In a very poor performance, Manchester United has dropped points to 19th placed Newcastle United, who would’ve grabbed the three points if it wasn’t for a couple of sensational saves from David De Gea.
Ralf Rangnick: “I didn’t like the performance at all. Today we didn’t control the game apart from a few moments.”
“Our biggest problem was the mistakes we made. Even when we scored the equalizer we were not really controlling the game and making the right decisions.”
Manchester United Starting XI: David De Gea, Diogo Dalot, Raphael Varane, Harry Maguire, Alex Telles, Fred, Scott McTominay, Bruno Fernandes, Marcus Rashford, Mason Greenwood, Cristiano Ronaldo.
Newcastle United Starting XI: Martin Dubravka, Emil Krafth, Jamal Lascelles, Fabian Schar, Javier Manquillo, Jonjo Shelvey, Sean Longstaff, Joelinton, Ryan Fraser, Callum Wilson, Allan Saint-Maximin.
Straight from kick-off, it was clear that this Man Utd team was off the pace and Newcastle was up for the fight, winning individual duels and winning second balls, preventing Man Utd from any possession in dangerous areas.
Newcastle opened the scoring in the 7th minute through a great finish by Saint-Maximin, the sequence started with Varane getting caught on the ball in midfield, Newcastle found Saint-Maximin free on the left, he cut in, skipped past Maguire, and excellently placed the ball into the far corner to give the home side the lead.
For the rest of the first half, Man Utd lacked quality on the ball, not just in the final third, but in the middle of the park, failing to find incisive passes into the forward players, and when trying to pass, it was usually intercepted by a Newcastle player.
Rangnick changed it up with his half-time substitutions, bringing on Edison Cavani and Jadon Sancho for Fred and Greenwood, dropping Fernandes into a deeper position.
The changes had a massive impact on Man Utd’s defending in midfield, Newcastle was easily able to play through the middle of the park and find transition opportunities to double their lead.
Newcastle nearly doubled their lead early in the second half after Fraser’s cross found Saint-Maximin free in the middle, but he scuffed his touch and De Gea was able to parry the ball away.
Man Utd scored their equalizer in the 71st minute through Cavani, Dalot crossed in the ball from the right-hand side, finding Cavani, his initial shot was blocked by the defenders, but he got the loose ball, poking it into the back of the net to level up the score.
Ralf Rangnick: “Edinson [Cavani] is a top striker who has been out with injury but it was good to have him on board again and to bring him on at half-time.”
Newcastle almost took the lead twice late on, substitute Jacob Murphy shot from the left-hand side, hitting the post, the rebound was picked up by Miguel Almiron on the edge of the box, he curled the ball with the left foot, it was headed for the top corner, but De Gea stretched out to save a point for Man Utd.
This performance was very poor in all areas of the pitch, but the game was completely lost in the midfield, Newcastle loaded up the center of the pitch, making it hard for Man Utd’s double pivot to find forward passes, whilst also getting easily passed around, making 19th placed Newcastle the team who deserved the three points on the night.
Ralf Rangnick: “We have to take it game by game. We have physical games coming up against Burnley and Wolves. Results are on track but we have to get better than what we showed today.”
