United Knocks 5 Past Newcastle

Newcastle 1 - Manchester United 5
Scorers
Newcastle : Faye (79)
Manchester United : Rooney (25, 80), Ronaldo (45, 54), Saha (90)

Team : Van der Sar, Evra (O'Shea 46), Rio, Vidic (Scholes 74), Brown, Carrick, Fletcher, Nani, Ronaldo (Saha 67), Tevez, Rooney

I'll try to make this one short. It's been a long week and this is a late game, so I'm virtually exhausted from lack of sleep.

We closed to 3 points in the table with this emphatic victory against Newcastle as Arsenal dropped vital points in an earlier game which they practically dominated.

It kinda baffles the mind how far Newcastle has fallen. It's reached the stage where it's just almost catastrophic, like their sponsor Northern Rock.

Just as in the first meeting between the teams, they were utterly pathetic. While we were nowhere near top form, we still dominated the game without much effort put in. It didn't match the excitement of the first meeting but we still managed to scored 5 really outstanding goals, 2 each from Rooney and Ronaldo, with Saha rounding it all off in the dying minutes. It was a measured victory to say the least.

Rooney opened the scoring in the 25th when Ronaldo found space and time to provide an inch perfect cross right onto his feet. The defence was nowhere to be found and Rooney gleefully sidefooted it into the net.

Ronaldo got on the scoresheet at the end of the first half when Carrick sliced the already porous Newcastle defence with an absolutely beautiful pass. Showing incredible balance, Ronaldo controlled and shot while in full motion. It was a beautiful goal.

In the second half, Ronaldo added a third when he rounded Harper and smashed the ball into the empty net from an acute angle, finishing off a superb individual effort.

Newcastle managed to score a consolation goal when Faye scrambled one in from the corner. There was a suspicion of a handball involved, but quite honestly, no one really cared. We were going to win this one regardless.

The crybabies' joy was short-lived. The 3 goal cushion was quickly restored from the restart. From a blotched clearance, Rooney found just enough space to curl, what is probably the best goal of the game, into the corner of the net. It was pretty special and spectacular.

Saha finished the party with a well taken fifth. United didn't really break a sweat notching this victory. If only all the games were this easy.

Wes Brown
I can't believe Fergie actually blasted Brown's agent in an interview. While most of us probably agree that agents have hurt the game in some sense, but let's be realistic.

The players, barring a few, are not known to be good decision makers off the pitch. Without agents making deals on their behalf, who is going to prevent them from being fleeced by the clubs they play for? It's just the lesser of two evils.

As for Brown, I think he has every right to hold out for a better pay package. By United's standards, he's possibly underpaid. He's playing a key role for the best defence in the Premiership and that should account for something.

Not to mention, if he leaves on a free transfer, he'd probably be paid a singing on fee and someone like Newcastle would probably increase his current salary as well.

To put things into perspective, all we need to do is look at the guy playing on his left. That guy makes a whooping 120k a week! Just imagine your co-worker getting paid so much more than you, for practically doing the same job. I'm not saying that Brown's role is exactly like Rio's but when Rio's out, Brown is the natural replacement. That's gotta at least say something about Brown's worth.

I just don't get it why the club is being so anal over Brown's pay package...I just don't. Afterall, Brown's been with us since he was 12. That loyalty's gotta mean something.

Arsenal
I don't really like to write about Arsenal, but I would just love to pen my thoughts on them. I was out watching their game against Birmingham earlier today. I missed the foul on Eduardo, but Arsenal were pretty damn awesome in that game against virtually ten men Birmingham. Hell, there was a point in time I actually thought Arsenal were going to run up a rugby score.

But of course we know they didn't. And when it really mattered, they collapsed in the dying seconds of the game. Despite Wanker's protestations that last weekend's result was a one off, you can't help but wonder how much damage it has done to their fragile little egos.

In midweek, they failed to capitalise on numerous chances to put AC Milan away and today they simply collapsed against a much weaker opponent, despite having numerical advantage for the entire game.

Gallas' reaction when Clichy conceded the penalty was a godsend (to me). It just shows how fragile their makeup is. As the captain of the team, instead of rallying the troops, he actually threatened to walk out on the team. As the final whistle blew, he just slumped onto the ground in defeat. Imagine the impression he left on the youngsters playing beside him.

They must have been devastated to see their captain react in such manner. I know I would be absolutely disgusted if our own players did that with slightly less than a third of the season left.

I've stated time and time again that Arsenal is not a threat for the title this season (me patting my own shoulders). They just do no have the mental toughness to see it out. Their lack of testicular fortitude reared it's ugly head today.

The problem with the team is that they have no winners. The only past winners they have in the team are Gallas and to a less extent Gilberto. And today we can see just how pathetic Gallas is without Terry beside him.

I'm going to maintain that Chelsea still remains our fiercest rivals for the title. I'm also keeping my fingers crossed that Arsenal doesn't suddenly find their testes and make my eat a huge crow. ;o)