Premier League Results: Manchester United thump Newcastle United 3-0
Manchester United completed a comprehensive 3-0 win against Newcastle United in their first match of the 2010-2011 Premier League season. It was a case of how many goals United would score, as Newcastle certainly did not look to offer much resistance to the former Premier League champions. There were a lot of positives to take for the Red Devils and a 3 nil score-line did not justify the performance of United. It was a completely one-sided match in which all Newcastle did was damage limitation.
Sir Alex Ferguson did not have his first choice back line to start with as Rio Ferdinand suffered a late setback and is out for a couple of weeks. Johnny Evans and Nemanja Vidic started in the centre of defence while John O’Shea and Patrice Evra covered the full-back spots. In the centre of midfield were marshals Darren Fletcher and Paul Scholes, and Antonio Valencia and Nani occupied the wings. In attack, it was the obvious choice with Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov joined in up-front. The new Mexican recruit Javier Hernandez was on the bench.
United started the match on the front foot and Newcastle knew they were in for a tough night at Old Trafford. The man of the match by a mile was Paul Scholes from Manchester United. It is phenomenal that even after so many years, the veteran still has the legs to last the whole 90 minutes and keep up the same energy level.
Newcastle did get couple of rare shots on goal in the first 15 minutes, but from then on it was all Red. Wayne Rooney, though, was still struggling to find his touch. He looked a bit too eager to prove something and was not able to control the ball as he would have liked. Dimitar Berbatov, on the other hand, looked a different player; he was not his lethargic self; instead, he was very quick and eager to get into the right places in the box. It was only fair that the Bulgarian got the game opener, and who else but Paul Scholes was the one who set it up. The former England international threaded a pass through from the edge off the box and Berbatov on the run made no mistake and slotted the ball home across the goalkeeper.
Moments later it was 2-0: Darren Fletcher was the man on the goal mouth. He made good use of a dangerous ball from Nani across the face off the goal as it passed Rooney; Fletcher got the ball turned well to slot it in the centre of the goal.
It was 2-0 at half time. The 2nd half started pretty much the same way and United continued to press on for more goals. Berbatov could have got 3 more goals only if he would have a better touch in front of goal. Twice more he was set up by Scholes but he could not make it count. However, another Manchester United goal looked inevitable. Wayne Rooney was taken off with half an hour to go and the substitution looked to be on the cards, as he was not having the best of nights. That gave way to the introduction of Mexican sensation Javier Hernandez. The rookie looked good and energetic in his half-hour on the pitch. With 20 minutes to go, Ryan Giggs came on for his 840th appearance for the club and marked it with his 156th goal. It was the duo from the golden generation who combined to get the 3rd goal. Scholes set up Giggs with a volley inside the box and he used his left foot to good effect and slotted the ball in the far corner.
The match finished at 3-0 and it could easily have been 5 or even 6 nil; however, it was a good first match for Ferguson’s side, and the Red Devils now have 3 points on the table.
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