Manchester United 0-0 Newcastle: Wayne Rooney Goal Disallowed In Stalemate

Wayne Rooney had a goal controversially disallowed for offside as Newcastle held Manchester United to a 0-0 at Old Trafford.

The linesman’s flag cut short Rooney’s celebrations on three minutes after he had got behind the Newcastle defence and finished past Tim Krul.

Aleksandar Mitrovic, on his first start for Newcastle, hit the crossbar before Javier Hernandez was denied by Krul and Chris Smalling hit the post in stoppage time.

The result means the hosts remain unbeaten and have yet to concede a league goal this season.

Louis van Gaal handed a first full start to Bastian Schweinsteiger, who replaced Michael Carrick while Newcastle made three changes to the side that were beaten at Swansea.

It was Van Gaal’s side that started much the brighter and they had the ball in the net within four minutes.

Rooney wheeled away in celebration as he thought he’d ended his nine-game goal drought after slotting past Krul from Adnan Januzaj’s pass, but he was flagged offside despite appearing to be level with the Newcastle defence.

The early pressure from the hosts was relentless but Newcastle weathered the storm with Krul making a smart low save from Juan Mata on 17 minutes.

Mitrovic, a summer signing from Anderlecht, almost marked his first start for the Magpies with a goal but his header from a Chancel Mbemba cross rocketed back off the crossbar on 23 minutes.

Van Gaal’s side struggled to inject any pace into their passing in the early stages of the second period as the home fans started to become slightly frustrated with their side.

The arrival of Chicarito from the bench sparked the hosts into life and he should have scored on 79 minutes but Krul was quick out of his goal to make a crucial block.

Newcastle sank deeper and deeper as the match wore on but the Red Devils just couldn’t find a way through as Steven Taylor and Fabricio Coloccini made some superb blocks.

Smalling did breach the Newcastle back-line in stoppage time, meeting a Memphis Depay corner with a firm header but with Krul beaten the ball cannoned back off the post.

Newcastle nearly took all three points from the resulting counter attack as Newcastle’s new signing Florian Thauvin, who came off the bench in the latter stages, was inches away from turning in a Papiss Cisse’s cross.

Player Ratings
Man Utd: Romero (6), Darmain (6), Smalling (7), Blind (7), Shaw (6), Schneiderlin (7), Schweinsteiger (6), Mata (6), Januzaj (6), Memphis (7), Rooney (6).

Subs: Valencia (6), Carrick (6), Chicharito (6)
Newcastle: Krul (8), Mbemba (7), Taylor (7), Coloccini (8), Haidara (7), Anita (7), Colback (7), Perez (7), Wijnaldum (6), Obertan (6), Mitrovic (7)

Subs: Tiote (6),Thauvin (6), Cisse (6)
SKYSPORT