The familiar tone was heard as the players finished their handshakes and retired to their seats before kickoff. local hero The drops from the public address paused briefly and started over again. A rewind was exactly what would follow, with Newcastle and Manchester United reminding us exactly what they were all about.
Towards the end of normal time, in an utterly one-sided game, substitute Antony’s shot briefly threatened to taunt the Geordies for their lack of ability to kill a play of opportunity from Harry Maguire (who was happily offside for the home side) – ditto It was this trait that deprived them of three points against 10-man Liverpool in late August. Anything short of a home team win, though, would be a moonlight robbery.
Relating to: Newcastle’s Anthony Gordon punishes tired Manchester United
Given the mood of the teams involved, it was somewhat intriguing that the visitors arrived here ahead of kick-off a point and a place ahead of the hosts. Their goal difference (Newcastle’s plus-17 to United’s zero) told a different story on tape. Erik ten Hag’s team’s ambitions should not have been misplaced, given their opponents’ limited resources. Barely two minutes had passed when Bruno Guimarāes grimaced towards the bench, sending hearts into their mouths again.
The miles are piling up rapidly in Newcastle’s creaking squad. Eddie Howe’s XI, like all top teams, largely selects itself, but in this case it is largely due to the paucity of available alternatives. Given all this, it was remarkable that Newcastle were more athletic, more positive and hungrier from the start, not to mention their Herculean effort in Paris on Tuesday. Ten Hag’s players may have arrived here on a nearly three-hour bus journey when weather conditions forced them to cancel their flights, but Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona side were unlikely to endure 10 hours on the bus to Milan.
Their only real hint of brilliance came after 10 minutes when Bruno Fernandes’ dagger pass found Alejandro Garnacho, who fired more or less straight at Nick Pope. It reminded us, as did the brighter side of Wednesday night’s messy run at Galatasaray, that for all their ups and downs, United are normally at their best when the captain is writing the script. Almost five years have passed since his arrival from Sporting.
His side Kobbie Mainoo, despite making a second consecutive Premier League start on a difficult second consecutive home trip, still looked neat and tidy at the start and it was his touch that enabled Fernandes to cross Garnacho. But he was then given little chance to shine as he, Fernandes and Scott McTominay were buried under the intensity of Guimarāes, Joelinton and Newcastle’s outstanding young midfielder Lewis Miley.
United, however, defended bravely in a situation that allowed Maguire, for example, to appear at his best. There were close calls, particularly Kieran Trippier’s delicious free-kick which André Onana headed over the crossbar with the crowd in attendance, but Newcastle were forced to think and plan despite their superiority. That was exactly the clever winning goal achieved by Anthony Gordon after a combination from Guimarāes and Trippier.
This was, as Julian Nagelsmann might put it, “poor football” from the visitors; Ambition was perhaps synonymous with the brand, but for now he had reluctantly agreed to be the talk of the day at Old Trafford. Such was United’s submissive stance that Fernandes failed to complain to Robert Jones when the referee failed to show referee Fabian Schär a card for cynically tripping Fabian Schär at half-way and snuffing out a potential counter-attack early in the second half (though he did not manage to complain to Robert Jones before later made up for it). The Swiss defender caught him with spikes on the top of his left foot).
Much of Ten Hag’s tenure at United was spent that way. Putting aside high hopes and high ideals, as Gil Scott-Heron once said, until at least some functionality is achieved, “until this patch is made, until this patch is made.” Fernandes has often sidestepped the need for a collective strategy, but when he fails to shoot there is little left. Marcus Rashford put in a terrible performance and Garnacho looked more like the player Hakim Ziyech left behind shortly before the end in Istanbul on Wednesday night than the player who started with a fine goal.
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Guimarāes, meanwhile, despite Newcastle defending throughout stoppage time, advanced towards the halfway line, still waving his arms and exhorting the crowd to come with him, as he often did. If only Ten Hag’s men had such an instigator. Maguire had partnered up front with Rasmus Højlund, the last refuge of the tactically clueless. Even if this match required the two United to swap places in the standings, it couldn’t have made their differences clearer.