Half time:  Newcastle 0 Manchester 2

58 mins Manchester broke at pace and Scholes found Rooney running through. Boumsong got a challenge in but the ball fell for Scholes who played it to the unmarked van Nistelrooy to take a touch before stroking the ball into the corner. 0-3

59 mins Almost straight from the kick-off Boumsong played the ball forward to Shearer who was able to play in Ameobi overlapping the fullback. Shola was able to put the ball through Tim Howard's legs from a tight angle. 1-3

76 mins Once again we were caught on the break although it looked like we had managed to contain a Manchester raid forward. However, the ball fell to van Nistelrooy who was able to turn it inside to Ronaldo, who couldn't miss from ten yards. 1-4

Full time:  Newcastle 1 Manchester 4

Souness commented:

Manchester boss Alex Ferguson said:

"Last Saturday, quite rightly, the players were criticised," said the Scot.

"They let a lot of people down - including themselves - with a performance that was not acceptable.

"Players do not like criticism and maybe that had something to do with what happened today.

"We needed to remind everyone just what Manchester United is all about."

"The first goal was typical Ruud. It came out of nothing.

"There was no power to it and from the position he was in, the goalkeeper could not have expected him to place it the way he did.

"Everyone in the dressing room is delighted for him because, as with most strikers, when they are scoring they don't think they can miss, when they are not, they don't think they are ever going to get one."

"We have no chance in the league because Chelsea are out of sight."

"And while we want to finish second, winning the FA Cup is far more important."

"Last Saturday was a shock to us all. The team I picked wouldn't have mattered if we had won, it only became an issue because we lost.

"I did leave Ruud, Wayne and Cristiano out but people forget against Blackburn the previous week they had looked very tired."
 

Stats

Newcastle's FA Cup Semi Final record: 1905 Sheffield Weds (Hyde Rd) won 1-0 1906 Arsenal (Victoria Ground) won 2-0 1908 Fulham (Anfield) won 6-0 1909 Man Utd (Bramall Lane) lost 0-1 1910 Swindon (White Hart Lane) won 2-0 1911 Chelsea (St.Andrews) won 3-0 1924 Man City (St.Andrews) won 2-0 1932 Chelsea (Leeds Road) won 2-1 1947 Charlton (Villa Park) lost 0-4 1951 Wolves (Hillsborough) drew 0-0 1951 Wolves (Leeds Road) won 2-1 1952 Blackburn (Hillsborough) drew 0-0 1952 Blackburn (Elland Road) won 2-1 1955 York City (Hillsborough) drew 1-1 1955 York City (Roker Park) won 2-0 1974 Burnley (Hillsborough) won 2-0 1998 Sheffield Utd (Old Trafford) won 1-0 1999 Spurs (Old Trafford) won 2-0 2000 Chelsea (Wembley) lost 1-2 2005 Manchester Utd (Cardiff) lost 1-4 NUFC v MUFC FA Cup record: 1909 lost 0-1 (semi final) 1990 lost 3-2 (5th round) 1999 lost 0-2 (final) 2005 lost 1-4 (semi final)

Waffle

Just another day in the history of this football club and one which, if we're honest we've all lived through before.
                                        
However, after yet another black and white Groundhog Day, Toon fans were left with nothing tangible - save for feelings of  embarrassment and pride. Oh aye, and a hole in their bank accounts where a few hundred quid used to be....

Let's get this nailed down straight away - we didn't expect to win.

Recent events at SJP culminating in the Lisbon disappointment had weakened us before this game to a point where we'd have struggled against anyone.
                                                 
That the opposition were the men from Old Trafford though looked to have sealed our fate - a view also held by media pundits and turf accountants alike.
                                    
But for the 35,000 Newcastle supporters who made what was always likely to be a one-off pilgrimage to Wales, there was always that slim chance that we could produce the unexpected.

The very fact we'd got this far was testament to that essential combination of good fortune and effort. Unfortunately both were to be strictly rationed here.

And having being given the opportunity for a mass day out, thousands of like-minded souls were united in a public expression of love and pride for their football club, both inside and outside the ground.

That pride prevented them from jeering their conquered heroes at the conclusion of the game, but god knows many of them deserved it for their fitful displays.

Whatever solace was taken across the Severn Bridge and back to England came purely from the display off the field - within the white lines there was precious little to dwell on.

That fervour, that support, is habitually referred to in glowing terms by the players and administrators of this club. But like the plethora of insincere and mealy-mouthed apologies we're treated to, it's all just lip service.

Actions speak louder than words - and the actions of those who failed in a black and white shirt tell those supporters all they need to know, regardless of subsequent expressions of regret.
                             
The villains of the piece are known to all but the most blinkered. Those who by their own actions have failed to achieve anything for this club, yet amassed great personal wealth in the process - performance-related pay in reverse as it were...

A lack of professionalism and dereliction of duty saw Viana, Bowyer, Bellamy and Dyer uninvolved in this game.
            
Desperation on the part of the manager saw those who had let us down before given another chance to redeem themselves. Robert, Kluivert, Babayaro and Butt took that chance - and tossed it away with a callous disregard for their colleagues or followers.
                                     
Butt's post-match reaction and Kluivert's antics merely added insult to injury but the damage was done during the game.
         
Butt's inability to tackle his former colleagues or pass to his present ones followed by his exit from the field without acknowledging the Toon fans but having the presence of mind to glad-hand the whole opposition bench.
                                               
Kluivert's apparent unwillingness to come off the bench, his all smiles dutch love in with van Nistelrooy, collection of a red shirt and subsequent fake applause for the Magpie followers?

Babayaro's unwillingness to appear on the field at all and unseemly haste to get off it as soon as possible?

Robert's ill-timed pre-Lisbon comments, subsequent pathetic attempts at currying favour and lack of effort in Cardiff that verged on a dereliction of duty. Not trying? He gave the impression to this spectator of actively undermining our effort with wilfully misplaced dead balls.

Four big players, four men who have been there and done it allegedly. All found wanting when push came to shove. Cowards.
      
And alongside them a trio of youngsters, not exactly greenhorns but looking for a lead from others who have done this sort of thing before. And finding nothing.

Another season hoyed away then, as we were fobbed off with poor league form by the false veneer of beating exotic - and rotten - teams from other countries.
                  
Once again we're on the home straight physically and mentally battered, crawling over the finishing line in the manner of a failing marathon runner - unlike Paula Radcliffe though, Dyer wasn't able to answer the call of nature in the street and still come first....

Souness should be able to demand that his players go full pelt to get those last 21 points and drag themselves up the table - but one look in his dressing room would cause him to save his breath.

We must now take that well-trodden path back to the drawing board once again and try to hit upon the elusive formula.

The task remains the same for Souness - to impose order and discipline where there is chaos and slackness and to build a team worthy of the  support and adulation of its fans.     

As for who goes, it hardly matters anymore - this squad has let us down, on and off the field and needs to be scattered.

The legacy of past managers still has to be dealt with - whether Souness can do that or will be allowed to remains to be seen.

Someone once said you don't win anything with kids - for kids read kidders.
       
If one good thing has come from the two 4-1 defeats, it's that there finally seems to be a realisation that there's dead wood a plenty to be axed.
                
But that will come as little solace to those supporters who sang in the rain and cheered the cheats who deserved derision.

The transient tossers will come and go, but the fans remain - at least until they're sickened or overdrawn past the point of no return.

At least we got to celebrate ourselves and did it in style - after all there's not been much else to raise a glass to in living memory.

Biffa

Reports