Manchester United vs Huddersfield (H) and Newcastle (A)

Manchester United 2-0 Huddersfield (Lukaku 55, Sanchez 68)

United got back on track with a comfortable win, in the end, over a very poor Huddersfield side who seemed to focus more on fouling Alexis Sanchez than attempting to score. A 15^th clean sheet of the season was never in doubt, and neither was the result once the deadlock was broken with an excellent goal; Nemanja Matic won the ball and fed it to Juan Mata on the left, who whipped in a class ball for Romelu Lukaku to volley home. His 19^th goal of the season ended the game as a contest, but it needed the second for United to be calm. Sanchez, making his Old Trafford debut, finished the game when he followed in his own saved penalty, after being fouled for the umpteenth time. He took control despite having a poor penalty record, (which only got worse here) but then again, so do quite a lot of our players.

The tenacious and determined Sanchez was the star of this show, taking the acclaim of the Stretford End at the end after an all-action performance. The Chilean on the mythical wages was the trigger for the attacks, always wanting the ball, drifting into space and driving in possession. While others talk about the numbers, Alexis will just get on with helping his new team win matches. He’d struggled at Spurs (like everyone else), but here was terrific.

It was off pitch stuff that was headline news. This was the Munich 60^th anniversary game, with the ‘We’ll Never Die’ flag passed around before kick-off. It was fitting on such a day that youth graduate Scott McTominay surprisingly started, after Paul Pogba was punished for his insolence against Spurs by being relegated to the bench. He wasn’t the only one, with Jones, Young, and Martial also dropping out. Pogba duly came on to help create the penalty situation, and hopefully Mourinho has sent him a message; He might be our best player, but he is still part of a team, and a squad. No one is safe from being dropped.

McTominay’s enduring memory from this occasion will be being pole-axed by Terence Kongolo in the area, but no penalty and red card was forthcoming, incredibly. That’s it, really. I mean, I didn’t even watch this game, to be honest. But no matter, the 3 points had been secured.

United (4-2-3-1) De Gea 6; Valencia 7, Smalling 6.5, Rojo 7, Shaw 6; McTominay 7, Matic 6.5; Mata 7 (Rashford 71, 6), Lingard 6 (Pogba 65, 7), Sanchez 8; Lukaku 7.5 (Martial 77, 6).

 

Newcastle 1-0 Manchester United (Ritchie 65)

 

Just when things appear as if they’re going to work out, Manchester United contrive to fall apart again. Once more in the post-Ferguson era, it was one step forward, one step back for the Reds. This defeat at St James’ is easily one of the most unforgivable, due to the meek surrender of the points, the chances spurned, and the lack of the quality on show from the opponents. The barcodes barely had to break sweat to keep up Rafa Benitez’s great head-to-head record against Jose Mourinho. Genuinely, I didn’t see this coming at all.

Mourinho picked the same XI that had slipped to defeat at Wembley, which basically confirmed that he does see Ashley Young as first choice left-back, for better or worse. His pool of players were left weakened by minor injuries to Herrera and Rashford, meaning they couldn’t travel. From memory, it was the first time since Rashford made his breakthrough that he had been forced to miss a game through injury. Still, there was plenty of attacking flair in the line-up, enough to overpower the Geordies, anyway.

The game had an electric beginning as Jonjo Shelvey sent in a piledriver which was kept out by De Gea, and Lukaku could only connect with an air-shot from an Alexis cross. Sanchez had started brightly, his elusive dribbling and the ability to ghost past markers evident from the off. But he didn’t get much opportunity to show this, as United were struggling to progress out of our half. Our centre-halves were having way too much of the ball, with Matic and Pogba not coming deep enough to help build attacks.

Newcastle had pace to burn through Chelsea loanee Kenedy, who stung the palms of De Gea with a fierce strike from 25 yards, but United began to find their feet and create chances. Lingard’s shot was pushed out for a corner by the debutant Martin Dubravka in goal, before the best chance of the half. Lukaku smartly touched the ball round the corner for Matic, who played Martial in with an incisive through ball. One-on-one, Martial blinked first, and his tame sidefooted effort was blocked well by the Slovakian international Dubravka, who I had never heard of before. I was expecting Karl Darlow between the sticks for the Geordies, but instead it was their deadline day loan signing from Sparta Prague. So of course, he was brilliant.

Juan Mata would’ve been useful in the first half. United had lots of the ball, decreasing the need for Lingard’s sharp movement, instead requiring the extra vision, guile, and creativity of Mata. At half time, the feeling was disappointment; the possession hadn’t translated into territory. It didn’t help that Martial, missed chance aside, was operating from the right, which he still seemed uncertain with. Again, it was worth asking why our most in-form forward had to change his position to accommodate Sanchez, rather than the other way around. To be fair to Alexis, he was a cut above his teammates in the first half, in particular Lingard, having a gash few minutes before the break, ruining counters.

United were in the middle of their best period of the game. Lukaku had the ball in the net on 53 minutes, but was adjudged to have pushed and climbed on the defender, which was probably true. Alexis dribbled through the defenders showing immense skill and change of direction, winning a corner after his shot was blocked, but then 2 minutes later he missed an unbelievable chance. Lukaku played him in with a world class ball, the Chilean rounded the keeper, but couldn’t quite sort his feet out in time and his weak effort was blocked before it could reach the empty net. Fuck.

United were complicit in their own downfall, missing these chances, and we were made to pay. Chris Smalling, the fucking donkey, didn’t learn from almost giving a penalty away in the first half, and dived over a challenge on the halfway line. Yep. Our 6”3 strong commanding centre-back dived, giving away a free-kick. Shelvey stood it up, Lejeune nodded it down, Gayle flicked it on, and Matt Ritchie had the freedom on Tyneside in the penalty area to convert past De Gea and put the Geordie nation into raptures. It was a decent training ground set-piece but the marking was non-existent. Fuck off Smalling. We had let the game drift, and now we were behind.

I mean...

 

United initially responded well, Ashley Young controlling a ball from Michael Carrick brilliantly and having a strike at goal saved. Oh yeah, that was Carrick, making his first league appearance of the season, on for Paul Pogba after the goal went in. The attention obviously fell on Pogba afterwards, and it is notable that after always playing 90 minutes, he now hasn’t completed it in the last 3 league games. He didn’t look fully fit, but when Shelvey plays around you like he did here, questions need to be asked. We need more, a lot more, from our talisman.

United then were too passive, too reactive, as Newcastle settled in a deep block. Jose threw his last roll of the dice, sending on Scott McTominay in place of Matic for extra threat in the air. We’ve spent over half a billion on the squad and yet when chasing the game we brought on McTominay and Carrick. Let that sink in.

Martial had the best chances, from a corner he had two bites of the cherry from close range but struck the same man on the line twice as the clock ticked by. Lukaku was having one of his best non-goal United games, but someone else needed to finish, and it just wasn't happening. Dubravka, who had played against England in September, was solid and communicative with his battling defence, always helping them. One final chance was saved again, from a Carrick prod late on, but Newcastle hoofed clear and the Geordies celebrated their win. An awful result for United.

So where do we start with that- can Pogba actually not play in a two? Is Matic shattered? Are Smalling and Jones an accident waiting to happen? Who knows. As shit as Smalling is and was, Newcastle kept a clean sheet. They hadn’t won at home for months and yet we scored 0 past them. That ain’t Smalling’s fault. The free-kick was just in our half, hardly a dangerous area for a set-piece. We should’ve had it covered. Credit should also be given to Benitez’s side, from their debutant keeper to the performance of Shelvey, reminiscent of his Swansea form that won him a few England caps.

It looks like we’ve lost the opportunity to be comfortable in 2^nd place and instead will have to scrap it out with the others to stay in the top 4. We’ve been given the chances to move clear by the mistakes and slip-ups from the rest but we’ve blown it and now will be unable to concentrate fully on the cups, which looked possible only a couple of weeks ago.  

United (4-2-3-1) De Gea 6.5; Valencia 6, Smalling 4, Jones 6, Young 6; Pogba 5.5 (Carrick 66, 5.5), Matic 6 (McTominay 77, 5); Martial 5.5, Lingard 5 (Mata 66, 5.5), Sanchez 6.5; Lukaku 7.5.

Newcastle (4-4-1-1) Dubravka 8; Yedlin 6, Lascelles 7, Lejeune 7.5, Dummett 7; Ritchie 7.5, Diame 6.5, Shelvey 7, Kenedy 6.5 (Atsu 84); Perez 6 (Hayden 90+4); Gayle 6 (Joselu 80)