One to forget...
Posted by JamesB in Man United, Newcastle | 13 March 2006
... would adequately describe Sunday's game at Old Trafford, which became a question of not "if" but "by how many?"
The first ten minutes or so proved to be somewhat of a disaster. After a relatively promising opening exchange after kick off, Ramage suicidally hit a back pass short and it fell to none other than Wayne Rooney, who reminded us exactly why we tried to buy him the summer before last. Ramage suffered for the second goal as well, being outmuscled by the same player who then smashed the ball in to the net. 12 minutes gone, game over.
One way traffic followed that, as Newcastle fell apart. Our midfield could not get in to the game, the forwards were starved of service, and the defence struggled with the genius of Rooney and the presence of an in form Louis Saha, not to mention Ronaldo who could have easily got on the scoresheet.
The second half seemed to be about damage limitation, and although we had some brief positive spells, the Man Utd keeper only had one save to make all afternoon; a long range Lee Bowyer shot which looked to be heading just wide.
As Glenn Roeder said, the outlook has to remain positive, and we have to be confident ahead of our next game, which sees an out of form Liverpool visit St James' Park. Alonso should be out for that one, as he picked up a red card on Sunday in their defeat to Arsenal.
Given - 6 - could do nothing about the goals, nor the barrage on his goal.
Babayaro - 4 - like most of the back line, he struggled.
Boumsong - 5 - the best of a poor defence.
Elliot - 4 - struggled for pace against Saha and Rooney.
Ramage - 3 - he will learn from this experience, and he recovered fairly well from the first ten minutes.
N'Zogbia - 4 - worst performance I have seen from him, lost the ball every time he had it then did not get involved.
Parker - 5 - anonymous, which was surprising, but forgivable.
Emre - 5 - similar to Parker, just could not get involved in the game
Solano - 5 - quiet, struggled to get back when we were hit on the break.
Shearer - 5 - another player who just could not have an impact on the game.
Ameobi - 4 - conceded his usual ridiculous fouls and did not pose a threat. Dyers return will give us some much needed pace.
