Manchester United Vs Newcastle United: Champions start off with a tame draw

August 18, 2008

Manchester United, the current Premier League Champions, began their title defense in an unlikely tame fashion when they were held 1-1 by Newcastle United at Old Trafford.

But the coach of Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson is most unlikely to get too much stressed for his side losing two points in this year’s opener of the BPL.

It may be noted that in last year, Manchester United only managed to collect two points from their first three games although they finished top in the end.

Ferguson ended the match by making Patrice Evra providing valuable support for Wayne Rooney from the up front after midfielder Darren Fletcher equalized Newcastle’s Obafemi Martins’ opener.

Newcastle showed extreme excellence on the field was courtesy of their new Argentinean player, Jonas Gutierrez. He created several problems for the hosts and at one time, Manchester United went into an uncharacteristic defensive mood.

At one stage of the match, TV replays showed that that Jonas Gutierrez claimed for an invalid penalty after he was totally flattened by Manchester United’s Nemanja Vidic, but it was well noticed that the former Real Mallorca player was positioned well outside the box.

Manchester United should claim no excuse as they failed to track Martins when he leapt alone to receive James Milner’s corner kick and deflected it with enough power sending it past Paul Scholes to score the opener for Newcastle.

The lead for Newcastle lasted, however, lasted just two minutes when Fletcher stole a quick chance to steer a ball of Giggs and helped the host to salvage a draw.

Meanwhile at Villa Park, Manchester City was crushed by Aston Villa 4-2, as England U-21 International, Agbonlahor, scored a hat-trick for the home side.

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