'This fixture has provided some momentous games in the past decade — think of Peter Schmeichel’s one-handed defiance, Philippe Albert’s chip in a 5-0 home win, a hat-trick by Paul Scholes and Roy Keane being sent off for swinging at Alan Shearer — but yesterday’s encounter may not be fondly remembered even by Manchester United when the season is over.
Their most optimistic supporters will attempt to interpret this triumph as the day they began a surge back up the Premiership table, but, if they took the trouble to watch, neither José Mourinho or Arsène Wenger will be too concerned. United remain in the title race, but they are 11 points behind Chelsea and did not play like a side about to go on an unstoppable charge.
To inflict Newcastle United’s third home defeat in eight days and confirm that Graeme Souness has gone straight from honeymoon to sleeping in separate beds, Sir Alex Ferguson’s men required a controversial penalty at 1-1, although the visiting team will claim that it was a goal created from nothing by Wayne Rooney. On a scrappy afternoon, the teenager was the nearest thing to a man in form as he scored two and was at the heart of the other.
Freddy Shepherd declared yesterday that Newcastle had been "100 per cent serious" in their attempt to sign Rooney in August, but the rest of the world has only just stopped laughing. One of Europe’s exceptional young talents was never going to come to St James’ Park, whatever the chairman claims, and he would certainly have been wasting his gifts in this side. In bidding £20 million, Newcastle only succeeded in hastening his move to Old Trafford, and how United were grateful for his match-winning abilities yesterday. Struck by a 23-tonne truck earlier in the week as he drove his four-by-four to training, Rooney proved the irresistible force on Tyneside, even grafting away to good effect on the left flank for the second half.'