Key events
Jamie Jackson was at Old Trafford tonight. Here’s his match report. Thanks for reading this MBM. Enjoy what’s left of Boxing Day!
Ruben Amorim talks to Sky. “We had to suffer all together in the stadium … the game was really difficult … a good first half … the second we defended … we had our opportunities with transitions … it was a good win but I had so many games here saying we played really well and we didn’t get the three points, today was the opposite … we suffered but managed to win the game … in the first half, the only way to create more danger, to have more opportunities was with a back four and a lot of guys inside … I remember the game from last year … so we tried to imagine the game and help the players to feel comfortable … you put [Dorgu] more in front … his responsibility is not the same … more freedom … it helped Patrick to play better.”
He also reports that Mason Mount “felt something at half time … he wanted to go but we cannot lose more players … Jack [Fletcher] did a very good job … he is humble … works really hard … he deserves this.”
… and as for using the kids: “I understand the history of the club … I want to be part of that … but sometimes you just need to choose the best players … today was the opposite … many games we put players from the academy because we had to … and because they deserve it.”
Then a knowing zinger to end the interview: “Clean sheet, back four … I don’t need a press conference … Kobbie Mainoo is injured, so all the subjects [are covered] and we can go home to enjoy Boxing Day!”
A downcast Eddie Howe speaks to Sky. “Second half was a lot better than the first … but we didn’t do enough … it wasn’t through a lack of effort … we were very dominant … if we scored we could go on and win the game but it didn’t happen … hugely disappointing … we started well … we were slightly rocked by the goal … we didn’t respond well to that moment … a bit disappointed at half-time with our inability to grab hold of the game … I don’t think it was a tactical issue … we didn’t look as physically good as we did against Chelsea … we dominated the ball but it was just the goal that was missing … we’re disappointed with how we defended the goal … and [our] final finish … we wanted the ball in play more … a longer game … they managed the game well from their perspective but they were allowed to … we’ll make an assessment on [Nick Pope] for the next game.”
Patrick Dorgu talks to Sky Sports … “It was a good hit … I didn’t know I could do that … I was very happy to score my first goal in this stadium … it was amazing … [Ruben Amorim] told me to work on my confidence … I did well today … I just looked at the ball, saw it drop, and hit it … I’ve been practising in training and that’s what helped me … when we get players back we will be even stronger.”
… as does the excellent and extremely promising Ayden Heaven, who has been named player of the match. “Finally a clean sheet … we’ve been waiting for it a couple of weeks … I’m so happy … I’m thankful for everyone that helped us … I was playing on the right side … my weaker foot … we have played loads of formations with the manager, and whatever he does, we know it’s gonna work … I’m just so proud of the team … as Manchester United, we belong in Europe and want to get back there next season … we can push for the top four, possibly win the league, anything is possible … we just want to keep trying.”
Manchester United’s team at the final whistle: Lammens, Dalot, Yoro, Heaven, Fredricson, Malacia, Ugarte, Jack Fletcher, Dorgu, Cunha, Zirkzee. You’d have got a good price had you’d permed that eventuality at your local turf accountant.
That was a real curate’s egg of a performance by Manchester United. They were the better team in the first half, but a slew of slightly strange substitutions and tactical tweaks led to their being really up against it for pretty much the entirety of the second period. Newcastle enjoyed 66 percent possession, and took 16 shots at goal to Manchester United’s nine. But only three were on target, which explains why, when it all comes down, while they edged the xG, they only did so by 0.01 (1.17 to 1.18). They’ll be dismayed by their failure to score against a defence that was at times all over the shop thanks to personnel and tactical approaches various. Manchester United managed to notch a belter, though, with its scorer, the all-action Patrick Dorgu, surely their player of the match. The men in red are delighted, having snapped a frustrating winning run at Old Trafford to rise to fifth place in the Premier League.
FULL TIME: Manchester United 1-0 Newcastle United
Manchester United flop over the line, and Old Trafford erupts in festive fervour. Ruben Amorim, eyes to the turf as he walks, heads straight for the tunnel.
90 min +6: Gordon and Hall try to combine down the inside-left channel, but overcomplicate things, and Dorgu is able to scamper up the other end, eating up precious seconds. Manchester United so close now to fifth place!
90 min +5: Gordon crosses from the left. Too high. Too long. He wears the look of a man who knows the jig is up. It’s not going to be Newcastle’s night. They’ve pushed and pushed, but the final ball has been constantly lacking.
90 min +4: Gordon sends one in from the left. Lammens goes up again and claims again, but only after losing it in the first instance, and being rather fortunate Miley couldn’t control the dropping ball. Not so superb, but he gets the job done.
90 min +3: Guimaraes floats a diagonal into the Manchester United from the right. Lammens comes through a crowded box to claim. That’s superb goalkeeping in these circumstances.
90 min +2: Cunha is booked for a late clatter into the back of Hall. Play is stopped for that administrative work, and Hall isn’t happy because he wanted the move to continue. Cunha isn’t particularly pleased, either, and pushes his luck by getting up in the referee’s grille. He wants to watch himself here.
90 min +1: There will be seven additional minutes, and the first goes by without incident.
90 min: Gordon sends Hall into space on the left. He reaches the byline and cuts back for Miley, who aims for the top-left corner but sends his shot over the bar. He might have been better driving that low and hard. The shot he took on was high-tariff.
89 min: Schar clanks a header over the bar. Newcastle have been very impressive in this second half … up until the final ball or the effort on goal, in which case they’ve distinctly underperformed. And time is now most certainly not on their side.
88 min: Martinez and Shaw, neither injured if their slightly befuddled looks are anything to go by, make way for Malacia and Fredricson.
87 min: Miley crosses from the right and hits Dorgu flush in the face. Dorgu goes down, and as play stops, Martinez makes sure he doesn’t hurry to get back up.
85 min: Guimaraes slips a pass down the inside-right channel for Barnes, who cuts back for Gordon. Gordon leans back and flays deep into the stand behind. Wissa was free, six yards out, to his left. But the hosts can’t get out. Manchester United started this game with a back four. They’re now, as Sky commentator Gary Neville observes, effectively playing with a back six. “Amorim deserves to lose this game with bizarre subs that have left Manchester United all over the place,” argues Tim Stappard.
83 min: The only team to have failed to score against Manchester United this season in the Premier League are Sunderland. Newcastle are seven minutes plus stoppages away from doing their bit for north-east solidarity.
82 min: Cunha dribbles upfield on a rare Manchester United sortie. He drags a weak shot across Ramsdale and wide of the right-hand post. Newcastle go up the other end, but Willock’s cross-cum-shot from the right is easily snaffled by Lammens.
80 min: Guimaraes rolls Gordon into the area down the left. Gordon checks to sit Dalot down, then cuts back for Joelinton, who doesn’t have time for any backlift, and prods with uncertainty towards the bottom left. Easy for Lammens. Newcastle should have created a better chance from that, with their hosts all over the shop at the back. Gordon’s pass not the greatest.
78 min: Miley loops the corner into the mixer. Lammens goes off to meet it and flaps, missing the ball altogether. Dorgu manages to hack clear from a crowded six-yard box, then the whistle rather generously goes for a nudge by Gordon on Lammens.
77 min: Tonali is replaced by Willock. The game restarts and Guimaraes drives down the left, winning a corner off Cunha. Miley to take.
75 min: First Hall, then Gordon. Both tear down the left, neither can find anyone with their low cross. Manchester United are living very dangerously. “Newcastle fan here and, while I’d have loved that to be given, I don’t think that’s a pen,” admits John Davis. “Ref doesn’t give it on field and it hit his side and bounced off before he almost accidentally caught it. DEFINITELY given in Europe (see Tino against PSG). Argh.”
That email had the genuinely delightful subject: “Penalty shout – polite disagreement.” The internet should take notes.
73 min: Tonali shoves an in-flight Dorgu in the back as the pair chase a ball up the Manchester United left. He goes into the book. Directly from the restart, Martinez swings long into the Newcastle box. Hall and Schar stand stock still, allowing Dalot to nip in from the right, poke into space, and … hoick a dreadful shot over the bar with only Ramsdale to beat. It should be 2-0.
72 min: Wissa wins a header in the Manchester United box to tee up Joelinton, but the big midfielder can’t get any purchase on his shot as he falls backwards.
71 min: Manchester United haven’t looked good since the double substitution. “I hope Chris Paraskevas checked in on the neighbour’s sheep at half-time,” writes Justin Kavanagh. “The Magpies have obviously been told to go out and prove that this United team are mutton dressed as lamb.”
69 min: Newcastle make a triple change, replacing Woltemade, Murphy and Ramsey with Joelinton, Wissa and Barnes. Then at the restart, Shaw is booked for taking way too long over a throw. The atmosphere is pretty tasty now.
67 min: Murphy dinks Gordon into the Manchester United box down the inside-right channel. Gordon should work Lammens at the very least, but drags a shot across the face of goal and harmlessly out of play for a goal kick.
66 min: Newcastle aren’t particularly happy, as you’d expect. To be fair to Martinez, he was very close to Schar, had his back half-turned, and was wrestling with Thiaw at the time. And still … he nearly caught the ball. You can make a case for it either way, I guess, though one thing is certainly true … the officials are making it up as they go along. It’s semantics: the parlour game. That’s got the crowd going, though.
64 min: Newcastle win a corner on the left. It’s swung long. Schar takes a whack from a tight angle. The ball cannons off Martinez’s chest, and into both of his arms. He almost catches it! But VAR denies Newcastle the penalty, because Martinez was engaged in “mutual contact” with Thiaw at the time. Manchester United get away with a huge one there. Nobody knows anything, the officials are making it up as they go along.
62 min: Hall strides in from the left and unleashes a dipping screamer that beats Lammens all ends up, but instead of planting into the top right, caroms off the crossbar. What an effort that was!
61 min: … and that’s Sesko’s last kick of the game. He’s replaced by Zirkzee, while Yoro comes on for a surprised and not particularly impressed Casemiro.
60 min: Ugarte nicks the ball off Guimaraes and plays Sesko into space down the left. Sesko enters the box and sends a rising lash towards the top-left corner. It pings off the top of the crossbar and out for a goal kick. He looked offside initially, but replays show Hall on the far side playing him on. So close to number two.
58 min: It’s all Newcastle in terms of possession … but they’re getting absolutely nowhere in the final third. Manchester United are sitting back and inviting pressure, and yet look pretty comfortable dealing with it.
56 min: Guimaraes whistles a pass down the inside-right channel for Miley … but overhits it woefully. Out it goes for a corner. Guimaraes cocks his head back in disappointment and frustration. It’s been a lot of effort this evening for not very much.
54 min: The action areas flashed up by Sky show 58 percent of this half has been played in Manchester United’s final third. But Lammens hasn’t had that much to do. Now he plucks an aimless Gordon cross out of the sky.
52 min: The next corner is half-cleared by Dorgu, who is tonight’s leading man. Then another corner, swung in from the right and a complete non-event. Manchester United finally get some relief. Newcastle have started this half very well.
51 min: … and it nearly costs them. The corner’s flicked on to Schar, who shoots from a tight angle at the right-hand corner of the six-yard box. The ball pings off the heel of Dorgu, who doesn’t know where it’s heading. It flies wide right of the post. Had it been on target, Lammens wasn’t stopping it.
50 min: … and now Murphy wins a corner down the same flank. Manchester United don’t really deal with it, and Gordon wins another on the left. Miley will come over to take this one. Manchester United haven’t turned up for the second half yet.
48 min: Miley powers his way down the right touchline, refusing to succumb to either Cunha or Shaw, the former all over his back, the latter clattering clumsily into him. Nothing comes of the resulting free kick, but Newcastle look like a side who have been issued a half-time what-for.
47 min: A fast start to the half by Newcastle nearly pays dividend. Guimaraes pings a pass down the middle for Woltemade, who cushions a backheel into the path of Ramsey, cutting in from the left. One lovely touch takes him past Casemiro, and he lines up for a shot from the edge of the D. He’s got time to size it up … but somehow stumbles over his own feet and the chance is gone! That could have been a lovely team goal as well.
Manchester United get the second half started. Jack Fletcher, son of Darren, replaces Mount. His twin brother Tyler watches with pride from the bench.
Half-time postbag. “No question that Patrick Dorgu has been the player of the first half, even apart from that great volley. Meanwhile, the Pope will be feeling infallible about that phone call, and several Newcastle players look like they’ve been kept awake all night by neighbourly livestock” – Justin Kavanagh
“Sat on the sofa, sweating off the overindulgences of yesterday (Port. Why?) I’m struggling to come to terms with a lot of things, among them Dorgu’s immaculate performance. It reminds me of the younger members of my family haring around the table after polishing off the Quality Street, After Eights, etc. Boundless energy, like a force of nature. Do they test for toffee-penny intake post-match at Christmas?” – Rob Knap
“Captaincy to Martinez, good choice, could be Mount or Casemiro, all of which show the determination and understanding needed. I’m not a fan of Fernandes as captain, he doesn’t seem to set a good example as a team player regardless of his sometime excellent play” – Martin Lancon
“This is a fascinating tactical set up by Eddie Howe and Mad Dog Tindall: in the absence of Man U’s only competent footballer, we’ve managed to make Dorgu look like prime Roberto Carlos. We might as well sub the neighbour’s sheep on at half-time as a defensive midfielder” – Chris Paraskevas
Today’s half-time entertainment comes in the shape of an eight-goal rollercoaster. Well, it is Boxing Day after all. Other sporting action is available.
HALF TIME: Manchester United 1-0 Newcastle United
It’s been fast and furious, the difference being Patrick Dorgu’s exquisite volley. A fair to middling chance of more tactical tweaking coming up from both managers.
45 min +3: Newcastle ping it around in the patient style. Eventually Murphy sends another good cross in from the right, but once again there’s nobody there in black and white to convert.
45 min +1: … so on comes the physio. Tonali looks fine to continue, if not particularly happy about the challenge.
45 min: There will be a minimum of two minutes added time … but Tonali has gone down, having been caught on the ankle by Sesko. The challenge looked accidental, but that will have hurt.
43 min: Guimaraes rolls another cute pass down the right. This time it’s for Miley, who doesn’t anticipate, allowing Martinez to usher the ball out for a goal kick. Had he been on the front foot, Manchester United might have been in trouble.
41 min: Guimaraes finds Murphy in space down the right. Murphy sends a forensic low cross along the corridor of uncertainty. The smallest prod would surely divert the ball goalwards, but Woltemade is too busy wrestling with Heaven and the chance goes begging. That cross had goal written all over it.
40 min: The speed of the match is suddenly cranked up to 101 miles per hour. Nobody can keep hold of the ball.
38 min: Ramsey clanks a simple pass out of play, much to the home crowd’s amusement. Newcastle have been shaken by the double whammy of Amorim’s surprise formation and Dorgu’s blockbuster. All of a sudden, they’re making the simple stuff look extremely difficult.
36 min: Dorgu and Cunha one-two their way down the inside-right channel. A slightly lucky deflection takes Cunha into the box, where he slices a wild shot miles wide of the right-hand post. Sesko in the middle will be asking questions.
34 min: … well, for a matter of seconds, because here come Manchester United again. Dorgu romps down the right and enters the box, before arrowing a low shot towards the bottom right. Ramsdale gets down well to parry clear. Newcastle, so poised for the best part of quarter of an hour before the goal, are now struggling to get out of their final third.
33 min: Cunha is looking lively, and he drives down the left to win another Manchester United corner. Mount hoicks it into the mixer. Miley bangs a header clear – a proper clearance, miles upfield, Woltemade take note – and then the whistle goes for too much pushing and shoving. The pressure on Newcastle is released.
