After a brilliant defensive display, Newcastle United came away from Old Trafford with a well-earned point on Saturday afternoon. Here, we look at 5 things we learned from the Magpies stalemate with Manchester United.
Concerns over defensive frailties should begin to ease up, just a little!
Steve McClaren suggested earlier in the week that Newcastle are likely to be done with their business in the current transfer window, which left many fans disgruntled. After the poor display at Swansea last week it seemed clear that at least one more defensive player was required to come in to allow Newcastle to be competitive.
Coloccini, in particular, has been subject to a lot of criticism of late, and his contract renewal was met with mixed reaction, but the skipper was absolutely impeccable at the back for Newcastle today. Every challenge he went into, he won. Every block he went to make, he made. The Newcastle captain was rightly given the Man of the Match award for the game.
Alongside him, Taylor put in a very solid performance to keep out Manchester United. Mbemba had to slot in at an unfamiliar right back position and was required to keep the in-form Memphis quiet. After a shaky first 15 minutes, Chancel adapted well and kept the Dutch winger quiet throughout the rest of the game.
Even Haidara, who was poor against Southampton and Swansea, did his job well at left back (with a lot of help from the excellent Ayoze Perez who tracked back throughout the game).
Behind the back line, Krul looked more comfortable than I’ve seen him in a long, long time.
However, Newcastle aren’t going to defend as well as this every week, and despite the encouraging performance of Coloccini and co, we are realistically still in need of another centre back.
Newcastle fans need not worry that the club aren’t moving on
The poor display in South Wales last weekend was a concerning one for Newcastle fans, with the side looking reminiscent of that which under-performed under Pardew and Carver.
It is obvious that Newcastle are still a work in progress under Steve McClaren, but it didn’t stop some fans from worrying that, despite heavy investment, old problematic habits were still evident. The performance at Manchester United put those worries to bed, Newcastle were disciplined, composed and looked like they knew what they were doing, a far cry from the shambles of recent years.
Aleksandar Mitrovic looks like the real deal
The Newcastle fans were desperate to see Mitro start this game, McClaren duly delivered, and the Serbian forward was superb.
He bullied the defence throughout the game, dropped deep to help out the defence and, thankfully, managed to keep his cool for the entirety of his time on the pitch.
As much as many said on his arrival that Aleksandar was a player that was a handful in the air, a good goalscorer and liked to get stuck in, the lad is actually very good with the ball at his feet too. At one stage in the game he dropped back to the halfway line, easily dispossessed Wayne Rooney, ran at the Manchester United defence, and faultlessly played the ball around Luke Shaw into the path of Wijnaldum. He was very unlucky not to score after a fantastic headed attempt on the end of a Chancel Mbemba cross, and it surely won’t be long until he opens his NUFC account for good.
Florian Thauvin seems to be the maverick we were expecting
Thauvin came on in the second half, and immediately got stuck in. Some fancy footwork saw him breeze past Luke Shaw before being brought down. He even almost found himself as the hero in the closing minutes as he was inches away from prodding in a winner for the Magpies.
His flair and trickery look like they’ll get Newcastle fans off their seats, but later on in the game, his decision making (as expected) was questionable. He found himself with acres of space on the left-hand side, but instead of attacking it, he chose to cut inside and he ran straight into a red shirt and surrendered possession.
Early days, yes. But based on his cameo at Old Trafford, he looks like he’s going to go on to be an exciting yet frustrating figure, but hopefully he gives off more of the former in black-and-white!
Newcastle can’t keep starting sluggishly on the road
Last week, Swansea picked up the ball and went for the jugular against Newcastle immediately. They were rewarded with a 9th-minute goal and dominated the game from there on out. Today, it was almost a carbon copy. Newcastle looked sloppy in the opening stages of the game as Manchester United came at them. They were somewhat fortunate as Wayne Rooney ran through the defence with ease to slot home, only to be denied by the linesman’s flag. Had Rooney’s goal stood, you can only imagine it would have been a comfortable win for the Red Devils come the end of 90 minutes.
Newcastle didn’t concede the early goal this time, but can’t count on lady luck to save them every time they play away this season. The home side are always expected to start the game with a bang, as United did themselves at home to Southampton, but away from home they’re going to need to get going earlier than 15/20 minutes into the match.
