NEWCASTLE UNITED 1, MANCHESTER UNITED 0
Matt Ritchie scored the only goal in a contest that might have terminally ended Manchester United’s title challenge for this season as Newcastle United beat the Reds 1-0 to win their first home game in the Premier League since October 21.
By Jose Mourinho’s own admission, Newcastle “fought like animals” to outperform the Reds and earn a vital three points which dragged them out of the relegation zone.
Mourinho still hasn’t won at St James’ Park in the Premier League and defeat leaves Manchester United 16 points behind City with 11 games to go and with an increasing prospect of playing for the title at the Etihad in the Manchester Derby on April 7 depending on results.
Marcos Rojo, Luke Shaw, Scott McTominay and Juan Mata were dropped from the side that beat Huddersfield Town last Saturday, with Phil Jones, Ashley Young, Paul Pogba and Anthony Martial recalled to the side.
Newcastle United handed a debut for on-loan goalkeeper Martin Dubravka from Sparta Prague and the Slovakian ‘keeper played a key role in keeping the Magpies in the game against the Reds.
Dubravka saved shots by Jesse Lingard, Anthony Martial when put clean through by Juan Mata in the first period and Newcastle ought to have had a penalty when Dwight Gayle was clumsily fouled after dashing ahead of Chris Smalling only to be brought down by the United defender.
Smalling had been hapless – giving away an earlier free kick with a handball just outside the box which resulted in a hammering shot by Jonjo Shelvey which stung David De Gea’s hands.
And to cap it all, Smalling collected a booking later in the game for a ridiculous dive after anticipating a tackle by Shelvey while trying to bring the ball out of the United defence. Hardly a performance worthy of a ball playing defender and from the free kick the Magpies ensured that the Reds were punished.
Manchester United disjointed, Newcastle punish Chris Smalling’s dive
Romelu Lukaku had a headed goal ruled out for a push on Florian Lejeune as the Reds tried to piece together attacks but looked disjointed without consistent input from Pogba and Alexis Sanchez looked isolated on the left flank as the forwards were starved of service from a midfield which was patrolled by the Magpies.
When Lukaku did find Sanchez the Chilean was denied a goal after Dubravka had come off his line only to be denied by a block by Lejeune to prevent a goal bound shot.
With United certainly not themselves, then, the Magpies made the most of their few opportunities – finally landing what turned out to be a killer blow when Matt Ritchie pounced on Newcastle’s set piece routine after Smalling’s foolish dive. Shelvey drove the ball into the box, Lejeune won the header, Gayle touched it on and Ritchie found himself in acres of space and coolly put the ball past De Gea.
There had been rumours of injury concerns about Pogba during the warm-up as he turned in another rudderless performance in midfield after his shocker against Spurs before being tactically hooked by Mourinho for club captain Michael Carrick. To clarify things, Mourinho specifically denied there was any injury.
The Reds might have upped the gear after the reshuffle but they found Dubravka in no mood to let them pass. He beat away Ashley Young’s shot, and saw two chances by Martial blocked by Gayle, and stopped a late chance by Mata during a late goal mouth scramble.