It's All About Relief For Rooney And Fergie

Both Sir Alex Ferguson and Wayne Rooney admitted that United had been hardly at their best at St. James' Park tonight but hailed the importance of getting three points after a somewhat unsteady showing.

'It doesn't really matter what position they're in, when United come and play the fans and players all get up for the game and we expect that, so we should have been able to cope with it and had a better start,' Rooney told MUTV.

'After a bit of a dodgy start we managed to get some football going and thankfully got the goals - big goals for us - that gave us the three points.

'We're in a good position at the minute, we just have to keep playing our football, stay focused from now until the end of the season and hopefully we'll be ok.'

Fergie echoed the thoughts of his in-form striker, adding that Newcastle went about their job in the right way.

'It wasn't a great performance,' he told Sky Sports.

'We got off to a terrible start and Newcastle were pumped up for it. But we expected that and we should have dealt with them better.

'But coming back from 1-0 down to win a game is a good result for us. It required a lot of grit at times. Our football has been better, we were a bit careless with the ball, but to come back from 1-0 behind is pleasing.'

Definitely. I'd say that Newcastle clearly drew inspiration from the 11 goal they conceded to us last season: they were baying for blood at Old Trafford and tonight as well. Just as Blackburn they have shown that United CAN be rattled; but just as Blackburn they have learnt that the champions' class usually shines through in the end.

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