Blackburn burnished a memorable win at Old Trafford last week and today it was Newcastle’s turn to twist the knife into Sir Alex’s men at St James Park. David De Gea was gone replaced by Anders Lindegaard and Wayne Rooney was back £200,000 lighter after his Boxing Day breakout. It did not make a difference as Newcastle pounded them with power, finesse, and a desire to play attacking football.
Demba Ba has a simple plan. To score goals. And he does it bloody effectively as we saw with his curling volley of Shola Ameobi’s header. If we get him to Arsenal there will be no stopping them. Newcastle has Yoann Cabaye who has already treated us to some marvelous goals and this time it was his free kick which had Lindegaard twitching nary a muscle. Phil Jones capped a miserable outing for Utd with an own goal.
It could have been worse as Rio Ferdinand brought down Ba for a sure penalty but the ref thought otherwise. Rooney was dogged by the excellent Cheikh Tiote into no man’s land. Gunners know Tiote very well from the 4 daggers that Newcastle struck Arsenal in that still unbelievable match.
Yes, it was that kind of a day and Sir Alex cut a chastened figure. The Newcastle uppercut leaves Utd looking woozy for their big FA Cup showdown with City. It also leaves Spurs fancying their chances now more than before for a title challenge.