Newcastle United 4, Manchester United 1
Manchester United slipped to a 4-1 thrashing at St James’ Park as Newcastle United boosted their Champions League hopes with a humbling of their visitors.
Embed from Getty ImagesAnd the result was all the more remarkable for the Magpies as boss Eddie Howe was unable to manage the side from the touchlines after being admitted to hospital on Friday having felt unwell for a number of days – Jason Tindall was left in charge and Newcastle did their absent boss proud.
United’s Premier League campaign has long been over, and their best chance of salvaging some success from this season is the Europa League.
To that end, Rasmus Hojlund, Casemiro and Harry Maguire were rested while Harry Amass, Victor Lindelof, and Christian Eriksen started at St James’ Park.
The biggest news of the day saw Andre Onana dropped after his errors in the Europa League quarter final first leg cost the Reds two goals as French opponents Lyon earned a draw at home United.
But Ruben Amorim will now have to choose which of his two woefully out of form goalkeepers will play this Thursday in the crucial return leg at Old Trafford.
He declared: “I will choose the best starting XI for the next match.” without giving much of a hint either way.
But Onana’s replacement in goal at St James’ Park – Altay Bayindir – hardly covered himself in glory and let in Bruno Guimaraes’ 77th minute finish after giving the ball away to Joelinton who set up his fellow Brazilian for the icing on the cake of a long day in the North East for the Reds.
Sandro Tonali opened the scoring after 24 minutes after Alexander Isak bypassed the United defence to set up the Italian.
Alejandro Garnacho equalised against the run of play after 37 minutes but the Magpies simply blew the Reds away in the second half with Harvey Barnes bagging a double strike to take the game away from United.
His 49th minute tap-in from 6 yards out put Newcastle back in the lead after Jacob Murphy had set him up and then capitalised on a slip by Noussair Mazraoui to underline Newcastle’s dominance long before Guimaraes finished off the Reds with 13 minutes to go.
United dropped to 14th on goal difference after an awful night was underlined with the a potentially season ending hamstring injury to Joshua Zirkzee who had been one of the better players on a night of ignominy as Newcastle completed the double over the hapless Reds.