Bill Edgar's tactical analysis

It was party time at Old Trafford on Saturday. With a delectable lack of irony, the match-day programme celebrated Manchester United’s “most successful Christmas party season ever”, a period in which Sir Alex Ferguson’s team collected more bad headlines for events off the pitch as well as more points than their title rivals on it.

There was no mention of the Great John Street Hotel or the party that brought the club such shame last month as the programme, on its stadium news page, trumpeted United’s marketing achievements.

United may have registered their biggest league victory since September 2000 (6-0 at home to Bradford City), but none of the players will have sat comfortably as Ferguson started laying into them at half-time with Newcastle United, lambs to the slaughter after the week they have been through, still unbloodied at that stage.

The United manager has had little cause to lambast his players since he read the Riot Act over the shenanigans that accompanied the allnight binge the week before Christmas. Despite defeat away to West Ham United, they have accrued more points than Liverpool, Chelsea or Arsenal since Advent started and this mauling, when it eventually materialised, moved them back to the summit of the Barclays Premier League, on goal difference ahead of Arsenal. The last time they beat Newcastle to go top, in October 2006, they could not be shifted.“We got a bit of a telling-off at half-time,” Rio Ferdinand said, “but we went out and produced the goods in the second half.”

The England defender was named as captain on the official team sheet but got the armband only midway through the second half, after Ryan Giggs’s withdrawal, shortly before volleying home the fourth goal in what by then had become the Cristiano Ronaldo show. “It’s about time he got a hat-trick,” Ferdinand said after the Portugal winger’s first treble for the club. “But he’s been playing like that for two years and long may it continue. Scoring 22 goals by January isn’t bad, but he can improve.”

Asked how satisfied he was with his goal, Ferdinand replied: “I was more pleased with keeping a clean sheet.” Ferguson would have purred at such professionalism. Perhaps the recent controversy has galvanised the United players into accepting their collective responsibilities.

Amid the myriad of missed opportunities by Wayne Rooney, Michael Owen was wrongly given offside as he converted James Milner’s pass, but Newcastle were outclassed throughout. Two 50-50 penalty claims were rejected and three efforts cleared off the line before Ronaldo, theatrically tumbling after minimal contact from Alan Smith, scored his twentieth goal of the season by appearing to direct his free kick beneath the defensive wall as the players jumped.

It must have been demoralising for the Newcastle players, having lost one manager in midweek, to hear just before the match that Harry Redknapp did not want to take over from Sam Allardyce and they capitulated in the second half. Caçapa, José Enrique and Shay Given passed the ball between themselves like a hot potato until Giggs was allowed to square the ball for Tévez to score. Ronaldo provided the goal of the game when displaying a sublime touch at the end of a sweet and swift four-man move to bring the ball down and shoot and, after Ferdinand’s volley from Rooney’s oblique pass, the golden-booted winger earned the match ball by stepping inside Caçapa and driving in a deflected shot.

“I asked all the players and the staff to sign the ball for me because it is a special day,” Ronaldo said. “To keep it on display in my home is important for me. If we keep playing like we did in the second half, I am sure we will be the best team.”

Smith, on his first return to Old Trafford, compounded Newcastle’s utterly miserable afternoon by getting himself sent off for his protests after Tévez’s volley was adjudged to have crossed the line in stoppage time. He and Nicky Butt will now be suspended for Wednesday’s FA Cup third-round replay with Stoke City. Sometimes, out of adversity, character shines through. Sometimes. Anton and Rio Ferdinand became the first pair of brothers in Premier League history to score on the same day on Saturday. Anton scored West Ham United’s winning goal in the 2-1 victory over Fulham before his elder brother contributed to the 6-0 annihilation of Newcastle United. The brothers scored in the same weekend two years ago, Anton in a 2-1 win over Fulham on a Monday night, the day after after Rio had claimed United’s winner over Liverpool.

Manchester United (4-2-3-1) E van der Sar 6 J O’Shea 7 R Ferdinand 7 N Vidic 7 P Evra 6 Anderson 6 M Carrick 7 C Ronaldo 9 C Tévez 7 R Giggs 6 W Rooney Y 7. Substitutes: D Simpson 7 (for Evra, 67min), D Fletcher (for Anderson, 72), Nani (for Giggs, 72). Not used: Park Ji Sung, T Kuszczak. Next: Reading (a).

Newcastle United (4-5-1) S Given 5 S Carr 5 Caçapa 4 S Taylor 6 J Enrique 5 J Milner 5 C N’Zogbia 4 N Butt 3 A Smith R 4 D Duff Y 5 M Owen 4. Substitutes: M Viduka 3 (for Milner, 64), D Rozehnal (for Owen, 82). Not used: Emre Belözoglu, S Harper, K LuaLua. Next: Bolton Wanderers (h).

Referee: R Styles
Attendance 75,965

What a way to go

With his team 6-0 down and the game in stoppage time, Alan Smith decided to argue with the referee about the validity of Manchester United’s final goal. His abuse earned him a red card (and a standing ovation from fans at his former club). Here are three other daft departures . . .

Joey Barton, with Manchester City at the time, was cautioned for the foul that allowed Christian Ziege to send Tottenham Hotspur into a three-goal lead in an FA Cup fourth-round replay four years ago. The midfield player was later dismissed for arguing with Rob Styles (the referee who sent Smith off on Saturday) after he had blown for half-time. To add to the silliness of the situation, ten-man City came back to win a remarkable game 4-3.

Paolo Di Canio had already seen red when he pushed Paul Alcock, the referee, to the ground during Sheffield Wednesday’s 1-0 victory over Arsenal in September 1998, but his combined acts of folly brought him an 11-game ban.

Ross Wallace went from hero to zero last season when, having scored Sunderland’s winner over Hull City, he received a second yellow card for throwing his shirt to the crowd in celebration. Words by Peter Lansley