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Newcastle too much for us to handle - Fergie

Newcastle were dominant against Manchester United © PA Photos

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Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson conceded that Newcastle striker Demba Ba was too much of a "handful" for his side as they were beaten on Wednesday.

Ba got the ball rolling as Alan Pardew's side claimed a 3-0 win in their Premier League clash, punishing Rio Ferdinand for some sloppy defending as he volleyed past Anders Lindegaard.

Strike partner Shola Ameobi also played a key role in the build-up to the goal - flicking on Tim Krul's deep free-kick - and Ferguson acknowledged after the game that the two powerful strikers had caused his side huge problems, before Yohan Cabaye's free-kick extinguished their hopes of coming away with something.

"They are very strong, big aggressive lads," Ferguson told Sky Sports. "They didn't tear us apart but they were a handful.

"The story of the game was they had two fantastic strikes which put them in the driving seat. The second one was a killer for us, it was a marvellous strike."

The result means United remain three points behind rivals Manchester City in the league table, after Roberto Mancini's side cruised to a home victory over Liverpool on Tuesday. However, the Scot insists there is no need to panic despite a second successive league defeat.

"Advantage to them of course," he said. "They played yesterday and got the three points, and we played today and didn't manage to win - so of course they have the advantage. It's not a time to panic - we have the experience to cope with that.

"Losing a game at this time of the year, you don't want it, but it sometimes can happen - you have seen some of the results recently.

"But obviously, we need to get the show on the road in terms of the run-in, particularly in March and April."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.