Manchester United produced a superb display of football to secure a 3-0 win away at Newcastle. There were big improvements for the home side marred by accusations of a flying elbow from Robin Van Persie towards Yohan Cabaye.
Manchester United looked a completely different side against Newcastle to what we have seen in recent weeks. The narrow formation went largely unnoticed as a number of key attacking players branded their influence all over the game like a rash. Newcastle rallied towards the end of the first half and at the start of the second but it was just all too much.
Ball retention from the Manchester club seemed a lot better despite the fact the stats show Newcastle edged this by six per cent. The point is that when United were pressing in the first half, they did not give the ball away and they made it difficult for Newcastle to get out of their own half.
This improvement goes along with an improved defensive display. Overall the defence looked a lot more solid and a lot more organised. It is the first time for a few matches that Patrice Evra and Rafael were not caught out in the full back positions. This allowed Sir Alex Ferguson’s men to keep a straight and contained defensive line, making it much harder for Newcastle to break through.
The goals came from two of these defenders in Evra and Jonny Evans in the first half. It is possible that this would have given those two key players a natural lift and inspired them to play just a little bit harder as they tried to keep the likes of Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse at bay.
There was one little negative to go with the performance of the away team and that relates to discipline. Newcastle manager Alan Pardew has urged the FA to look at an apparent elbow by Robin Van Persie off the ball on Newcastle midfielder Yohan Cabaye. This came during the second half at a time when United were well on top of the game.
“He has looked at Yohan and he has elbowed him. I think that perhaps needs to be looked at, if I am honest. Yohan wouldn’t have gone down if he hadn’t done something,” Pardew said after the game.
If the FA had decided to look into the incident and fnd RVP guilty of violent conduct then he could receive the sort of punishment normally handed out for a red card offence. This would have meant the Dutch striker missing key games for United and they need to stamp out these incidents of poor discipline if they are going to secure the title by the end of the season.
However referee Howard Webb today announced he had reviewed the incident and did not find it to be an example of violent conduct.
Chelsea and Manchester City are both in decent form so United need all of their best players to play as much as possible this season. Van Persie will have to take it as a lesson, perhaps a fortunate escape, and leave little to interpretation in future, being extra careful with his challenges, as at present United can’t afford to be without him.
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