After the news, sensible to most people except for perhaps Newcastle fans, that Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp had turned down filling the Toon job vacancy, the woes of Newcastle continued in a ghastly manner as Manchester United delivered a merciless second half pummeling to the Tyneside visitors at Old Trafford 6-0.
A goalless first half that featured a couple of nice saves from Newcastle goalied Shay Given hardly hinted at the carnage that was to follow in the second half almost from the start. Cristiano Ronaldo, who tallied a hat trick, got things going with a grass-eating free kick underneath the Newcastle defense four minutes into the second half. Given compounded the problems of the team five minutes later with a poor clearance that Carlos Teves, who scored twice, knocked into the back of the net, and for all intents and purposes the match was truly over, as Newcastle could hardly stand to muster the same kind of offensive attack that the Red Devils displayed.
It wasn't just defensive failures for Newcastle on this evening though, there was some excellent passing and total team football on display from the home side as well as a bit of good luck on the last goal by Ronaldo (as to whether or not it actually crossed the line; former Red Devil Alan Smith complained too bitterly about that and was rewarded with a straight red card). Also, to be fair, Newcastle were denied a goal after a poor offsides call against Micheal Owen went against them in the first half. but it was all too clear that a manager-less club wasn't about to put up any kind of effort that might net them their first win at Old Trafford in 36 years.
Still, the combination of the coaching search with today's awful performance, coming on the heels of a lackluster FA Cup draw against Stoke City on Wednesday, a match in which home side Stoke were unlucky not to have won, does nothing to help the belief of the Newcastle fans who still think their club is a top destination by being a big club (the same thing could apply to the UCLA college football coaching job as well).
RECAP
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