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Manchester United	3 - 1	Newcastle
Half time:	1 - 0
Score Sheet:
(24) van Nistelrooy  (50) Scholes  (62) Scholes		Shearer (69)
	Teams
Barthez P.Neville G.Neville Blanc Silvestre Scholes Veron Keane Butt Solskjaer van Nistelrooy		Given Hughes Dabizas Distin Elliott Solano Dyer Speed Lee Shearer Bellamy
Substitutes:
Yorke for van Nistelrooy (66) Beckham for Solskjaer (85)		Bernard for Solano (81) Ameobi for Bellamy (81)
Subs not used:
Carroll O'Shea Irwin		Harper O'Brien LuaLua
Bookings:
Solskjaer (22)		Solano (51)
Sendings off:
None		None
Referee: Peter Jones (Loughborough).
Attendance: 67,646. Second highest of the season at Old Trafford by just five.

24 mins: Kieron Dyer crossed into the box at one end and before we could touch the ball again it was in the net at the other end. A patient build up ended up with Silvestre crossing for van Nistelrooy to head in from six yards, after his markers went AWOL. 0-1 

Half time: Manchester United 1 Newcastle 0

50 mins: A stunning goal. Silvestre cut in from the left again and found Solskjaer who laid a lovely ball to Paul Scholes to hit first time past Shay Given. Slack marking? Perhaps but credit the slick passing of the home side. 0-2 

62mins: The visitors charged forward and left space for the hosts to exploit. Roy Keane found one of those gaps down their left and after evading a desperate lunge from Nicos Dabizas, he passed to the far post for Scholes tap into an empty net. 0-3 

69 mins: Some pride was definitely salvaged with this stunning effort. Robbie Elliott put over an excellent cross and Alan Shearer leapt above Gary Neville to nod into the far corner with some power. Even Big Les would have been proud of it. 1-3 

Full time: Manchester United 3 Newcastle 1

Uncle Bobby said:  

"I said to my players, is it a bad thing being level on points with Manchester United in January. We're still in it. We have Leeds United at home and we're good at home, though it will be a tough match.

"We've worked hard to get where we are so we're not about to let it slip. We won't let our heads go down.

"All we've done is lost three points, but we normally lose those anyway. We've taken three off them so it's split down the middle.

"We're going to pick ourselves up for the FA cup tie against Crystal Palace on Saturday and then we've got a marvellous league programme ahead of us after Leeds. On paper it looks fine.

"There's Liverpool and Spurs away but we've got a lot of winnable matches. We've got to get on with it and win those games.

"The top six are all still in it. I'm amazed at Chelsea's result against Southampton after the way they played against us - right through the spine of the team they were solid against us.

"But isn't it wonderful for the league? Everybody's improved, bought players and spent money wisely.

About his defensive pairing of Distin and Dabizas:

"Andy (O'Brien) has been tired, he's been looking tired and it will do him good to be out.

"I needed to play Sylvain Distin and Nicos had missed a couple of matches since he was cleaned out at Leeds. I paired them together.

"But the big teams like this one (Manchester United) just show us how much work we've got to do in defence. We've got to be better at defending, that was the only difference first-half. We had more possession but that's not surprising.

"The only difference was they got a goal and we didn't. There was an overload on the left side and Mikael Silvestre crossed and Ruud van Nistelrooy was completely unmarked to head it in.

"But with 45 minutes to go 1-0 down wasn't that bad but the second goal came too early, within five minutes of the restart.

"It's a long way from 2-0 down, it was a clever second goal. It was walked in.

"Roy Keane was full of running and hit the byline for the second.

"Then we went 3-0 down and they just outpassed us but Alan Shearer got a deserved goal. He battled all night."

About Nobby's disallowed header:

"It was a bit iffy. I think he did lean on him and it went for them, but sometimes it goes the other way. But I'm not complaining about that. 

"I've no complaints about the referee. I've seen them given and it might have made it 1-1 but I'm not going to make an issue of it.

"Sometimes you get decisions like that and sometimes you don't."

Kieron Dyer also commented on the Nobby "goal":

"Maybe if we were the home team, Nobby's goal would have stood and that would have changed the whole complexion of the game," said the England midfielder.

"I've spoken to a few people and they've said the same thing and it's one of those things.

"Probably if we had been playing up at St James' Park and Manchester United had scored that goal it would probably have been disallowed as well.

"It's all ifs and buts, but I think Manchester United deserved it in the end."

Gary Speed said of an early goalbound effort:

"My shot was definitely going in and if it had it could have made all the difference. For every time we have scored first in a game this season we have not been beaten.

"But we cannot keep on giving goals away like we did last night. We went into the game joint second in the Premiership and with some people saying we could win it.

"But when you give goals away like we did last night and against Chelsea at St James's Park on Saturday then we are not going to win anything.

"I know we are still level on points with Manchester United but it's disappointing because we have scored away from home again and looked dangerous whenever we have gone forward.

"It's just that we have to be more disciplined in the last third of the field."

Taggart said of the Nobby header:

"He shoved him. There was no doubt about it. In actual fact, just before that, Alan Shearer had also shoved Mikael (Silvestre) off the ball and I don't think there was any doubt about it."

About his side's title chances:

"I can't go back on what I said and we can't make a mistake. It's as simple as that."
 
 

Match Stats

Alan Shearer marked his 200th Newcastle game with his 104th Toon goal. 

Manchester United have now scored the most goals (242) against us in all competitions - (Liverpool 241). They also now hold the league record of 229, exceeding Liverpool's 227.

No Newcastle player has scored in the away end at Old Trafford since Mirandinha back in September 1987. Including our two FA Cup Semi-finals, that's 12 fruitless attempts. 

And so the new year dawned with a performance from Newcastle that in many ways epitomised the positive and negative aspects of the year just ended.

It began with a free-flowing display of confident football, almost unprecedented from ourselves heree, before the almost-traditional undressing. If there were crumbs of comfort, at least it wasn't a former Magpie banging the ball in for the Reds, but that, like Shearer's post-goal expression of grim satisfaction, was about as pleasurable as it got.

Pre-match portents had been good, with poor weather clearing up to allow the travelling mags from the North-East a reasonably clear run across the Pennines by road and rail. 

Once in Manchester it was bloody cold, but licensed premises were open and welcoming, even to those clad in black and white - decidedly old-fashioned prices in the infamous Piccadilly Wetherspoons tempted some of our number into strange combinations - Guinness and Bacardi breezers for example (mercifully not in the same glass.)

A slightly-oiled away contingent overcame the handicap of Old Trafford slapping a beer ban on the away end stadium bars "for security reasons", to welcome in the new year with some song and dance renditions of "Hey Alan Shearer" and "nick off Peytar Reid." 

Rather oddly the stadium DJ played both records pre-match, which simply stoked up the Toon fans more - possibly not the desired effect.

The home sections were as lifeless as usual, with only the constant battery of camera flashes to confirm that there were actually people in the "big" stand that we took for the Spurs semi. The upper tier of the Stretford End now appears to have been designated as an "atmosphere" zone, and the balcony front is now adorned with a selection of supporters banners - not a bad idea in principle it must be said. 

Of course the fact that standing is frowned on here (at least in home areas) rather wrecks the plan. The right hand corner of the upper tier at least looked like they were trying to get the rest going - not dissimilar to the unofficial singing section we once had in the North end of the Milburn stand, now replaced by empty seats...that's progress.

Almost inevitably the usual futile attempts were made by the stewards to make the Newcastle fans sit down. As usual, they failed, making it now one out of 16 away games this season where the majority of toon fans were seated (Ipswich since you ask). 

Admittedly it's impossible to see anything from some of the sections we're allocated, and the standing practice seems to be a tradition that we're determined to uphold, but the authorities are starting to close in.

Before this game a letter was seen that was sent to the many thousands of Mancs denied  tickets for their recent game at the smogs. Basically the gist was that because so many fans stood up last season, the away allocation had been reduced to 1,100 by Boro (conveniently overlooking the common practice of home fans passing on their tickets).

Inevitably at some stage this reduced allocation nonsense will start to happen to us -  there is already anecdotal evidence that Arsenal are to embark on a similar course of action - and the St.James' ticket office will no doubt get it in the neck from disgruntled punters, when for once it's not their fault.

Speaking personally I'd prefer to stand, but a number of people known to me have already stopped going to away games because they simply aren't big enough to be able to see over the occupants of the row in front, while a common sight at toon games now are youngsters standing on seats to get a better view. Nowt wrong with that again, but surely more of a risk of injury than in the old "pass 'em down the front" days.

The whole matter of standing has to be forced on to the national agenda - as things stand now the situation is totally unsatisfactory. It has to more dangerous to stand within rows of seats than on an open terrace; it is proven every week that it's impossible to exit a seated section quickly - witness how many people at Leeds walked up the aisles that led to a brick wall rather than the expected exit steps. It's funny when we're winning and everyone's your mate, but lethal when a genuine emergency sees panic set in a crowd and someone with a gammy leg takes a tumble. Been there, seen it happen - Spurs (a).

Perhaps our much-vaunted FLC could do some work on the whole issue rather than clart on with flag days and the like. We live in hope.

Anyway, enough philosophising and back to the action.

The suspicion pre-match was that we'd come to lose, or at least not win and with the return of Robert Lee in midfield looked like a holding operation was planned. While Robert was injured, the inclusion of Bernard would at least have given us some cover down the left, both going forward and in defence. As it was, Elliott was simply outclassed at the back and isolated when he went forward. Nice cross for the Shearer goal tho' but.

The centre of defence also seemed a tad odd, with Distin and Dabizas being paired in an unfamiliar combo. Now they might have just gained a common currency, but their common language appeared to consist of the shrug and the glare. Not ideal. 

We were unlucky not to be ahead through Speed, and looking remarkably comfortable when the home side took the lead. After that we still could claim that we were in the hunt, and video replays of Solano's disallowed effort showed he was more sinned against than sinner.

However, with Bellamy in full Michael Douglas (falling down) mode we were lacking something up front, and when Shearer did claim the ball, his outlets were distinctly limited. The Welshman was awful, and even the referee seemed to join Blanc and co. at times in laughing at his plaintive arm-waving to try and win non-existent free kicks. 

Hopefully Bobby was as p****d off with this as many toon fans and had words.

Following half time we then had a strong dose of reality, as a fluent passing move quite literally left us gasping for air as the ball hit the back of our net. If a gulf in class wasn't apparent before then it was now. As they had in the 4-3 toon game, Fergie's men simply stepped up to another level.

Still we pressed, but in a conviction-less way, or so it seemed. Stirrings from the subs bench seemed to indicate enough was enough and a new plan was being devised but in the event Steve Harper came down to warm up - it was a chilly night I suppose....

Eventually with a third goal conceded and a Shearer "consolation", we were treated to a whole 9 minutes of Bernard and Shola, with a disgruntled Bellamy mouthing obscenities to the Newcastle bench for the second subbing in a row. Another man starting to believe what the papers write about him appears to be Ameobi, and he flounced around in the manner of someone who'd rather have stayed in the dugout with a woolly hat on. To be beaten in the air by a diminutive Neville is nothing short of a disgrace....

So, to sum up - we looked good at times, able to cope with allegedly superior opposition and proved we could damage them in the penalty area. However, without "the rub of the green" that would have seen us back on level terms, we crucially lacked the ability and/or belief to hurt the opposition. Big hearts yes, big squad yes, big prospects....ermmm....

Although it pains me to say it and thus concur with those clever football writers from the home counties who say we've been lucky and are over-achieving, they aren't too wide of the mark. We got to the top of the league with a modicum of luck and a welter of effort, unfortunately we won't stay there if we rely only on those components. 

Robson knows he's short-handed in crucial areas (full back and midfield) and also knows that we can't afford to bring in anything better than we've got - it's to his credit that he's got the most out of his players in recent weeks, but we just lack the talent in a couple of areas when confronted with the big boys on a level playing field. And if Shearer were to get injured....it doesn't bear thinking about. 

Returning to the "defeat as metaphor for the year" angle it has to be pointed out that we only play one league game at here, one at Anfield etc. per season and we are much better equipped to overcome the journeymen teams in the league than 12 months ago. 

The London run is over, away victories are becoming less of a rarity, and we are capable of playing a more fast-moving inventive and goal-laden brand of football than at any time since the Keegan era.

We competed in this game and avoided a hammering, but after the amazing events at Arsenal and Leeds it was a little optimistic to think we'd be able to pull out yet more magic tricks to surprise and delight a TV audience. The suspicion is though that we were content merely to play a part - that was the limit of our ambition. It's also fair to say that the home side looked capable of scoring more goals against us as the game progressed and would have done so had their victory been threatened.  

So, is this as good as it gets? Provided our results in the second half of the season match the first, the only obstacle to our recording a good finish is the fact that while we may bury Everton and Charlton etc. at home, so will our rivals. 

If we can consign the Chelsea and Manchester United defeats to the history book and start it all off again against Leeds anything is possible. All of a sudden however, the title holders seem to have started their retaining run; there ain't much we can do about that now, whether anyone else can remains to be seen.

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