Bang

The EPL title reaches its crucial stage of the season, and with more than half of the schedule completed for the 20 teams in the league, it sets up perfectly for yet another hotly-contested campaign. And as it stands so far, while Liverpool were busy scrapping for a draw against lowly Middlesbrough, Man United, Chelsea and Arsenal were busy hooking up with each other for points as much as possible.

With the news that points were dropped in the red-half of London, Man United knew too well that they have to regain the advantage thay they lost few weeks ago. And with Chelsea closing up the gap, Man United knew they have to finish the job.

So the match kicked off at 5.10 am under chilling temperature in the heart of the Old Trafford stadium, and right from the start, the pressure is on manager-less Newcastle. But the first-half was purely frustrating, particularly to Wayne Rooney who had 5 shots saved by Shay Given, the Newcastle keeper. But to be fair, he was bit selfish of trying to shoot alone when he could pass to other players who were in better position. And worse, the referee Rob Styles (HATE HIM) turned down 2 OBVIOUS penalty calls from Man United. So nearly double-digits of clear-shots by MU, 0-0 the score at half-time.

But after half-time, Newcastle wished they could finish the match at the 70th minute. And one half which I could never forget.

It was not at all surprising when MU hit back straight away at Newcastle after the interval, with few corners again in the first few minutes after some clear-off-the-line defending from Newcastle. But soon the pressure finally paid off for United. Star-man of the moment Christiano Ronaldo was clipped outside the penalty area, and Old Trafford expected a goal from him from that sort of distance to the goal mouth.

And duly he delivered, with perfect precision and disguise as instead of shooting the ball with dreaded curl as he usually does, he placed the ball under the wall, fooling everyone especially the goalkeeper and 1-0 to United.

Perfect precision and brilliance from Ronaldo. Not only Ronaldinho can do such things.

From then on, it all goes rampant for United. And somehow, Newcastle lost concentration when the keeper cleared the ball straight to his own team-mate and went straight to Ryan Giggs, who after that put a simple pass to Carlos Tevez to score a simple goal. The attacking play from United was particularly a perfect example of fast-flowing attacking football, with Tevez, Rooney and Ronaldo interchanging runs and passes with each other backed by the passing and defending abilities of Anderson and Carrick in midfield. Of course, the back-four was solid once more. The third goal came along when passes were exhanged in front of the box, as Ronaldo finished clinically after receiving an inch-perfect pass from Tevez. Top-spot guaranteed for United.

United were not finished. With 15 minutes remaining, Rooney, who on this day was unlucky not to score, feeded Ferdinand with a perfect lob over the defence, before the defender himself putting the ball into the back of the net with a neat first-time volley. He started his career as a striker by the way. =D

The fifth goal was the perfect answer to Ronaldo in his quest for a hattrick, which he did well to evade a challenge before finishing off with his left-foot in the 85th minute. A classy player's finish. As if it wasn't enough, United ended the game with a 6th as Tevez volleyed in a header from Ryan Giggs onto the bar and over the line. Arsenal go down to second in the table.

Guess I didn't blog for a long time, and when I blog, I blog something with a bang. =P Enjoy MU fans! =D