Newcastle Utd 3, Reading 0

Apr 7 2008 by Stuart Rayner, The Journal

IT was supposed to be the magic formula to finally end years of under-achievement. But whereas Sam Allardyce failed to win Tyneside over to 4-3-3, Kevin Keegan has done it in style.

When Allardyce asked Mark Viduka, Obafemi Martins and Michael Owen to form an attacking triumvirate many viewed it as an attempt to replicate the style which served Bolton Wanderers so well, only without the personnel to pull it off. Keegan has somewhat reluctantly taken the same basic blueprint and reinterpreted it.

Martins is no longer asked to patrol one wing and Owen the other but with the tactical straitjacket unbuckled, the Nigerian was an enthusiastic and profitable presence down the left when the situation demanded on Saturday.

And while Owen was too often peripheral under Allardyce, he was presented with a procession of chances against Reading despite starting some way behind Martins and Viduka.

Keegan revealed it was only the failure to win playing with width in his first games at the helm which gave birth to the current masterplan.

"We made the decision (to play the new formation) the day before the Birmingham game because, having looked at the Liverpool game, I didn’t think we had a goal threat," Keegan said after the 3-0 win over Reading.

"I felt we needed the players to believe we could score goals. We said to the defenders you’ll just have to work a bit harder because sometimes these guys won’t get back and fill in and do things that come natural to midfield players. Everyone bought into that. The danger was if it didn’t work, but to be honest we’d played with two wingers and not scored goals.

"It took us 45 minutes at Birmingham, in the second half we started to realise that system could not only work but also be very exciting. After that, they’ve just taken it on."

Since the draw at Birmingham, Newcastle’s record is played three, won three, scored nine, conceded one. It will take better teams to measure their progress than Reading, who managed to create chances without ever seemingly carrying a goal threat.

While Habib Beye was, along with Nicky Butt, United’s most important player, there was a crucial contribution from a much- maligned Allardyce signing. Jose Enrique was lambasted as a waste of £6.5m but his performance was another reminder of a lesson fans and pundits alike seem incapable of learning.

The number of foreign players who have been written off after six months of decidedly dodgy Premier League football is incredible. But so many show their class when given the time. The Spanish left-back perhaps did not get forward as much as the narrow formation might demand but Newcastle’s threat came primarily down his side because when Martins or Joey Barton got out there, Enrique’s passes down the line to them were pinpoint.

Butt is another whose passing is often overlooked, but he showed it on Saturday. His ball picked out Martins on the right, although it took Liam Rosenior’s slip to turn it into a goal.

The questions of whether Butt and Enrique can be as effective against a midfield that presses the opposition better and right-siders who can double up more threateningly than Rosenior and John Oster are for another day.

The understanding between Martins and Viduka is still some way off. The Australian was as surprised as Reading’s defence when Martins dummied the ball to him in the first half, and a couple of passes went behind Viduka when his body weight was going in the opposite direction.

But they and Owen all scored and complement each other well.

As Keegan put it: "With the other two buzzing around we need someone (Viduka) who can stand still." When Barton crossed from the left Viduka did a step-over of his own and although Owen blazed over, the pair’s reaction suggested genuine delight at their understanding.

Although Newcastle had three corners in the first six minutes, Reading also started well.

But their powder-puff attack never convinced and when a team can defend solidly and create chances out of nothing, they can afford to not play at their best and win.

Five minutes into the second half, two goals up, Newcastle were already showboating, Martins back-heeling to Enrique.

Five minutes later the olé football started. As so often this season, plenty of Newcastle fans left early but this time it was because the job was done, not because they could not take any more.

A flurry of late chances – mainly to Barton – could have produced a scoreline more reflective of their dominance, if not of the fact they never needed to find top gear.