Krul (Forster 46), Simpson, S Taylor, Coloccini, Enrique, Gosling (Ba 46), Cabaye, Vuckic, Jonas (Marveaux 46) Lovenkrands (R Taylor 61), Best (Shola Ameobi 46).Subs: Sammy Ameobi, Ranger, Tavernier, Williamson.
As irritating as it was, perhaps ref Mark Halsey is a man to thank for calling things off before anybody got injured amidst the monsoon – then it would have been a complete farce.
No friendly this summer has gone by without something going wrong, during or after each fixture.
The game against La Viola had at least shown a few positive signs.
There was some nice movement from the midfield engine room with Yohan Cabaye impressing again and running things in the middle of the park along with Dan Gosling in the first half.
It would appear that set-piece specialist Cabaye, the architect of two tame pops at goal, has emerged in the last two games showing quarter-back-style leadership for United. If this is a taste of things to come, it is a positive for fans to cling to for the season ahead.
With Steve Harper in the stands Tim Krul, who produced a great block to deny Gamberini, and Fraser Forster, who kept out Jovetic and Gilardino, made two meaningful saves apiece in each half.But the final result of the goalkeeping conundrum will only be fully discovered this week at the club’s Benton base.
Haris Vuckic demonstrated more good progress during the 64-minute wash-out too, but it would be a big call for Pardew to throw the Slovenian rookie in from the start against Arsenal next weekend.
But there was a distinct lack of venom in the final third, with only Demba Ba’s narrow miss in front of the Gallowgate causing any real jitters for Artur Boruc in the Fiorentina goal.
Leon Best also had two first-half chances but squandered both.There wasn’t just heavy rain in the air on Saturday though, there was disillusionment too.
There were half a dozen chants from sections of fans against the current ownership of the Magpies and one chant for Joey Barton – who was sat in the Milburn Stand.
It wasn’t a mass protest, but a point made all the same from a crowd of 12,656 on a rain-sodden day of an era of deep financial woe.