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Newcastle defiance costs title holders top spot
By Colin Malam | |
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Man Utd (1) 1 Newcastle (1) 1 MANCHESTER United's six-month stay at the top of the Premiership - and perhaps their hold on the title - was ended without too much of a fight yesterday. The defending champions did well to equalise late in the first half through David Beckham after conceding the softest of goals to Andreas Andersson, but they did not put enough pressure on struggling Newcastle until it was too late. Substitute Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, sent off near the end for a professional foul on Robert Lee, and Gary Pallister were unlucky not to score in a frantic bombardment during the last five minutes. However, too much of United's play was marked by the raggedness that has enabled Arsenal to make up so much ground lately and finally overtake them. Although Ronny Johnsen was still incapacitated by the damage done to his ankle ligaments by Michael Owen's rash challenge eight days earlier, there was cheering news for United followers when Ryan Giggs's name appeared on the team-sheet. The home side's most dangerous attacker had not been expected to recover from hamstring trouble. If Giggs's inclusion indicated United's determination to win this match, Newcastle's selection of a second striker, Andersson, suggested they would be more adventurous than when they lost 3-1 to Arsenal at Highbury the previous Saturday. They needed to be if they were going to win here for the first time since 1972. Nevertheless, it was United, with Teddy Sheringham restored to their attack in place of Paul Scholes, who forced the pace from the start. Anticipating that their opponents would go for the jugular, Newcastle deployed themselves in a 3-5-2 formation designed to stifle United's attacking ambitions but it offered them little protection in the opening 10 minutes. Shay Given, who saved from Philip Neville and raced off his line untidily to stop Andy Cole reaching a through pass from the younger Neville, was like a cat on hot bricks as the threats to his goal came from all angles. No sooner had Cole chipped a shot over the bar than Philippe Albert was diving to head a dangerous centre from Giggs in the same place. Nothing was more unlikely at that point than a goal for Newcastle, so a kind of stunned silence greeted the sight of the ball in the back of the United net after 11 minutes. Because the United defence had stopped playing, everyone thought there must have an infringement of some sort; but there was no flag and the referee pointed to the centre-spot. What had happened was that David Batty had chipped the ball forward to Gary Speed, who was so unmarked that the United defence presumably thought he was offside. With the home defence standing still, Speed headed the ball across the penalty area to Andersson, who could hardly believe his luck at being given a free shot at Peter Schmeichel's goal from 12 yards. It was not the last time the United defence seemed afflicted by paralysis. A minute later, Shearer, of all people, was allowed free passage in a run towards goal that took him wide of the advancing Schmeichel. Even so, the striker got in a shot from a narrow angle that would have found the net had not David May, Johnsen's deputy, rushed back to clear off the line. Schmeichel's vain challenge seemed to bring on a recurrence of the hamstring strain he had suffered here chasing lost causes against Arsenal a month earlier. The big Danish international trooped off disconsolately after only 17 minutes and was replaced by his deputy, Raimond van der Gouw. Gradually, however, United recovered from the shock of conceding such a soft goal and began to shake off the strange lethargy which had undermined much of their first-half play. Only a couple of timely interventions by Warren Barton stopped Sheringham and Cole causing damage, and Given was straining to reach a Sheringham shot that fizzed over his bar. Then, eight minutes before the interval, came relief for the United supporters. A long, accurate centre from Giggs dropped behind Stuart Pearce and was headed neatly into the far corner of the net by the diving Beckham, his hair glinting with new blond tints. As both sides continued to go for the win they needed in the second half, metaphorical blows were exchanged at both ends of the field. Barton struck a post with a rasping shot when Van Der Gouw put United in trouble with an ill-judged clearance; but Given had to save from Cole and Paul Scholes, a first-half substitute for Nicky Butt, as the home side tried to capitalise on their greater share of possession. Even though Newcastle took off Andersson after 66 minutes and sent on Temuri Ketsbaia, they continued to trouble United on the break. Shearer, barracked as usual by the Old Trafford faithful for his refusal to join their club on two occasions, was particularly dangerous. Van Der Gouw just got a hand to a low shot, and Barton headed over from one of his centres. United's anxious attempts to grab a winning goal often left them undermanned at the back, and Ketsbaia should have done better than allow Van Der Gouw to save when Newcastle were three against two. At the other end, Given denied Solskjaer and Pallister with saves of varying difficulty before Lee, breaking clear, was brought down deliberately by the chasing Solskjaer. _________________________________________________________________ Man Utd (1) 1 Newcastle (1) 1 Beckham 38; Andersson 11. Man Utd: Schmeichel (Van Der Gouw 18), G. Neville (Solskjaer 79), Irwin, May, Pallister, Beckham, Butt (Scholes 44), Cole, Sheringham, Giggs, P. Neville. Subs Not Used: Berg, Clegg. Sent Off: Solskjaer (89). Booked: Beckham, Pallister. Newcastle: Given, Barton, Batty, Lee, Shearer, Speed, Pearce, Pistone, Albert, Dabizas, Andersson (Ketsbaia 66). Subs Not Used: Srnicek, Tomasson, Gillespie, Watson. Booked: Pistone, Shearer, Given. Att: 55,194 Ref: U D Rennie (Sheffield). _________________________________________________________________ Arsenal set to romp home as Man Utd fall from grace (adds quotes, writes through) By Simon Haydon LONDON, April 18 (Reuters) - Within the space of one minute on Saturday, Arsenal took control of the English premier league and defending champions Manchester United fell from grace. At 3.11 p.m., in north London, Arsenal's veteran defender Tony Adams opened the scoring for Arsenal against Wimbledon, the first of a five-goal blitz. A few seconds later, 200 miles north in Manchester, Swede Andreas Andersson rifled home a goal for Newcastle against Manchester United. The defending champions equalised, but could not claw back a victory. Arsenal's crushing win put the Londoners on top of the premier league with a one point lead. They still have five games to play, while Manchester United have just three. Saturday's games were a fair reflection of how everything is going smoothly for Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger and how everything has gone sour for Manchester United's Alex Ferguson. As well as Adams, Dutch strikers Marc Overmars and Dennis Bergkamp, France's Emmanuel Petit and Liberian Christopher Wreh got their names on the scoresheet as Arsenal turned in a confident and clinical performance. Manchester United lost Danish goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel with a thigh injury seven minutes after Newcastle's goal and he will be out for the rest of the season. The defending champions, so confident and clinical just two months ago, looked nervous against a Newcastle team playing to stay in the premier league. David Beckham snatched an equaliser seven minutes before half-time with a diving header from a perfect Ryan Giggs cross that reawoke memories of United at their best. But the old confidence and razor sharp passing has disappeared and Newcastle were able to soak up the desparate Manchester attacks. In the dying moments, United's Norwegian striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer hacked down Robert Lee from behind and was sent off for his profession foul, a sad end to a grim day for the illustrious Manchester team. Ferguson said he was being realistic about United's title chances -- Arsenal are now 7-1 ON favourites -- but that he would not be giving up. "We can't surrender yet. Anything can happen, it's such a strange game." Wenger, who was reported on Saturday as saying he hoped to stay with the club until 1999, refused to say his team were certainties. "There's still a long way to go. We have to stay cautious. It means a lot to win a championship but my only problem at the moment is that there's still a long way to go," he said after the confident Arsenal performance. Arsenal have scored 12 goals in the last three games and have peaked at exactly the right time as they seek their first title since 1991. They could also achieve the rare feat of a league and F.A. Cup double as they face Newcastle in the cup final next month. Arsenal's confidence was enormous on Saturday after having scored seven goals in two matches last weekend. "Thanks to Easter we could be confident and efficient today," Wenger said. Liverpool, who play Coventry on Sunday, remain in third place while Leeds moved into fourth place after beating relegation-threatened Bolton 3-2 away from home. Bolton slipped to second from bottom because fellow strugglers Barnsley grabbed a point in a 1-1 draw with Tottenham Hotspurs. Crystal Palace remain firmly entrenched at the bottom of the table despite a rare 3-1 victory over Derby County, their first win at home this season. At the far end of the Football League, Halifax Town ended a five-year spell in the footballing wilderness when they clinched the Vauxhall Conference title with a 2-0 victory over Kidderminster to open up a 17-point gap over their closest rivals. Halifax will replace Doncaster Rovers in the league's Division Three. © Reuters Limited 1998 _________________________________________________________________ April 19 1998 FOOTBALL Solskjaer dismissal adds insult to injury Ian Chadband at Old Trafford Manchester United 1 Newcastle United 1 AT THE Theatre of Dreams, it was nightmare time. As they trudged away from Old Trafford having watched their weary, dispirited heroes fail in one final frantic bid to beat Newcastle United, and having given their striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer a standing ovation for the hateful foul that might have prevented a draw turning into a quite calamitous defeat, the Manchester United faithful did not even need to hear the numbing news from Highbury to know that the game is now almost up. Deprived of the Premiership leadership for the first time in six months, a point behind a rampant Arsenal outfit, who also have two games in hand, there is surely no way back for the champions. Not that Alex Ferguson, their manager, was about to concede the title. "A very, very uphill fight . . . a bad position . . . you have to say we're up against it," he said. No mind games, no cod psychology from Ferguson; just some vague hope that miracles still happen in football. "It was frustrating because we didn't actually play that badly, and at times our attacking play was excellent," was his post-match analysis. "The way we set out to play meant we were vulnerable, but we had to take risks to try to win the match because the three points were so important." He knows it could have been worse. Sure, Ferguson's men came desperately close to snatching a winner in an utterly frenetic assault on the Newcastle goal in the pulsating dying seconds; their manager was sure they deserved it. Yet they came closer to suffering total disaster when, while throwing caution to the wind, Rob Lee caught them on the break, hared some 70 yards through on goal with just Raimond van der Gouw to beat, only for Solskjaer, who had only been on as a substitute for 10 minutes, to chase and hack him down just outside the area. The Norwegian looks as if butter would not melt in his mouth, but this was the act of some baby-faced assassin, probably inevitable but horrible nonetheless. He was already walking off when Uriah Rennie, the referee, brandished the red card. Ferguson would neither condemn nor praise. "Forward, isn't he? It was desperation. He's done it for all the right reasons in his mind." Solskjaer will now miss United's last two Premiership matches. The home team could really have no complaints. Full marks for effort, but erratic in defence and never truly getting to grips with Newcastle's five-man midfield, there were only occasional moments when they conjured up the old early-season verve, dash and control that once made the Premiership seem like a one-horse canter for them. Newcastle, adopting a more ambitious approach than of late with an orthodox twin strike-force that represented huge daring by the recent standards of their manager, Kenny Dalglish, counter-attacked with considerable menace in their best performance for some time. Even before Lee was rudely foiled in his bid to seal their first away win at Old Trafford for 26 years, they could have stolen it, Warren Barton having struck a post and Temuri Ketsbaia, a late substitute, being deprived only by an excellent save when one-on-one with Van der Gouw, who had replaced the injured Peter Schmeichel, suffering from hamstring trouble again. Still, if they play like this in the run-in, Premiership life should be comfortably secured. The champions could not be faulted for passion, but they only really worked in fits and starts and were let down by a somnolent defence. After their bright start, David Batty floated a through-ball straight to the head of Gary Speed and Manchester United's rearguard froze like statues as the Welshman nodded straight back across goal for Andreas Andersson. One disgruntled Newcastle caller on a phone-in programme last week had muttered that the new Swedish striker could not be dangerous even carrying a sub-machine gun, but Andersson did not need to any sort of marksman to finish this one. Did the home team's defenders think Speed had been offside? Nobody complained. Seconds later, the defence parted obligingly to allow Alan Shearer to burst through, evade Schmeichel and have his shot from a narrow angle booted off the line by David May. Manchester United regained their composure and equalised with a beauty by David Beckham, who ghosted in at the far post to plant Rayn Giggs's cross into the corner with a diving header. They had their moments after the break, too, Andy Cole shooting fractionally wide, and both he and Paul Scholes later bringing sharp saves from Shay Given, yet their only sustanied pressure came late on as the Newcastle goal began to lead a charmed life. Nikos Dabizas booted one off the line after Given had failed to hold on cleanly to a sharp strike by Solskjaer, and the visiting goalkeeper produced a wonderful save at full stretch to keep out a Gary Pallister volley - a stop that may have helped send the title on its way to Highbury. Manchester United: Schmeichel (Van Der Gouw 18), G Neville (Solskjaer 79), Irwin, May, Pallister, Beckham, Butt (Scholes 44), Cole, Sheringham, Giggs, P Neville. Unused: Berg, Clegg. Booked: Beckham, Pallister. Sent-off: Solskjaer (89). Newcastle United: Given, Barton, Batty, Lee, Shearer, Speed, Pearce, Pistone, Albert, Dabizas, Andersson (Ketsbaia 66). Unused: Srnicek, Tomasson, Gillespie, Watson. Booked: Pistone, Shearer, Given. Scorers: Manchester United: Beckham 38. Newcastle United: Andersson 11. Referee: U Rennie (Sheffield). Attendance: 55,194. Copyright 1998 Times Newspapers Ltd. _________________________________________________________________ Man United v Newcastle 18/04/98 3.00 Man United (1) 1 Newcastle (1) 1 FT Beckham 38 Andersson 11 Manchester United surrendered their six-month FA Carling Premiership lead to Arsenal with this 1-1 draw - and Alex Ferguson must know his crown is going with it. The Reds had been top of the pile since smashing seven past Barnsley here at Old Trafford on October 25. But Fergie and his men would have swapped six of those for just one more as they were lucky to get away with even one point. Even after a flying header from David Beckham cancelled out Andreas Andersson's controversial opener - the Swede sliding home when all of Old Trafford expected a flag - the Reds were never fluent, never convincing. While Ferguson's side had plenty of chances, the better opening came at the other end, Alan Shearer feeling he might have had a hat-trick, Warren Barton hitting the post, other openings going begging. The champions, who lost Peter Schmeichel after 18 minutes, came at the death, substitute Ole Solskjaer and Gary Pallister denied by the men in black and white. Where Ferguson had hoped that Arsenal would hit a ``brick wall'' it was his side that were blocked off at the championship pass. To add insult to injury, Solskjaer was rightly sent off in the final minute for a professional foul on Rob Lee after the home side had been caught upfield. But Old Trafford knows the writing really is on the wall now. Only an Arsenal slip-up that seems so unlikely can allow them to hold onto the title. That the match should turn into such a struggle would never have been envisaged by the way the champions tore into the visitors in the opening minutes. Ferguson had opted to gamble on Ryan Giggs' hamstring and play Teddy Sheringham instead of Paul Scholes, and the home side flew at Dalglish's men. Inside the first minute, link play between Andy Cole and Giggs almost opened Newcastle up, then Sheringham fed Phil Neville, who shot at Shay Given from 15 yards. Cole was close with a long-range chip as the Reds were rampant, and although the sight of Schmeichel unable to take goal-kicks was ominous, they remained in charge, Pallister heading over. But all changed totally as Old Trafford was stunned into silence in the 11th minute. Lee rolled a free-kick to Batty, who moved to his right, looked up and clipped back into the left side of the box. As Speed rose to head the ball down, everybody inside the ground stopped awaiting a flag. It never came though, and with the hampered Schmeichel rooted to his line, former AC Milan man Andersson ran in to ram home his second in a week. The goal was the first Newcastle had scored at Old Trafford since Cole netted for the Magpies in 1993, and they could have had a second - which surely would have killed it off - within a minute. Pallister again stood still as Speed slipped through to Shearer, and the England skipper - booed at every touch - was away, taking the ball round Schmeichel. The angle was not the best, but Shearer's left-footer would effectively have presented the title to Arsenal if his former Blackburn team-mate David May had not got back to clear. It got worse for the home side before it got better, Schmeichel limping away and replaced by Raimond Van Der Gouw, who was forced to make a diving save from Philippe Albert's volley. With news of the Highbury goal-glut filtering through, raw nerves were exposed on the field and off it, every misplaced pass bringing a chorus of disapproval, tension bringing hesitation and more pressure. Indeed, with Alessandro Pistone helping flood midfield for Newcastle, the Reds took 15 minutes to find their feet again, Barton blocking Sheringham, whose dipping effort from distance then dropped just the wrong side of the bar with Given beaten. But just as they looked to be running out of ideas, Giggs proved the inspiration Ferguson was looking for. Picking up the ball on the left, the Welsh wizard injected real pace, and also delivered the ideal cross deep beyond the back post. It took out the whole Newcastle defence, but not Beckham, who dived forward to make headed contact a foot or so off the floor and direct past Given for his 10th of the season. Now Old Trafford came alive, although Newcastle remained patient in possession, and the balance shifted again as Scholes replaced the struggling Nicky Butt - not what the watching Glenn Hoddle wanted to see - just before the break. Within 14 seconds of the restart, Cole sent a right-footer beyond Given but also outside his right-hand post. The groans were probably heard at Highbury, the home fans fearing the worst and that came so close to materialising in the 53rd minute. Van Der Gouw, under pressure with a back-pass, caused the problems, playing Scholes into all sorts of problems on the edge of the box. Speed was in like a flash to dispossess, and with a big hole in front of him, Barton advanced before thudding a right-footer past the diving Dutchman but against the outside of the upright. Newcastle's football was making a mockery of their woeful display at Highbury last week, although Scholes tested Given in the 63rd minute. Time was running out, Newcastle battling and scrapping, determined to give nothing away, the home side desperate for a breakthrough against the massed defence. Andersson, a willing runner, was replaced by Temuri Ketsbaia midway through the half, and the Georgian was the spark for the move that could have won it with 17 minutes left. The home side retreated as Ketsbaia fed Speed, who in turn moved on to Shearer. Pallister stood up, but not close enough and Shearer's right-footer was destined for the bottom corner before Van Der Gouw touched away. Another escape, but while the Reds had plenty of possession, they did not look as if they would take advantage of it, Newcastle solid in defence, quick on the break. Twice, first through a Shearer header from Ketsbaia, then when Batty fed the Georgian in front of goal, they should have finished it off, Ferguson's desperation shown as Solskjaer replaced Gary Neville with 11 minutes left. The Norwegian might have stolen it after a goalmouth scramble, Given not holding but Nikos Dabizas hacking off the line. Even then it was not over, Given flying to his right to palm away a stunner from Pallister, and when Newcastle broke from the corner, Keysbaia putting Lee away, Solskjaer decided he had no choice but to bring him down. Referee Uriah Rennie furnished the red card instantly. Solskjaer - the sacrificial lamb receiving a standing ovation - barely had time to make his way to the dressing room before the final whistle went. The fat lady might not be singing, but she can start clearing her throat. Man United: (4-4-2) Schmeichel (Van Der Gouw, 18), G. Neville (Solskjaer, 79), Irwin, May, Pallister, Beckham, Butt (Scholes, 44), Cole, Sheringham, Giggs, P. Neville. Subs not used: Berg, Clegg. Booked: Beckham, Pallister. Sentoff: Solskjaer 89. Newcastle: (3-5-2) Given, Barton, Batty, Lee, Shearer, Speed, Pearce, Pistone, Albert, Dabizas, Andersson (Ketsbaia, 66). Subs not used: Srnicek, Tomasson, Gillespie, Watson. Booked: Pistone, Shearer, Given. Attendance: 55,194. Referee: U D Rennie (Sheffield). |
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