, and rather ominously it was all in and around the edge of our penalty area.
Newcastle still had their chances however through a couple of Joey Barton set-pieces and through a mix-up in the away sides defence which took Peter Lovenkrands by surprise, but that was about it it for the first-half and there is a strong case to suggest that Newcastle were the better the side and should have been in front.
Alex Ferguson clearly had the hairdryer out at half-time as his side started the second-half with intent and forced a series of corners. Fortunately nothing came of them but it was Man Utd that were clearly on top and took control of the game.
Newcastle can possibly feel aggrieved that they weren’t awarded a penalty when Anderson tripped Peter Lovenkrands in the box. Replays showed that there was contact although I personally feel that a penalty would have been harsh as I think Lovenkrands had lost control of the ball. Still, it was a talking point as referee, Lee Probert waved away the claims.
To be honest, both sides struggled to create much in the second-half. There was no doubt that Manchester United had the better of the chances, but fortunately those chances just didn’t sit right for them whether that be due to good fortune or good defending by Newcastle in equal measure.
Stephen Ireland made his long-awaited debut as he replaced Lovenkrands, and he nearly made an instant impact when he latched onto a Shola flick-on and hit an instant shot that went just wide of Edwin van der Sar’s goal. That was to be Shola’s last act as he was withdrawn for Nile Ranger.
St James’ Park had quietened down a bit, but they were woken back up again when Michael Owen was introduced as the away side went all out for the win. Ironically the introduction of a man who couldn’t motivate Newcastle when he was here somehow managed to do just that as the home side woke up for the final ten minutes and started to threaten again.
Ryan Giggs flashed a shot just wide after finding the ball at his feet in the area, and there was a scare in injury time when Javier Hernandez went down under a Danny Simpson challenge, which resulted in the Mexican receiving a booking for simulation. All I’ll say is that if Lovenkrands wasn’t awarded a penalty then neither was this one.
That was it for the action as Lee Probert blew the whistle. A fantastic point for Newcastle which moves them up to ninth and sees us hit the magic 40 point barrier.
Howay the lads!
Newcastle: Tim Krul, Danny Simpson, Mike Williamson, Fabricio Coloccini, Jose Enrique, Joey Barton, Cheik Tiote, Danny Guthrie, Jonas Gutierrez, Shola Ameobi, Peter Lovenkrands.
Subs: Ole Soderberg, James Perch, Steven Taylor, Ryan Taylor, Stephen Ireland, Nile Ranger, Shefki Kuqi.
Man Utd: Edwin van der Sar, John O’Shea, Chris Smalling, Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra, Nani, Michael Carrick, Anderson, Ryan Giggs, Javier Hernandez, Wayne Rooney.
Subs: Tomasz Kuszczak, Fabio Da Silva, Jonny Evans, Darron Gibson, Ji-Sung Park, Antonio Valencia, Michael Owen.
Referee: Lee Probert.
Attendance: 49,025.
Aahhhhnyway. Back to the good stuff. It’s my birthday, I’m chuffed to bits with the result, and a few players gave their respective critics something to chew on last night. My highlights:
Krul’s shot-stopping. No surprise there – just always good to see.
Jonas – just everything. He was superb; my MOTM. (****, I just agreed with Louise Taylor. 😳 )
The EMO ****-take and his pathetic responses this morning. Teh ****.
40 points. 5 games to go. Just sounds nice, doesn’t it?
Whumpie(Quote)
If I have to be picky (And I do. So sue me.)…
Loven needs to remind himself about cow’s arses and banjos. Got in some great positions, though. He’ll come good again.
Barton’s eye just wasn’t tuned in last night. No lack of effort as always, but some awful passes and set pieces.
Rooney didn’t spontaneously combust, have a fight with EMo, or accidentally kick his own head off in a hissy fit. Shame. I’d have liked that, the little ****. 😈
Whumpie(Quote)
Happy birthday whumpie mate
Jobey07(Quote)
Devon…agree
Whumpie…..Happy Birthday, 21 again? 😉
richietoon(Quote)
DM- Who the **** wasn’t happy after yesterdays draw, some papers chat ****.
Jobey07(Quote)
me 😉
richietoon(Quote)
Cheers Jobey. Sucks to be at work, mind. 😉
Whumpie(Quote)
Devon – it depends on how you classify it as a good read. There are fans like the mail described, and I viewed the positive parts as a two fingers to the naysayers 😉
toonsy(Quote)
I love the fact that none of the ‘traditional’ top 4 have had a good time with us this season. We’ve beaten Chelski, Liverpool and Arsenal, and taken a point off Manure. It goes a long way towards making up for losses to ‘lesser’ teams, and to be honest I’d rather have it that way around.
I find it hard to begrudge points lost to Blackpool or Stoke – dem boys done good. I could never feel that way about the bigger teams. One point against Manure is more satisfying than 3 against Brum any day. 😀
Whumpie(Quote)
Toonsy…..aye but when they write like that then they imply that the majority of fans feel that way and that isn’t true imo, too many little digs in that articles at us for me to appreciate the article at all.
**** the Daily Mail and every other newspaper 😉
richietoon(Quote)
who was pickin on wor toonsy last night 😕 😈
batty(Quote)
I think that Mail article is a ‘good read’ if you agree with it. I sort of do, but I resent that it presents a minority view as the norm. I also hate the simplistic and unbalanced view on the money front.
Basically, it’s classic Daily Hate Mail – a combination of dumbing down and presentation of opinion as fact. It’s gutter press stuff dressed up as commentary.
Whumpie(Quote)
Fair play Toons, we’ve all got our opinions like, no paper winds me up like the Mail though 😡
Happy bday Whumpie mate! Sorry to hear you’re in work, I’m balls deep in a dissertation so, to an extent, feel your pain. Still, at least ‘Conrad & African Fiction: Postcolonial revisions of Heart of Darkness’ gives me time to **** around at home and watch footy highlights 😉
DevonMag(Quote)
I wonder what we’ll see as a line-up for the next match? Pardew will suddenly go from a derth of attacking midfielders to an embarrassment of riches. Does he stick Ireland in the middle, or Nolan? Or play a 4-4-1-1 with Ireland ‘in the hole’? Does he stick with Danny (wasn’t blown away with him last night, tbh).
And then Benny arrives…
Whumpie(Quote)
if gutierez played like that every game then he would be straight in2 the argentina squad , he played excellent!! i dont know about yous but i think pardue is defo got our players fired up 4 matches , i like it!!!
Army69(Quote)
Cheers, Devon. Nothing like some heavy **** to plough through on a sunny day, eh. Have you red ‘Blood River’? Quite interesting in places and raises some interesting questions about post-colonial progress (or lack of it) in Africa vs the rest of the world.
Wow. can’t believe I just wrote that on a footie blog!
Whumpie(Quote)
danny guthrie is a championship player whumpie , i am not keen on the lad much myself BUT he had a canny steady game against 1 of the worlds top teams so im more than happy with his performance last nyt
Army69(Quote)
haha to be honest Whumpie it was me who opened up the can of worms, shoulda just stuck with slagging off the Mail! While we’re on it though, I’ve not read it but it sounds a lot like a revision of Conrad, will look into it, cheers mate. For the record I thought Guthrie was solid yesterday, didn’t groan when he got the ball once!
DevonMag(Quote)
Mick Dennis predicted the club wouldnt come back after relegation then would be straight back down after no capital outlay, Then the fat zac dingle Martin Samuel said Carroll wasnt up to it after the man utd match only for him to score a hat trick the week after… 😆 🙄
Which “experts” had us to put 5 past that team “light years” ahead of us, Beating arsenal on their own patch, 6 past Villa, 5 past wham, coming back from 4 down at half time, Wins at Everton and wigan where were always *****, Beating the bindippers the match after the hoots business.
They are playing guessing games, guessing players are leaving, guessing our feelings towards the Carroll sale, guessing were not happy with the season (bullshit BTW)
If mystic meg or Derek acora start writing for the mail and tell me that fat mick sells everyone and leaves us with the youth team and Raylor i might worry but these ‘kin no marks talk bollocks…
CC(Quote)
I wonder what the average IQ of a footie journo is? I have a pocket calculator that could probably rival it. 😐
Devon – Blood River is an account of a Telegraph journo (see – still on topic really 😀 ) who re-traces the route the explorer Stanley (also a Telegraph journo) took in the 19th century through the Congo. It’s not the best read, but gives an interesting viewpoint. His main question at the end is, “why is it that out of all the countries that were subject to European colonialisation, only African countries seem to still be struggling this way?”. And he has no answer.
Work out that answer, and you’ll be the next Mandela, mate!
Whumpie(Quote)
Nice post, btw, CC!
Whumpie(Quote)
Aids. There’s yer answer.
DevonMag(Quote)
BS. Aids is a symptom the same as all the other suffering. That virus doesn’t care which continent you’re on!
There’s something ingrained there; something so inherent or in-built into the culture and structure that it’s yet to be broken. Most of it comes down to the locals’ willingness to resort to corruption, violence and short-term personal gain even when it’s so obviously damaging to the bigger picture. But they do they do that more than, say, the Malaysians?
Whumpie(Quote)
AIDS is a good example. They have a huge infection rate compared to the rest of the world. Why? Probably a combination of the use of rape as part of tribal warefare, partly promiscuity, partly religious interference, partly lack of awareness. All of which are exascerbated by the corruption, power struggles, war, famine and so on.
Tis a ******.
Whumpie(Quote)
we can’t blame Owen for being injured and its not his fault the mike ashley paid him 110K a week
georgeNUFCthompson(Quote)
Every game owen played he cost 494K
georgeNUFCthompson(Quote)
This must be the most interesting football blog in England,from Guthrie to Conrad and back to Carrol.I love it! Especially since football fans are a looked upon as a rather lowbrow race by most outsiders the press people nothwithtstanding. 😎
arrowhead(Quote)