Newcastle 4 Man United 1–Dominant Display by the Magpies

Due to illness, Newcastle was without its head coach, Eddie Howe, today. Jason Tindall stepped into the head coach role as Newcastle strive to secure Champions League football at St. James’ Park for the second time in the last three seasons.

Man United were coming off their away trip from Lyon in the Europa League as they conceded a late equalizer. After a pair of Onana mistakes leading to the Lyon goals, Amorim dropped him from the matchday squad, wanting Onana to “disconnect from football.” In his place, Altay Bayindir received his first Premier League start and minutes since arriving at the club two summers ago, and 18-year-old Harry Amass received his first Premier League start for the club.

The game was going to be challenging for Man United based on whether they could deal with Newcastle’s high-intense pressure and fast-paced tempo, and whether their midfield would be overrun by Newcastle’s. 

First Half

It was all Newcastle in the first half, as they started quickly. Joelinton thought he put his side one nil up in the game’s opening seconds, but VAR ruled his goal offsides. Newcastle pressed high and put sustained pressure around the United goal, making it challenging for United to play out from the back. United was able to string a few passes together in their build, beating the initial press from Newcastle, but struggled to get beyond the halfway line. The few times they were able to get beyond the halfway line, they found Garnacho or Dalot out wide in space.

Tonali’s Movement

The first goal for Newcastle came off a turnover in the back where United overplayed with too many passes. Ugarte received a tough pass that popped up in the air, which caused him to make an error pass. Trippier then got on the ball and picked out a poorly marked Isak on the top of the box with his first touch popped up in the air and played a pass over United’s backline to find Tonali, who made his run from the top box, and the Italian connected with the ball sweetly out of the air as he finished it in the bottom corner.

Tonali’s positioning is excellent. He initially started on the blindside of Yoro before the ball was played to Isak.

As the ball is arriving to Isak’s foot, Tonali spins out of the space he initially occupied. Then Yoro turns his body to face Isak and the ball and Tonali is now positioned on Yoro’s blindside again.

Tonali continues his run on the blindside of Yoro and is picked out by Isak and scores.

United’s Response

Completely against the run of the play, Ugarte wins the ball back in the United half and plays Dalot, who drove forward infield, taking out Newcastle players with his dribble, knowing he has Granacho out wide with him. As Dalot approached the top of the 18, he slid a pass through to Garnacho, who took a touch with his right foot and coolly rolled the ball into the far corner of the goal with his left foot as he finished off a swift counter-attack. The only attacking threat United has posed against Newcastle has been when they’ve broken through the initial press and hit them on the counter.

Newcastle’s Second Half Goals

In the opening minutes of the second half, Livramento does well out wide as he beats Dalot a little too easily and delivers a dangerous low, hard cross across the face of the goal, but no one is there to put it away. Murphy then gets on the end of the cross beyond the post, and as the United defenders are watching Murphy, he plays a one-time pass back across the face of the goal, picking out an unmarked Barnes as he sprints into a spot where he can be found and puts the ball in a back of the net. 

The third goal was created by Barnes’ effort to apply pressure on Mazraoui, who hesitated on the ball as he looked for a forward passing option. Barnes then started to engage with Mazraoui, and he decided to try and dribble to evade Barne’s pressure but slips, which allows Barnes to pick up the ball and drive towards the goal as he leaves the rest of the United defenders behind after his burst of pace to pierce right through the heart of the defense and finishes his shot convincingly into the back of the net.

A mistake by Bayindir in his distribution gave Newcastle their fourth goal. Bayindir tried to play out of the back, trying to clip the ball over the first line of pressure from Newcastle, and found Joelinton’s head instead, who directed the ball into the path of Bruno Guimarães, who comfortably stuck the ball into the bottom corner as he was 1v1 against the keeper.

What’s Next

Newcastle faces Crystal Palace on Wednesday as they look to move into third place and potentially be one point behind second-place Nottingham Forest. As for Man United, they host their second-leg tie against Lyon at Old Trafford, where the aggregate score is 2-2, making the game all to play for on Thursday night.

Featured Image via Reuters/Lee Smith/ Images in article from NBC Sports