The closing round of matches of the festive period in the Premier League was rounded off in no forgiving circumstances, with Newcastle’s defence and midfield closing off Manchester United’s link with their attack, and allowing the Magpies own front two to shine.
Ba opened the scoring on 32 minutes, as simple a goal as the Geordie nation could have begged for. Tim Krul’s wind assisted, route-one clearance was flicked on by Shola Ameobi, beating a heavy Phil Jones in the air to lay on a superbly directed volley by the signing of the season, Demba Ba, who had to fight off Rio Ferdinand to win the volley – an easy feat considering the England man’s overall performance, as composed as a fish on a volcano.
Yohan Cabaye’s 30-yeard free kick from a clumsy Phil Jones tackle extended Newcastle’s lead early in the second half. It was a beautifully directed shot that goalkeeper Anders Lindegaard impressively got a hand to, but it crept over the line after smashing the bar like a rowdy drunk.
Phil Jones decided to finish the job off for Newcastle himself in the 90th minute, failing to deal with another long ball forward from Krul, fumbling the ball into a vacant net. A disappointment for the promising centre-back, particularly after shining in comparison to his team-mate, Ferdinand.
The victory will come as a relief to Newcastle supporters, this being the first time since the end of their unbeaten run in early December that they have looked entirely convincing. The defensive-midfield duo of Tiote and Cabaye were rocks, blocking runs from Patrice Evra, passes from Ryan Giggs, battering the life out of the ineffectual Ji Sung Park and whatever on earth Michael Carrick was attempting to do.
The headlines however belong to Demba Ba, who, while benefiting from a shoddy match from Ferdinand, owned the match with his powerful forward runs and ability to win the ball under any situation. The feeling of Ba’s impact was summarised by the standing ovation he received when he came off in the 89th minute, his partner in crime Ameobi was also impressive, showing one of those games which makes the fans wish he possessed a thing called “consistency”.
Manchester United took a real hit with the loss – while always struggling against the north-east outfit, they really would have been banking on a win to keep level with league leaders Manchester City after their 3-0 thumping of Liverpool. The Old Trafford team couldn’t have asked for a worse build-up to their FA Cup clash with Manchester City this weekend.
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