Manchester United responded in the best possible way to Chelsea's 6-0 demolition of West Brom, beating Newcastle 3-0 at Old Trafford on Monday 16th August, 2010.
The Barclays Premier League table already has a familiar look to it with Chelsea and Manchester United occupying positions at the top of the league, with Blackpool in unfamilar territory after their 4-0 win at Wigan.
Manchester United Vs Newcastle United Team News:
Sir Alec Ferguson started with a 4-4-2 formation, favouring Berbatov and Rooney up front. Young Mexican starlet Javier Hernandez had to contend himself with a place on the bench.
Manchester United: Van der Sar, Evra, Vidic, O' Shea, Evans, Nani, Scholes, Flectcher, Valencia, Berbatov, Rooney
Newcastle started with 8 of the team that was releagued two years ago and won promotion from the Championship last year, with controversial midfielder Joey Barton starting in midfield to add a little bite.
Newcastle United: Harper, Coloccini, Jose Enrique, Williamson, Perch, Nolan, Barton, Routledge, Gutierrez, Carroll, Smith
Manchester United started the game as clear favourites and history in the fixture favours them as well, having won 12 of the last 15 encounters with Newcastle.
Both teams started in their traditional home colours, Manchester United in their red shirts with white shorts and Newcastle in their famous black and white stripes.
Newcastle settled into the game well, seeing plenty of the ball and looking to attack where possible. As the clocked ticked onto 10 minutes exactly Newcastle United’s 6ft 5inch striker Andy Carroll had a glorious opportunity with a free header from the corner. The Newcastle number 9 skewed the ball horribly wide wasting a fantastic chance for Newcastle to take a shock lead.
Carroll has another strike on goal in the 17th minute, with the ball falling nicely to him on his left foot 20 yards from goal. His low driven shot was straight down the throat of Van der Sar, but his forward threat was immediately obvious and he may prove potent against lesser opposition.
Unsurprisingly it was Joey Barton who recorded the first booking of the game after a crude challenge on Nani. This was his first, but unlikely to be his last, booking of the season.
It didn’t take long after this for Manchester United to take control of the ball and the game. Territorially the majority of the first half was played in the Newcastle defensive half, but with few goal scoring opportunities being created. Paul Scholes was exerting his usual influence over the central midfield but Wayne Rooney was unable to do the same up front.
Rooney’s first sight of goal came after 30 minutes after a cross from the right hand side from Valencia, was headed down by Berbatov into the path of Rooney on his unfavoured left foot. The bounce of the ball meant Rooney could never get his foot over the ball and subsequently sent it harmlessly skywards.
Manchester United Take Control Of The Game With 2 Goals Before Half Time.
After 32 minutes Manchester United inevitably broke the deadlock. Gutierrez was guilty of giving the ball away in his own half and Paul Scholes slid Dimitar Berbatov in down the right hand side. He powered a low drive across Harper into the far corner of the net to open his and Manchester United’s goal account for the season.
Manchester United doubled their lead in the 42 minute, after some poor defending by Newcastle. Some good interchange down United’s left between Nani and Evra saw to ball being played into the box. The ball fell to the feet of Darren Fletcher, via Wayne Rooney, after some sloppy and uncertain defending and the Scot had the simple task of prodding it into the net.
Manchester United ended the first half with a 2-0 lead, without ever having to be on top form.
The start of the second half proceeded in much the same vain as the first, with Manchester United controlling position, knocking the ball around slickly and waiting for their opportunity to provide that defence splitting pass.
After a crisp, flowing passing move, Rooney found a defence opening pass to free Berbatov through one on one with Harper. The Bulgarian striker slid the ball past the goalkeeper but also past the right hand post.
New Manchester United signing Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez came off the bench for his Premier League debut, replacing Wayne Rooney in the 63rd minute.
Besides the great team performance Sir Alex Ferguson will be pleased with the form and energy displayed by Dimitar Berbatov, who looked very lively up front, scoring one goal and perhaps could have had more. At times he looked a completely different player to the one we saw last year.
Ryan Giggs Scores The Goal Of The Night
The best goal of the night came in the 85th minute with United veterans Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs combining to score the most exquisite goal. Scholes chipped a delicate ball to the left hand side of the penalty area and Giggs, in his 21st season of Premier League football, stroked the ball on the volley, past Harper. It was a vintage Manchester United goal to round of the perfect start to the season.
Manchester United scored 3 but really they could have scored more. Their outstanding play could have produced and arguably merited as much. They will be content, however, with a solid performance and the ever increasing fitness of their top players to take them into much harder games to come.
Mark Barber - Mark is a Graduate of Media and Print Journalism of the University of Huddersfield. He currently works as a Greenkeeper at Thorpeness Golf ...
