Newcastle 1-0 Manchester United: Magpies outclass Red Devils
Newcastle United breezed past old foes Manchester United at St. James’ Park to move within two points of the top four spots in the Premier League.
A second-half goal from Anthony Gordon – his sixth of the league season and fifth at home – proved to be the difference in an otherwise comfortable win for the Toon. Antony thought he had leveled the scoreline in stoppage time, but a cruel deflection off Harry Maguire, who was offside at the time of the shot, ruled out Manchester United’s goal. That was arguably the only threatening moment from their perspective.
Newcastle put in a shift from start to finish, showing more appetite than Manchester United throughout the course of the 90 minutes. They looked far from a side struggling with injuries, while Man United were far too ponderous, having been forced to play catch up by a more energetic and well-drilled team.
While Newcastle start December on a flying note, Erik ten Hag has enough to think about as he aims to rejuvenate a broken team all around the pitch.
Here are the key takeaways from the Premier League clash.
Newcastle trouble Man United’s defense in the opening exchanges
Despite nearly having an XI full of players on the sidelines, the Magpies, emboldened by the St. James’ Park crowd, gave Manchester United’s shoddy defense a run for its money. To put that in context, it’s the same back line that has conceded the most goals at this stage of the season since 1962.
They won in excess of 60% of the duels, underpinning how much of the ball they were claiming back in midfield whenever the visitors tried to engineer an escape.
The first threat came down Manchester United’s right, where Anthony Gordon and Tino Livramento outnumbered their counterparts and caused all sorts of issues. The latter was at his exuberant best, bombing forward.
Aleksandar Isak was on the end of a few half-chances. Once played in by a Fabian Schar lob inside the box, the forward’s first touch let him down. Minutes later, his shot was blocked by Luke Shaw down the right channel after a bit of trickery with his feet.
Newcastle’s find of the season, Lewis Miley, tested Andre Onana from a cutback, as did Miguel Almiron, after shifting to his left, cutting inside and side-footing a strike into the far corner.
It was a matter of exploiting space and winning the battles in midfield. Newcastle were the more galvanized unit, and had more bodies in motion.
While Almiron saw another one of his efforts blaze over the crossbar moments after, Kieran Trippier’s wonderfully whipped free-kick rattled the frame to sum up the hosts’ half – full of dominance, yet unlucky to not be in front. They finished the opening 45 minutes with 14 shots to Man United’s two.
Level-headed Newcastle the more patient side
It’s easy for a team that’s been continually probing to overdo, over-commit or over-complicate matters. It’s even easier to release one’s foot off the pedal when exercising that much control in a football game.
But Newcastle are far ahead of the chasing pack in the Premier League. They’re proving that, irrespective of European distractions among other aspirations, they’re here to stay and fight amongst the top dogs of the continent. They’re an evolution of the team that was flirting with relegation when Eddie Howe inherited the club.
It took 17 attempts on goal to break the deadlock. That, however, didn’t change Newcastle’s approach, domination, and quick passing. They were poised whenever they looked to attack; and there was a method to every pass, every forward movement. They continued to recycle possession and win the little battles on the field.
And then came the breakthrough. Bruno Guimaraes, who bossed the game, exposed an empty Man United’s left-sided defense, and laid it on for Trippier to slide an easy pass for Gordon at the back post. As easy as it looked to the eye, it was a crafty piece of play that left the away side short of bodies.
They would go on to dominate the game with the ball and defend well, with the forwards pressing and working ever-so-tirelessly to help the back line. The midfielders – Joelinton, Guimaraes and young Miley – all were exquisite with their dribbling plus anticipation.
And even after Nick Pope was forced off with an injury, which is probably the only negative remark that would go into Howe’s notebook, they defended masterfully and held on to their lead.
Livramento will give Eddie Howe selection dilemmas going forward
Tino Livramento had an outing that will give Marcus Rashford a few sleepless nights. The full back was on top of his game, as he’s often been since finding his groove in the starting XI following Dan Burn’s injury.
He fully exploited Rashford’s unwillingness to help out Aaron Wan-Bissaka, who himself likes to stay deeper and defend compactly. That invited Livramento to repeatedly chance himself at acres of space, with regular supplies from Gordon and Joelinton. As for Rashford, he has to thank Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw for being at the right place and sparing his blushes.
The 21-year-old dribbled past players, exploded, and overlapped on the left in the right moments, and was simply the quickest, most exciting player on the pitch.
The former Chelsea and Southampton full back wasn’t just all about the chaos in front of Man United’s goal.
He was the last man standing in Howe’s counter-pressing system, with the manager heeding the warning from the opponent’s pacy wingers. And when Bruno Fernandes tried to play Alejandro Garnacho through on goal, Livramento disdainfully shifted gears and snatched the ball off. He’s a serious player with a very high ceiling.
When Dan Burn returns, Howe will have plenty of good headaches. Regardless, he now has the dexterity and solidity of Burn, as well as the modern-day machismo of a full back through a fully fit Livramento.
-Roy Akarshak
Twitter: @RoyAkarshak
Photo: Chabe01. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.