Newcastle United v Manchester United – First half review: English Premier League (Part 1)
Manchester United resumed their English Premier League title challenge with a trip away to Newcastle United on Tuesday, April 19, 2011, as Sir Alex Ferguson made several changes to his side that lost on the weekend against Manchester City in the semi-finals
of the FA Cup.
The veteran tactician brought in http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Nemanja-Vidic-c27550 and John O’Shea. Edwin Van der Sar started
in between the goal posts for the men in red.
In midfield, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Wayne-Rooney-c36736
made up Manchester United’s two-man attacking front.
On the other hand, Newcastle United were without their usual captain, Kevin Nolan, thus Shola Ameobi started for the Men in White and Black at Saint James’ Park.
Ameobi was supported in attack by Peter Lovenkrands whilst Joey Barton carried the armband in central midfield alongside Cheikh Tiote. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Jonas-c18967 Gutierrez also lined up alongside Barton and Tiote in a four man midfield.
At the back, Alan Padrew’s fielded Danny Simpson, Mike Williamson, Fabricio Coloccini and Jose Enrique as Newcastle’s back four. Tim Krul also started the match as Newcastle’s customary goalkeeper.
Manchester United started the match as more vibrant of the two teams at Saint James’ Park as Michael Carrick dictated the tempo of the match from central midfield. It was the Red Devils’ imagination and creativity that gave birth to their first goal scoring
opportunity of the encounter in the 2nd minute.
Wayne Rooney was played in by Ryan Giggs as the Englishman squared a finely timed cross towards his team-mate Javier Hernandez. Unluckily for the visiting team, Tim Krul read the situation perfectly and rushed out of his goal to claim the ball at the Mexican
striker’s feet.
In the 6th minute, Newcastle United produced their first attack of the match as Jonas Gutierrez surged past Luis Nani and John O’Shea before unleashing a powerful drive towards Van der Sar’s goal.
However, the Argentinean winger’s shot was an inaccurate one, as it thudded against the crossbar and went out of play. Slowly but surely, Newcastle established a foot hold in the match, as Joey Barton started to dominate Anderson and Carrick in the midfield
region.
Newcastle’s main outlet was Gutierrez down their left wing, as the tricky speedster had the better of John O’Shea on plenty of occasions in the first half.
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