Well there's no point really as you've all seen it on the telly but I have to have my eyewitness two pennorth!

IMHO we didn't play well, defended like donkies on occasion and didn't attack them enough. Rob Lee's inclusion seemed to slow the game down, but given Robert's injury I suppose it couldn't be helped.

Shocking game by both Hughes and Elliot I thought. Everyone else in and out the game. Man U no great shakes, just hope they get a run for their money by everyone in the League. No way are they much better than the rest of the top 4 or 5, as they have been in the past.

Support from our fans was good once again. In sharp contrast to the home fans but I'm sick of winning the singing and not the match!

Didn't get to the Bridge to see any of the BBSers unfortunately....maybe next time.

Oh yeah - Solksaer, what a tw*t!

Finally - as ,many have already said , still ahead of schedule but would like to see us beat Leeds, Leicster and Spurs.

-- Anonymous, January 02, 2002

Answers

Early match reports from Electronic Telegraph and Guardian Unlimited..........as you'd expect. Journos wetting themselves with excitement over sublime 'united'.

-- Anonymous, January 02, 2002

I thought we were ok for the most part, but the speed of their attack was amazing. Serious concern over Distin's and Dab's positioning for their 1st, although Distin was throwing himself all over the field (trying too hard?). Solano chased well, but didn't get forward enough, perhaps because Hughes was having a hard time. Very unlucky to have his goal ruled out. Elliott was average, but delivered perhaps his cross of the season for Shearer's subtle header. Lee was good, but when it comes to an ageing midfielder taking pot shots from 25-30yds you know things aren't right. Dyer was also good, but always looks knackered at 60mins. Hopefully he will get a rest on Saturday. Speed...was Speed, but less so. Shearer battled hard, but was too often collecting the ball from the halfway line in the 2nd 45. Bellamy did his usual of running all day long, not getting any clear chances. Thought he might have taken the turn and shot to pressurize Barthez late on instead of opting to pause and pass. Bernard and Ameobi were on far too late to make any difference.

The main points for me were: the fact that Man U could turn to their bench, bring off Van Nistelroy and have Beckham and Yorke available; some slack passing for us, and a lack of options on the left - shuddering reminders of last season; NUFC fans making themselves very vocal (well done kids); Distin shouldn't try so hard - was O'Brien injured?; ref cost us at least 2 goals - Bellamy was sandwiched releasing the Man U attack, and Solano had a perfectly good goal denied him...poor.

Overall...a result many would have had on paper as a fair bet, but I honestly think a draw would not have been a fair close.

-- Anonymous, January 03, 2002

Well my three pennerth for what its worth is that only Shearer, Speed and Distin earned their crusts last night. The rest were boys against men. Passing was terrible as was the marking. And why did YBR have a grin like a Cheshire cat at the end? He looked pleased that he had just seen his team lose 3-1 or am I missing something? NOW is the time to buy a couple of players to keep the momentum going or else we are in REAL danger of slipping into the trailing pack. Yes I know, as has been discussed on here before, I always get Tyne Bridgey after a defeat!

-- Anonymous, January 03, 2002

Thanks for the eyewitness reports. (:o)

From watching it on the television, although we didn`t really deserve it, the score could and should have been three all. Our defence were all over the place - correction, they actually seemed to be working on the priciple of `safety in numbers`, ie. several times there was a tight little group of three defenders in the penalty area, but not within ten yards of a ManU player! Huges was the only one I thought seemed to be at least trying to take the job on.

Rob Lee just didn`t seem up to it.

Many instances of us simply giving the ball away by sloppy and inaccurate passing in the first half (panic I think). Good to see that the accuracy did improve quite a lot in the second half, and we started really stringing some good moves together.

Disappointing, but not totally unexpected. Perhaps we should have just gone all out from the beginning. ManU`s defence was good last night, but it can be rattled.

-- Anonymous, January 03, 2002

Van Nistelrooy's goal bore worrying similarities to Gudjohnsen's second. Ball-watching, shocking marking. I still feel O'Brien and Distin are potentially the best pairing, but Distin needs time and - as ever - someone needs to learn to LEAD the defence.

-- Anonymous, January 03, 2002

We were top of the league, say we were top of the league. And we had a chance of going back up there had we beaten ManUre on their own turf. However, it didn't quite work out that way.

The Stealth Astra was again fuelled and ready for a trip south, but not before a bit of castle-hunting was got out of the way first to show Ciara some of the highlights of Geordie's Garden. Well, you know how it is with these Yanks. They'd go out of their way to see a sand castle on Blyth beach, never mind the real thing at Alnwick and Warkworth. First off was Alnwick, (or Hogwarts as it is now known). Canny piccies with snow, ice and the sun peering over the ramparts followed by a trip via Alnmouth to Warkworth. What a splendid sight (me, not the castle - nah, I jest) and put us in good spirits for a trip to Fergieland. Next on the cultural tour of Northumberland was Beddlington to pick up Steve T's spare as he couldn't make it. Ne'ertheless, a call to Pit Bill persuaded him to make the trip and a similar call to Clarky convinced him the A1(M) wasn't so bad and that we really could get there and back without mishap, unlike his feelings for the game against Leeds away. Dougal had to be found in Toon to hand over her ticket and this proved easy. I think she's becomming a permanent fixture under the concourse at the Central. At least the pidgeons seem to recognise her now.

And so it was that we headed south on the A1(M) ready for the task ahead against Taggart's lot. Confidence was quite high and we thought we might try a new formation, this time with Clarky and Pit Bill taking up the back with Ciara and me up front. Sadly, messing around with the formation didn't seem to work. Previously we'd tried rotating Clarky, Jonno and A Lurker on the way to Troyes and that seemed to work OK. We even tried Pit Bill on his own at the back against Leeds and that turned up trumps and when we tried a bit of extra height with Clarky and Gibbo in the back against Notlob, we also won. However, the Pit Bill/Clarky combo clearly doesn't work and I think I'll have to try a youth policy in future.

Traffic ground to a halt on the Borroughbridge bypass and some slick movement up front made a detaur via the old A1 past all the stationary vehicles. Sadly, Steph and Mr Steph hadn't been so lucky and their early start was wasted. Similarly, the Monkseatin crew in Simon's bus were seriously delayed and their arrival at the Barton Arms. I ask you, could they ever expect to win when making a beer stop at a place named after our illustrious ex-RB? After a small (?) detour via the Reebock Stadium, they arrive in Eccles (it shudda been a piece of cake!). And on to The Bridge in Sale, where Steph and Mr Steph still hadn't arrived but Josh and LR were there, propping up the bar. But no sign of Lynda. Stood up again :-( After a couple of swift halves (or so), we caught the Metro to OT. As usual, it was packed with barley enough standing room to squeeze into. My chant of Stand up if you hate ManU was greeted with glares and the odd smile, especially when they were all photographed standing up. More sightseeing for Ciara as we passed the other Old Trafford. It seemed rather strange seeing the square covered in snow! Mebbes we could beat the Windies if we played them in those conditions ;-)

Our seats (I wonder what they're for??) were in the usual place in the corner of the main stand and the old scoreboard/Warwick Road end. Every time I go to OT, I wonder just where they can put so many folks. 67,000 in a place that doesn't look much larger than Croft Park. However, I think I have worked it out. We all know Oriental folks are generally not so big as their Western counterparts and there must have been, ooh, say 35,000 of them on the top tier of the North Stand. Add to that, the vast corporate facilities for the prawn sarnie brigade under the other stands and the 15,000 who actually get to see the game is soon swelled by these other hangers-on. Oh yes, plus the 5,000 in the Superstore who couldn't give a toss about watching the game and whose only reason for going is to hand over yet more dosh for plastic momentos. Which reminds me - in a gesture reminiscent of Henry Kissinger himself, LR was spotted (and photographed) handing over a peace offering to Ciara in the Bridge. Whether a plastic figure of Ryan "Wellies" Giggs with a rotating lollypop sticking oot his @rse heed will be enough to stem hostilities remains to be seen. If not, then I'm sure another resting place for the lollystick will be found ;-)

The game. Yes, I suppose that's why we were there. First 20 mins or so, we gave as good as we got and were unlucky not to go ahead from a great volley from Gary Speed folloing a right wing corner. But sadly, Neville P had taken time off from the Panto (Cinderalla, where he is co-starring with his brother) and the baal hit him on the heed and the danger passed. Not long after, ManUre took the lead when Hughes went AWOL on the right, allowing OGS (I think) to get past him and deliver a decent cross into the middle. Well, I say decent. It looked brilliant because it landed plumb on the heed of Rude Van Hire who promtly put it in the back of wor net. But the only reason it hit his heed woz coz Dabs and Distin had followed Hughes' lead and also defected. Harsh words were said between the two of them but I doubt if either understood. Still, we didn't capitulate and continued to attack when the opportunity arose. Just before half-time, Nobby scored what appeared to be a goal, only to see it chalked off for pushing. To be honest, I thought he may have "eased" Silvestre out of the way, but without the benefit of a replay, it is hard to say. Certainly MS stumbled, tho whether that was with any help from Nobby, I can't say. But we were at OT!! It remained 1-0 at HT.

Unfortunately, ManUre scored quickly after the beak - too quickly for us to cope - when some typical one-touch stuff let Scholes in and his shot was too good for Shay. However, I did think we gave him too much space, but that's easier to recognise than it is to fix as ManUre are the best at this quick incisive thrust. But again, heads didn't go down too much or for too long and we kept hitting them on the break, but IMHO, we didn't close them down quickly enough in midfield and we gave them far, far too much space down the flanks, with probably Hughes slightly more to blame than Elliott. However, it was down Elliott's side that the 3rd goal came from when Bully-Boy Keane muscelled his way past the defender (Elliott???) and found the byline. Van Hire was waiting on the penalty spot and sadly that's where our defence went, leaving acres of space at the far post for Keane to calmly slot the ball across the goal to Scholes who gratefully bagged his second. It seemed there was going to be no way back, but a great cross from Elliott (??) found Shearer between the spot and the edge of the area and he rose majestically to head in. OK, so we were stil 3-1 down, but this was Shearer's first goal in the league at OT and we were gonna shout and scream and generally let the world know. So we did! ManUre had more chances as we pushed forward for our 2nd but neither side was able to make any further impression on the scoreboard.

Beckham and Yorke came off the bench for them and after 80 mins, YBR replaced Bellamy and Nobby with Shola and Bernard. IMHO, this was far too late and we should have introdeced fresh blood much earlier. I'd have left Bellamy on and replaced Elliott with Bernard and I'd have been tempted to take Lee off and replace him with Lua x2 to see just how much panic we could induce into the ManUre defence when running at them with pace. But YBR knows (far) better than me and both Lee and Elliott were left on.

And so it was back to the Bridge for last orders after yet another crush on the Metro. Suitably charged with caffeine, we headed north onto the M60/M62 and M1/A1(M). Temperatures on the east had been sub-zero all the way down, just rising a degree or so above freezing in ManUreland. However, as we headed back north through Yorkshire and again in Weshertun, the temperature guauge hit -9.5 degrees C. Sheesh - that's bliddy caad. 15 degrees Fahrenheit in old money if my calculations are correct. With a combined age of well over 150 from the male contingent in the car, none of us could recall temperatures that cold. Thank God for an effective heater and a car that didn't break down.

So, another away trip under the belt, and a sad end for Ciara who headed back to US of A today. A good win against Palace on Saturday is essential to get us back on track and 3 points against Leeds is needed to sustain a challenge for Europe.

-- Anonymous, January 03, 2002

Great match report. Really sorry I couldn't get to the Bridge. I was acting as ticket tout up until about 15 mins before the game! People wanting tickets, then not wanting them and then wanting them again! Next time I will only buy my own.

-- Anonymous, January 03, 2002

Cheers Screacher - wouldn't A69 and M6 have been quicker? :-)

-- Anonymous, January 03, 2002

No.

-- Anonymous, January 03, 2002

I'm too pissed off to comment - besides that some of those players were either knackered or not bothered.

Put Tommy Craigs lads out against Palace on Saturday and risk the FA Cup. We have a chance of a place in the Champions League = loads of dosh.

-- Anonymous, January 03, 2002

a69 to M6?????????? No no no! Listen i've tried all of it, since I have that drive from Manchester to SJP every fortnight. Always take M62 and A1, much quicker!

-- Anonymous, January 03, 2002