[stepic]

We're playing Spurs away in two days.

Exactly. It's not rocket science people.

Great performance, easy easy win.

Rooney, Falcao, Mata all excellent in attack and Jones was great at the back, penalty aside. Great game to play in this congested period.

 

[MarcRed96]

Didn't see the first half but I thought we were comfortable in the second half and well worthy of the win. Aside from Jones' brain fart towards the end, I'm happy with what I saw and I'm confident that we'll beat Spurs on Sunday.

 

[Walrus]

With essentially a front four of RVP, Falcao, Rooney and Mata we should be scoring 3 goals against Newcastle. I was pleased to see the attackers 'clicking' better than in some games. We looked pretty comfortable once we had taken the lead but before that, once again we looked nervous and poor under pressure.

It has been an issue for years that whenever a team comes and presses our defence (which they all now do) we look like conceding a goal. Hopefully with players like Blind, Herrera and Smalling coming back to fitness this will change.

Overall a good victory, but it could have very easily been a completely different game if Newcastle had made their early pressure count and perhaps got the penalty they should have had.

 

[Raw]

One thing I am liking recently is how prolific our strikers have been. There was a period early on where our midfielders would always outscore the strikers, now the strikers seem to be getting into their best form which is great to see when they all play together.

 

[bishblaize]

imo that was the perfect boxing day performance (apart from that late pen, which was a shame). Not a full on 100% turbo kinda game, but the perfect game when you have a big game away in two days time. Finished with plenty in the tank and never really in danger. Defence still lacks presence, but other than that things coming together nicely.

 

[sunama]

Last 8 games P8 W7 D1 L0

Those results would normally be classed as title contending form.

 

[PvsNP]

Post-match interview:

 

[Timdbro]

Surprised at how poor Newcastle were; our back 3 did their best in the first 10 minutes to invite pressure onto themselves by being painfully slow in the buildup but Newcastle never really got close to us. Perfect situation for us though, the next match is a big one.

 

[fishfingers15]

Post-match interview:

Did the reporter bow down to Van Gaal? Haha

 

[MkPaul]

Good performance, im liking this possession football we are trying to play and can see it working well in Europe but we are so slow in our build up sometimes its a bit frustrating to watch.

Still 3 points is 3 points and i'm sure it'll improve when we start getting players back from injury

The thing is, we have slow build up play but then have great, speedy counter attacks so it's still exciting. As you said, will be good to see against European teams.

 

[stu_1992]

Very good performance, I enjoyed it a lot. Decent amount of chances created, nice goals, good possession and looked relatively solid defensively throughout. Obviously besides the end when Jones gave away a penalty with a pretty unnecessary challenge. That was kind of annoying. Happy overall though, yes they dropped off for the last 25 mins or so, but that was to be expected and can be excused with another game so soon on Sunday. It was actually smart.

Rooney was man of the match by far today. Mata, RVP and Falcao were also all impressive. Young deserves a special mention because he has been good recently and continued that today. It's like night and day t the player we saw last year. Weird not talking about De Gea at the end of a game, but I almost expected him to save the penalty with his reason from, albeit unreasonably. Don't think anyone was stopping that though.

 

[GloryHunter07]

Those runs from Jones in the second half reminded me what a good all round player he is.

 

[OneUnited24]

Last 8 games P8 W7 D1 L0

Amazing run isnt it? If we win the next 3 i really think we'll secure third spot

Those runs from Jones in the second half reminded me what a good all round player he is.

Its a part of his game i think he forgot about, whether it was Moyes telling him to hold back and not be so exposed or what but he rarely did it last season. Its those runs LvG loves from his CBs which would make him invaluable to the team

 

[Get In Scholesy]

All in all it was a good performance and what we needed with a game just 48 hours away. Got the job done in the first half and added security early in the second half. Hopefully we can see freshness from the side come Sunday.

 

[Sassy Colin]

I'm still fuming about the needless penalty, there was really no danger. Spoilt a decent performance, I'll mark Jones down a point in the ratings for that.

 

[SirAF]

It was brilliant that we were able to slow down and rest a bit for the Spurs match towards the end of the match.

 

[Red Dreams]

Those runs from Jones in the second half reminded me what a good all round player he is.

SAF knows what he is talking about....

 

[pacifictheme]

It was brilliant that we were able to slow down and rest a bit for the Spurs match towards the end of the match.

Especially since that'll probably be our line up against Spurs.

 

[Henrik Larsson]

We also had quite a lot of gritt in our game today, something a player like Fellaini has offered us this season. Very pleased to see that today even with him absent, because we really need that. All the good sides have that, even the great Barca were a bit dirty, with their theatrics and with the playing style of Busquets, Alves, Puyol, Abidal.

You saw after scoring 2-0 that RVP wasn't even happy, he was just desperate to get another goal. Falcao became even more agressive after his assist and started making slidings and helping out in defense with RVP. Mata made a nasty challenge while we were 2-0 up. Rooney was fighting for every ball like always, despite already having scored two.

We shouldn't take stupid risks with that agressivity, but like I said I really liked our tenacity today. We play good football and have brilliant players, so teams think they have a chance if they bully us. But the way we played today nobody wants or enjoys to play against us.

 

[Sylar]

We got to pretty much rest carrick after 60 minutes, and Falcao after 65 and give Rafael a run out.

Agreed, had we not had a match in 2 days (And had an injury hit squad) think we would have pressed on especially with Falcao looking to get a goal.
Puts us in a better position, as long as Carrick doesnt get injured in training :/

 

[bosnian_red]

Those runs from Jones in the second half reminded me what a good all round player he is.

Reminded me of the Jones of old. He hasn't done that since his first 2 years here pretty much.

 

[RedDevilCanuck]

Rooney and Young were our best players. Newcastle was absolutely terrible. Tough to rate our performance when the opposition is that bad but you can only beat what's in front of you and we did with ease.

Still too slow for me. Chelsea showed today what moving the ball with speed does.

 

[Sunny Jim]

I think that was what you call a professional win.

Great.efficency.

 

[NotoriousISSY]

Reminded me of the Villa game back in '06, albeit the quality of goals that day were a lot better. Just a professional, routine win - something that has eluded us for a while.

 

[DevilRed]

Easily one of the best performances this season. Reminiscent of how we used to dominate at home. Even before the whistle, there was an air of expectation that this would be a stroll in the park.

We were clinical in front of goal and our attacking players were just a class above today. In the second half there could have been more goals but the players clearly had the upcoming fixtures in mind.

Its on to tougher tests now. The next two matches will really give a clear picture of how good we are as a team compared to early season. It will be difficult to get maximum points from the two away matches.

 

[Paul the Wolf]

Easy win, professional performance, eased off after an hour and coasted home. Probably a few changes on Sunday to the line-up

 

[Jazz]

Very pleased with this win. Obviously we still need to improve but that is coming along. Need to get something from that Spurs game - create a little more of a gap between us and 4/5th placed teams...

 

[Ixion]

I am pleased Van Gaal gave McNair a start after what happened against Southampton, and he gave Fletcher a good half hour despite the Villa game. It's good man management that often goes unnoticed.

Rooney, Jones, Young, Mata, Falcao all very good. Falcao is such a team player.

 

[lysglimt]

People who don't think Rooney is our best player

Shame we gave away that pen and Newcastle were terrible. Perfect game prior to Spurs though!

Well - for the first hour or so, Ashley Young probably was the best player on the pitch - at least in the first half he was. If RvP and Falcao had shown a bit more anticipation he easily could have had 3 assists in the first half alone. But after 90 minutes - Rooney was the best - Young second best

 

[rover]

could've only managed to watch out the 2nd half game, looking okay to me. can't imagine the 1st half being worse than the 2nd one. must be the game of the season

 

[matherto]

Professional win of course but still annoyed that we brought Fletcher on and immediately Newcastle started to threaten (and eventually scored).

Just once I'd love us to absolutely wallop a team after we go 2-0 with relative ease but we never, ever seem to do it. I suppose with Tottenham coming so soon after it that was never gonna happen.

Good to see the combination play between the attack, something we've been lacking for so long. Three points and we keep ticking over.

 

[Shamwow]

Professional win of course but still annoyed that we brought Fletcher on and immediately Newcastle started to threaten (and eventually scored).

Just once I'd love us to absolutely wallop a team after we go 2-0 with relative ease but we never, ever seem to do it. I suppose with Tottenham coming so soon after it that was never gonna happen.

Good to see the combination play between the attack, something we've been lacking for so long. Three points and we keep ticking over.

You said it yourself mate, we've got another game in less than 48 hours and one more on New Years Day.

 

[rover]

just remember there would have been 3 games to play within 6 days. as simple as that

 

[naturalized]

OP must be one of those that leave the stadium with 5 minutes to go.

 

[Nikhil]

We really shouldn't have dropped points at Villa.

 

[ashgabat]

Rooney was majestic today. Very impressed with the team. Newcastle's shirts were absolutely woeful.

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

Started off a bit shaky. I felt Newcastle looked dangerous on the counter in the first 10 or so minutes, but we settled down, started to create openings, and once we got that first goal, it always seemed we were going to score more, and thankfully we did.

Great performance from the lads. Now for the Spurs game.

 

[Gannicus]

I have no complaints with a dominant victory over a club which had recently beaten Chelsea.

Let pick nits after the next match.

 

[SalfordRed1960]

I have no complaints with a dominant victory over a club which had recently beaten Chelsea.

Let pick nits after the next match.

It is amazing how certain fans can only see the negative. Every time we win it seems to be because the other team were sh*te, or we were lucky, blah blah.

Without playing edge of your seat attacking football, we are playing quite a controlled game. Bit too slow for my preference, but we are not playing bad, even though we make mistakes like every other side.

People want to watch MOTD and see how Spurs did against Leicester, or how Arsenal hung on against QPR, or how Liverpool struggled against Burnley.

If it hadn't been for the very poor start to the season, we would be on par with Chelsea, points wise.

Eight unbeaten is not luck.

 

[Browniee]

We were great until about 67ish minutes. Then its like the entire team decided to drop the tempo and play like they were just seeing out a minute or two. It was quite infuriating actually. Carrick coming off had a negative impact as well.

It was brilliant that we were able to slow down and rest a bit for the Spurs match towards the end of the match.

normally it's really annoying when we take our foot of the peddle. But it was required today with the games we have coming up