Ronaldo dances, Old Trafford swoons

English PremiershipMan United 6 Newcastle 0MANCHESTER — You just cannot get enough of Cristiano Ronaldo.

He was at it again on Saturday night (yesterday morning, Singapore time), sweeping across the damp Old Trafford surface with the sublime footballing skills of a master showman.

The crowd drooled, the visitors cowed and Ronaldo's hat-trick of goals in a 6-0 rout of managerless Newcastle sent his United to the top of the Premier League with all the style of potential champions.

All six goals came in the second half after Alex Ferguson had sent out his players with instructions to be sharper with their passing and to stop trying to walk the ball into the net.

Indeed, United's attacking verve was plainly evident, as Carlos Tevez helped himself to two goals and centre-half Rio Ferdinand also got in on the scoring act, assisted by a sumptuous pass from the irrepressible Wayne Rooney.

Ronaldo, Tevez and Rooney make up an attacking triumvirate that threatens to destroy anything lying in the Red Devils' path this season.

Ronaldo insisted after the game that United's return to the top of the Premiership was far more significant than his first hat-trick for the club.

The 22-year-old Portuguese winger's haul for the season is now 22 — just one short of his 23-goal tally that helped inspire United's successful title bid last year.

"It's a special day for me," said Ronaldo. "I'm very happy to win the game and go to the top of the league. This is the most important thing.

"It's always important to score and help my team. I feel proud and very happy. It's good to score a hat-trick but if I score two in every game, I'll be very happy. If we keep playing like we did in the second half I am sure we will be the best team."

Ferguson singled out Ronaldo for special praise, when he said: "I think his hat-trick was always coming. He's a young lad who's improving, he's always practising, his decision-making is improving all the time. I expected him to score more this season and he is doing that."

The second-half effort ensured United capitalised on Arsenal's failure to beat Birmingham earlier in the day to go top.

Ferguson added: "The reason we have are top of the league is because our home record has been great, the defensive part has been great. And these are important issues to add our home form to the one or two defeats we have had away from home.

"Teams well below the top four are spending a lot of money to improve their teams and stay in the Premier League. Teams are taking points off the top teams. The winning points total could be lower this year."

The heavy defeat was yet another blow to Newcastle, who had earlier in the day discovered Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp had no interest in succeeding the sacked Sam Allardyce.

Caretaker-manager Nigel Pearson admitted the club were in a difficult situation ahead of Wednesday's FA Cup third round replay with Stoke City.

"It was a very difficult day," Pearson said. "It's obvious that when a club is in this kind of transitional period, it's preferable for things to be as smooth as possible and this result has made everything harder.

"It's been a tough week for all concerned but I'm not going to make excuses, yet it's plain to see that it's best that the situation is resolved as soon as possible." — AFP