Ronaldo revels as Rooney rots

SOCCER/Manchester Utd - 2 Newcastle Utd - 0: Alex Ferguson sat back in his seat as full-time approached here, the smile of satisfaction plastered across his face suggesting normal service had been resumed.

Manchester United retire into the international break top of the Premiership, their victory yesterday smoothed by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's first home league goals since April 2003 and a characteristically searing performance from the youthful inspiration within their ranks.

The only concern, more trifling for club than country, was that this game's outstanding talent was not Wayne Rooney but Cristiano Ronaldo. The pair have experienced contrasting fortunes since their spat in Gelsenkirchen exactly three months previously, but, where the Portuguese has used the catcalls from opposing supporters which continue to greet his every touch as a source of defiant inspiration, Rooney is floundering, arguably in the first patch of stodgy form his career has endured.

The forward laboured here on what was largely a stroll for his team, with Rooney sinking to Newcastle's level while Ronaldo glided over the dross on show.

Ferguson will not be alarmed while opponents are this obliging, but the implications for England are more unsettling. On this evidence, the most talented footballer of his generation may not warrant selection against Macedonia on Saturday; by the end, the frustration etched on Rooney's brow suggested he knew as much.

His beard rather gives the impression he is down on his luck. His body language was occasionally tortured, his distribution relatively shoddy, with the one clear opening he chiselled for his team-mates volleyed straight into Steven Taylor's face by Rio Ferdinand. Too often the ball was stuck under feet which normally are a blur.

His mood would be lightened by a goal, even a sloppy bundle into an empty net, but, for now, he is gasping in Ronaldo's slipstream. They may have reconciled, but the winger's revival has done little for Rooney, serving to illustrate the current gulf in the pair's confidence. Ronaldo may be wasteful with the numerous free-kicks he insists upon taking, but he is simply unstoppable when offered time or space in which to generate momentum.

For a while, Newcastle's willingness to suffocate midfield had threatened to glean them an unlikely point, but the 21-year-old would not be marginalised. Instrumental in thrusting the hosts ahead, he struck the woodwork three times, and the trio of visiting players booked were all penalised for crunching fouls aimed at stifling his nuisance value.

Ferguson's smile owed much to the Portuguese's progress. "Marvellous, marvellous it was," offered the manager of his winger's display. "He's been like that since the start of the season. Nothing fazes him, he's got great courage. There seems to have been a big change in him. It's difficult to say whether what happened in the summer was a defining moment, but I always said I could only see greatness ahead for him. Things still have to be in place. He's got to keep working hard and improve his understanding of the game."

That might have referred to the accuracy of his shooting.

The contest was drifting unsatisfactorily towards the interval when, four minutes from the break, Ronaldo gathered possession, sprinted across the area veering away from a trio of challenges and skidded a low shot which rebounded from the post. Solskjaer, loitering on the edge of the box with Craig Moore playing him onside, side-footed in.

The concession wrecked Newcastle's game-plan, built around a midfield quintet stifling Ronaldo and Rooney as best they could. The policy left little place for their own forays forward, though the frantic early exchanges of the second half took the contest beyond retrieval. Solskjaer deflected Nemanja Vidic's shot past Steve Harper and Newcastle threatened complete capitulation.

That they were spared owed much to Harper's reactions and Ronaldo's misfortune in battering against the woodwork twice more.

"Everyone is finding it difficult to cope with Ronaldo," said Glenn Roeder, who lost Emre Belozoglu to a twisted ankle. "It's not an attractive sight if you're a right back, seeing Ronaldo running at you. He's in scintillating form and, no matter what game United are involved in, he's very much their focal point, along with Rooney. United have two of the finest talents in the world."

The Englishman may need reminding of as much, but with a first league victory since early September, Manchester United can hope to rebuild his confidence from the pinnacle.

Guardian Service