Newcastle fall apart as ruthless Ronaldo leads rout at Old Trafford

Newcastle United are incompetent in the boardroom and even more so on the pitch. Cristiano Ronaldo scored his first Manchester United hat-trick as the champions returned to the top of the Premier League with consummate ease.

It ended up at six but would have been 12 had it not been for Newcastle goalkeeper Shay Given and four goalline clearances.

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Alan Smith's Old Trafford return ended with a red card in injury-time while Sir Alex Ferguson gained revenge for his mate Sam Allardyce, sacked by Newcastle owner Mike Ashley last week.

Once Ronaldo, whose record of 22 goals in 21 games is simply staggering, had broken the deadlock after 49 minutes, it turned into one of the most one-sided Premier League games of all time.

Newcastle fans, who tried to remain buoyant and chanted the name of Alan Shearer following the botched attempts to lure Harry Redknapp to St James' Park, were stunned into silence by the end.

The biggest surprise yesterday was that it took the home side until the second half to score. They had chances in the opening 45 minutes but Wayne Rooney was twice denied by Given and Smith's barge into Ryan Giggs in the penalty area went unpunished.

If Smith was lucky on that occasion, he was less so four minutes into the second half.

After Steven Taylor had heroically cleared off the line from Carlos Tevez and Rooney in the same attack, Smith lightly clipped Ronaldo's heels in a central position 25 yards from goal. Talk about dumb blond. Old Trafford knew what was going to happen as Ronaldo stood in front of the ball eyeing up the situation. As he ran forward, the wall jumped and the Portuguese superstar drilled a low shot underneath them and past Given.

You could sense Newcastle's spirit was broken and a second goal followed after 55 minutes. It was comical enough to fit right in with Newcastle's season.

Their £6.5million left-back, Jose Enrique, put Given into trouble with a dreadful backpass, the goalkeeper compounded it with a low clearance straight at Claudio Cacapa, and the hapless defender could not get out the way as the ball hit him somewhere painful straight into the path of Giggs.

The rest was simple. Giggs played a pass to Tevez inside the area and he drilled a low finish and completed the celebration with his trademark dummy. Cacapa might have thought it was for him.

Newcastle's embarrassment was complete when Michael Owen fell over trying to hook in a rebound from three yards after Edwin van der Sar had parried Charles N'Zogbia's shot.

Ronaldo made it 3-0 after 70 minutes when Tevez completed a four-man move with a pass into Ronaldo's path. The Portuguese superstar nonchalantly controlled the ball with his first touch before despatching a low finish under Given.

The home side could have added another six goals in one of the most one-sided finales you will ever see.

Given made great saves from Danny Simpson and Rooney, while Enrique cleared off the line from Michael Carrick before Rio Ferdinand hammered a fourth in the closing stages. Rooney chipped a ball inside Enrique after 85 minutes and Ferdinand galloped forward to volley a right-foot finish past the despairing Given. There was still enough time to add two more goals through Ronaldo and Tevez.Ronaldo gave an exaggerated nod of approval after cutting inside Cacapa to lash home his hat-trick goal from eight yards.

By the time Tevez scored the sixth, Smith was irritated enough to argue the point with referee Rob Styles and get himself sent off.

Ronaldo, who had scored two goals in a game on 14 occasions but never completed a hat-trick, said: "It is a very special day. I am very proud to have scored my first hat-trick but the most important thing for me is that we went back to the top of the table."

Team-mate Ferdinand joked: "It is about time he scored a hat-trick. A goal a game isn't bad — room for improvement, though!"

Nearly a decade ago, Steve Clarke was caretaker boss between Ruud Gullit and Sir Bobby Robson when Newcastle were beaten 5-1 at Old Trafford.

Yesterday it was Nigel Pearson's turn, and for all the spin from chairman Chris Mort about taking time to find a fulltime manager, it must happen soon.