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Newcastle picked a fine day to produce their best performance of the season, but Manchester United were absolutely rotten at St James’ Park.
A month ago Newcastle were starting to look a weary team sliding out of the Champions League race.
Defeat in the Carabao Cup final to Manchester United came during a five-match winless league run that saw them slip out of the top four and it felt like a difficult time in the season to change that momentum.
Wins against Wolves and Nottingham Forest before the international break were encouraging and at the very least halted the collapse.
But this was something else altogether. This was Newcastle’s best performance of a fine season. This was Newcastle at their high-energy, hard-pressing, fast-running best. A flimsy-looking, Casemiro-less Manchester United midfield was entirely overrun by Joe Willock, Bruno Guimaraes, Sean Longstaff and, in the closing stages, Joelinton. What attacking football Man United were able to produce – which was almost none – was knocked back by an inspired Dan Burn and co with Nick Pope quietly flawless behind them.
Allan Saint-Maximin was a menace – his final contribution an assist for a long overdue opening Newcastle goal – Alexander Isak produced a masterclass of number nine forward play at a ground that always appreciates such things before Newcastle’s actual number nine Callum Wilson stepped off the bench to head home a fully deserved second, points-clinching goal.
The bench depth was significant, with Wilson, Joelinton and Anthony Gordon all making their presence felt after the exemplary starting XI had started to run out of legs.
The scoreline says different and the rivalry is less intense, but from a Manchester United view, a case could be made that this was a performance more alarming than the Anfield Debacle. That game was close until the opening goal just before half-time, and slightly freakish thereafter.
This was a story of domination from first kick to last. Joe Willock’s personal xG must have been two-point-something, and Newcastle’s was a smidge over or under four depending on your source. Either way, this was as comprehensive a win as you could imagine in a game between two teams whose current season target is identical. Chances are that both these teams end the season in the top four, but if one is to slip up you’d be hard-pressed to suggest it’s Newcastle on the evidence this afternoon.
Erik Ten Hag has done much good work and stripped away much of the clown-car nature of recent Manchester United history. He has also garnered plenty of plaudits for his uncanny knack for sensing when to make changes and which changes to make.
Some of that sheen was undoubtedly lost today. We love to see managers make bold choices and the risk-reward of chasing an equaliser versus conceding another goal is almost always in favour of such boldness. But not when the changes entirely destroy the already fragile shape of the team and leave you spending the last 10 minutes chasing black and white shadows in a futile bid to get the ball back.
Both starting centre-backs were withdrawn, with Victor Lindelof introduced to play as a one-man central defence. With predictable results. “It’s either going to be 1-1 or 2-0,” was Gary Neville’s instant assessment after Ten Hag’s shark-jumping roll of the dice. It took very little time for it to become clear which it was going to be. “If they play properly, they’ll score again,” said Neville, correctly, just before Newcastle very properly planted a free-kick onto Wilson’s head as an overworked and under-resourced Lindelof desperately tried to mark everyone.
Neville was arguably the only man connected with Manchester United to make any kind of positive contribution to the day’s proceedings. Accurate post-substitution predictions aside, he also produced a moment of magic from nowhere in describing one woefully poor and needlessly ornate attempt on goal from the wretched Antony as a “flutter kick”.
In keeping with United’s overall showing, Neville immediately lost his nerve. And that was a shame because “flutter kick” was an unimprovably correct description of Antony’s deeply inadequate attempt to channel Paolo Di Canio. We hope it can survive its creator’s uncertainty because we rather liked it.
United, though, have problems. This so soon after Anfield points to an ongoing problem for United at the big grounds. Thrashed at the Etihad and Anfield, beaten at the Emirates and now schooled at St James’. Throw in big defeats at Brentford and Villa, and United’s record away from home against the current top nine is woeful.
The performance in the Europa League at Barcelona aside, United have been abysmal in the biggest away games. There’s an obviously season-defining run on the horizon: United go to Sevilla in the Europa on April 20 and Spurs in the Premier League a week later, with the FA Cup semi-final against Brighton in between. They can’t turn up like this.
Yes, the return of Casemiro will make a difference, but it can’t be that his absence excuses such dramatic drop-off in standards. This was a wildly unacceptable performance from all bar David De Gea who performed admirably to keep the score down. Luke Shaw was wrong to say Newcastle’s win was because of hunger and wanting it more. Sure, they had United beaten on that score, but also technically and tactically.
Man United are having a good season and in a couple of months it could still be a great one, but there are alarming signs. Their last Premier League win came in mid-February and an outside chance of the title has become an unseemly scramble for top four.
Newcastle have emphatically emerged from their own slump; Man United must now show the same strength of character to do likewise.
