It was a tale of two ‘United’s this weekend. Manchester secured the point they needed against Arsenal to land their 18th Premier League title and bring Sir Alex’s beloved club level with Liverpool in the record books. In stark contrast however, Newcastle blew the opportunity handed to them after they beat Middlesbrough on Monday by failing to perform at home against Fulham, leaving CocaCola Championship football likely for the first time in 17 years…
Gary Neville (I know - did he even play this season?!) & Co celebrate... BBC image...
Hello title, goodbye Tevez…?
Ironically, Man Utd were outplayed by Arsenal, whose stubborn defence actually shut out the impressive Red Devils attack – failing to allow them to even register a shot on target for the entire game. Though it will have been a squeaky-bum lunchtime for many fans, knowing that Liverpool were facing West Brom, the game never felt like it would go Arsenal's way.
From the kick-off, the atmosphere and the manner in which the game was played out told the story – it was just an annoying precursor to the celebrations. And fair enough, really. United’s whole squad has been exceptional this season – they have had to deal with more injuries and pressure than usual, and have risen to the challenge. Of course, that challenge is much easier to rise to when your front line is worth more than the stadiums of many opponents…but hey, we won’t go there…
One member of that golden front line looked like he had waved his final goodbye on Saturday. Despite the jeers and boos from the crowd towards the treatment of him, and their roars of support whenever he touched the ball, Carlos Tevez looks to be heading out of Manchester. Well, out of the red half at least, with rumours persisting that Mark Hughes is lining up the hefty bid that the United board could not justify.
The double-armed wave to the entire ground when replaced by Park Ji-Sung was touching, and I’m sure that many United fans would rather see someone with Berbatov’s approach to the game saying cheerio. Tevez has always worked his ‘socks’ off in every game since moving to Manchester, and whilst he would cost a lot to sign up, you do question the decision to buy Berbatov for £30 squillion, when players such as the impressive Huntelaar were available for half that.
Still, who am I to question champions? It will be interesting though, to see if Tevez comes back to bite them in the, er, ‘socks’…
Two birds with one stone?
Shearer - not celebrating. At all.
It was back to crisis mode on Tyneside and Newcastle’s defeat to Fulham on Saturday was more than most fans could take. A nerve-racking match at St. James’ saw Newcastle’s players once again fail to realise that Premier League survival was on the line, and though they were slightly unfortunate to have a goal disallowed that may have saved their season, and to come up against a magnificent performance from Mark Schwarzer they never showed the urgency and passion required to build on last week's effort.
It has all been too little too late really, and if they go down I’m sure that many people will be queuing up to have a go at Mike Ashley, referees, or the weak team that Man United are bound to field against Hull at the weekend, but, in reality, the Toon have been too poor, too often. Unusually though, it hasn't been the defensive errors now synonymous with the black-and-white shirt that have dragged them into the mire. It has been the complete lack of creativity. And goals.
Newcastle have drawn an incredible 13 matches this season - more than any other club in the top flight - and they got a goal or two more they would not be in this mess. Many of their matches had stats showing a mere 1 or 2 shots on target in the entire game, and whilst Owen, Martins & Co have been much-villified for the lack of goals, the finger of blame has to be pointed straight at a distinctly uncreative midfield.
The sale of Milner (and, to a lesser extent N'Zogbia,) in the transfer window did not help matters in that respect, but messrs Duff and Gutierrez should be putting in the occasional performance that would justify their frequent international call-ups. But they haven't. In fact, according to some rumours, they have not put in a cross all year...
Even the most optimistic Geordie will be looking at the away trip to Villa next week in despair…shaking his head, wondering how it has come down to this for this huge club. Newcastle go into that final match at Villa Park knowing that they must better Hull’s result against Manchester United to retain their top-flight status, or whether the same stone that killed the Baggies will also hit the Magpies.
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