Leaky Defense at either end makes it an Epic contest at the Theatre of Dreams as Manchester United seal their typical comeback to take a 7 point lead atop piling Misery on Pardew and his men . They say Boxing Day brings out the Fighting Spirit within everyone, true to this there were 28 players out on the football pitch today from Manchester United and Newcastle United who gave it their all showing that fighting attitude, making their history proud! Instances have been numerous in the past where football has served injustice to the team that was by far the best and Newcastle United would be hard done by to swallow a bitter blow, returning back empty handed.
Two Man United Heroes putting a stellar performance
Injuries make the Paper Even
We all knew that Newcastle would be without the services of Hatem Ben Arfa, Steven Taylor (both hamstring), Yohan Cabaye (groin) and Ryan Taylor (knee) sidelined going into the match as indicated by Pardew during the mid-week press conference. But on the match day, every united fan around the world was shocked with the absence of Rooney, Young, Welbeck and Jones who were all available until the mid-week press conference. Well this is what Sir Alex had in store,
“Wayne did it in training yesterday; he could be out for 2-3 weeks. He did it towards the end of training yesterday. He did it when trying a volley – he strained a ligament behind the knee. It’s unfortunate, and he could be out for two to three weeks. Danny Welbeck took ill in the team hotel last night. Ashley Young also got injured yesterday and Phil Jones got injured against Swansea” told Sir Alex.
So it was even-Steven as far the Line up was concerned. The teams that were named had abundant quality with talented youngsters making the cut on to the bench.
Two United Teams in Leaking Goals
Both, the Red Devils and The Magpies had one common statistic going into the match – having conceded equal amount of goals, thanks to the Leaky defense of both the teams for sharing this statistic. The match proved just that exactly why we use the term Leaky to classify both the defenses. 7 goals in the entire match (could have been a few more if not for the cross bar at Manchester United’s end & Tim Krul with his amazing heroics saving Newcastle from humiliation in the last 10 minutes) with 4 goals in the last 30 minutes would seem like it was a supreme attacking display from both the teams, though not.
Every goal that Manchester United conceded was due to a defensive error (or) De Gea’s surprisingly poor form today leading to the 1st goal which should have been pushed away for a corner in the 4th minute. The 2nd goal highlighting that the Red Devils can indeed be thwarted if the opposition has a physically strong forward like Ba/Cisse which led to Evans taking evasive actions leading to an own goal (2nd for Newcastle on 28th minute). Though the 3rd goal was pure brilliance from Obertan/Cisse, but blame goes to Smalling who let Obertan out on the wings so easily on the 68th minute.
Ferdinand reacts after James Perch taps in the Rebound
It was total chaos on the other end for Newcastle defense, who were completely out smarted by Chicarito-RVP on the attack & Valencia on the wings. If not for Tim Krul, Chicarito would definitely have had a hat trick to his name today getting the best out of the Dutch Keeper to make some stunning one time reaction saves! The 1st goal was due to lack of communication between the defense and the keeper allowing Evans to mop up the equalizer on the 25th minute. The 2nd and 3rd goals were quite similar in the sense that, the shot taker was given too much free space where the Magpies defense failed to squeeze Evra and RVP down early. Two goals on the 58th and 71st minute, allowing Manchester Red Devils to equalize for the 3rd time. Rest they say is history, Carrick’s sheer brilliance of a cross inside the box allowed Chicarito who is proclaimed as “fox-in-the-box” for a simple tap in past Tim Krul to complete yet another comeback in the 90th minute, with that the match sealed 4-3 to Manchester United.
Chicarito taps in the winner past Tim Krul
Atleast Newcastle knows the exact reasons for their defensive woes which certainly is Lack of communication and confidence, are rectifiable. On the contrary, Manchester United as a team are still clueless as to why they just have 3 clean sheets from 19 matches with 28 goals let in already. Sir Alex has a big job in hand to get to the bottom of the mystery if they really have the motivation to do well in Europe as well as in the 2nd half of the season.
Controversy strikes on the half hour mark
It takes minutes to go from hero to zero. Evans proved it right on the 28th minute when he put the ball into his own net, 3 minutes after he had equalized on the other end. Though, the goal was ruled out by the assistant referee, it was finally given a goal by the official Match referee Mike Dean leading to a huge burst of reactions from Sir Alex on the touchline after the 1st half restart. More on this controversy in this article – http://www.soccersouls.com/2012/12/boxing-day-controversy-at-old-trafford/
Statistics:
The Magpies ticked in all the boxes better than Manchester United except the goals column. If not for the crossbar, Newcastle would have put day light at the end of first half making it 3-1, when Sylvain Marveaux’s free kick struck the post hard leaving De Gea rooted to the spot. There was yet another instance where Marveaux ran past the defenders and curled a shot low and wide on the ground, once again striking the post, much to the disappointment of Newcastle United.
Manchester United themselves missed some great opportunities which wouldn’t have made the scoreline look so tight and could have sealed the game much before the last minute of normal time. Chicarito failed to convert after having put through ahead making it a one-on-one move against Tim Krul before rounding up the Dutch keeper, just to find himself in a bad angle to make any dividends from the shot in the final 15 minutes.
Goal Stats for Both the Teams
Post-match interviews
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson: “Once again they’ve proved their courage, they never gave in. We were down three times and came back three times and eventually they deserved to win the game. I wish this was the last game of the season! What this tells you is the courage of our team. Fantastic courage. The players never gave in. We made a host of chances in the second half. We improved our game enormously after trailing 2-1 at half time, which we had to do”.
“We had a lot of decisions against us in the first half and sometimes that can demoralize a team. But the players didn’t give in and that’s a great quality to have. The third goal was a killer to us, I couldn’t believe it, the third goal was a kick in the teeth. But they never gave in, that’s the quality and they kept making chances. If you keep making them, you’re bound to score some of them. And eventually we did. I’m pleased that we came back three times after going down three times and then scoring the winner. It’s a really significant result for us. It puts in a good position. Never mind where we are at this moment in time. That was a championship performance tonight. Absolutely unbelievable.”
Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew: “You score three goals at Old Trafford; you’ve got to get something, so we’re disappointed. It was a galling game, really, because the last couple of goals were poor from our point of view.
“We had a good game plan today to take the game to them and be offensive and hit them on the break, which we did on a number of occasions. We hit the bar, hit the post and scored three goals; you’ve got to get something out of the game there, and unfortunately we’ve let four in and that’s been our problem.
“You always learn something when you play, we were missing some key players and Anita’s taken a bad challenge towards the end which I thought was unnecessary. They gave a good account of themselves; you can’t do more than score three goals, away from home. You’ve got to get something, as simple as that.”