In a corner of St James’ Park, Anthony Gordon was being mobbed by team-mates and a crescendo of noise filled the Tyneside night air. Newcastle had finally taken the lead from their 19th shot of the night, ten minutes into the second half.
Manchester United’s players were waiting for the restart, back in position, and what a picture they painted. Anthony Martial stood beside the ball at the centre circle with all the enthusiasm of a commuter waiting for an early-morning train on a rainy day; Marcus Rashford, so insipid he would be substituted seven minutes later, sulked with his hands on his hips; Scott McTominay was clearing his nose and Harry Maguire was doing his hair. Not one of them said a word.
They had travelled north by bus when their flight was cancelled because of the snow at Manchester airport. At that point, trailing 1-0 on a bitterly cold night, they looked like a bunch of day-trippers who wanted to get back on that bus and go home.
Newcastle moved above Manchester United into fifth place with this win, and the mystery was how they started the day behind them. Since losing to Erik ten Hag’s side in February’s Carabao Cup final, the sides have met three times and Newcastle have won all three games — the first time they have gained three successive victories against their rivals in red since 1922, all without conceding a goal.
Only a serious-looking injury to Nick Pope stopped this from being a perfect night for Eddie Howe and his side. Pope, the goalkeeper, was led off the pitch in the 86th minute, with a dislocated shoulder, after diving to his left to save a shot from Sergio Reguilón. “Nick’s injury is the disappointment of the night,” Howe, the Newcastle head coach, said. “He looks like he has dislocated his shoulder. He has made that dive thousands of times. It is such a strange thing. Maybe it was the wet pitch.
“His shoulder has come out of the joint. We will seek a specialist opinion but it doesn’t look good for him.”
It took the list of missing Newcastle players, through injury or suspension, to a full first team of 11 players, now with a goalkeeper who has been magnificent for the club this season. It did not show.
A burgeoning rivalry is building between these two Uniteds once more. The men from Manchester lifted the silverware at Wembley but Newcastle have hit back since, while Howe has displayed his anger at Ten Hag’s public criticism of Newcastle’s gamesmanship. It is not quite the mid-1990s — neither side is a title winner, at least not yet — but that only one of the teams has cohesion and momentum at the moment was laid bare in a victory far more comprehensive than the scoreline suggested.
Ten Hag’s assessment was damning. “Today we have to say credit to Newcastle, they were better than us,” the United manager said. “They were more proactive and we had to defend. We did that but we allowed them one goal and in the end we fought back.
“I will talk with my team about the reasons but we have to do better and, as I said, I am sure they will pick this up, I am sure they are resilient and they have the character to do this.
“If you lose you are always unhappy. We will talk with the team about why.”
That will not be a two-minute conversation. Unlocking Rashford from his awful form is another huge challenge.
“Yeah, I know this issue is coming up, Marcus is investing a lot,” Ten Hag said of the England forward, who has scored only two goals in 18 games this season. “We support him. He will return to form.”
For most of the night, it was one-way traffic. By the halfway stage of the first half Newcastle had peppered André Onana’s goal with nine shots.
Alexander Isak had a shot blocked by Luke Shaw, Onana had pushed away a low Miguel Almirón shot, Bruno Guimarães cracked an effort from 20 yards that flew narrowly over the crossbar, Jamaal Lascelles headed over from close range and then Kieran Trippier hit a 25-yard free kick that Onana could only watch as it clipped the crossbar and bounced inches the right side of his goalline. Pope made one save of consequence, from an early shot by Alejandro Garnacho.
Newcastle’s football was excellent all night, and fittingly their winning goal followed that pattern. Guimarães changed the direction of play by slipping a ball to Trippier on the right and it said everything that when he fired a low cross along the six-yard area, two home players could have scored. The ball only just missed Almirón, but Gordon was ahead of Aaron Wan- Bissaka at the far post to fire into an empty net.
Wan-Bissaka blocked a goalbound shot from the 17-year-old Lewis Miley that struck the defender’s body and then hand, before Schar did the same with a powerful effort from Reguilón. In that moment Pope injured himself and was led off.
There were nine minutes of added time for Manchester United to test Martin Dubravka, the Newcastle substitute goalkeeper. They did not. That said everything.
Newcastle United (4-3-3) N Pope 7 (M Dubravka 86) — K Trippier 8, J Lascelles 8, F Schar 8, T Livramento 8 — L Miley 7, B Guimaraes 8, Joelintion 8 — M Almiron 7, A Isak 7, A Gordon 7 (M Ritchie 90).
Manchester United (4-2-3-1): A Onana 6 — A Wan-Bissaka 6 (S Reguilon 79), H Maguire 7, L Shaw 7, D Dalot 5 — S McTominay, 5 K Mainoo 5 (S Ambrabat 80)— M Rashford 5 (Antony 62 ), B Fernandes 5, A Garnacho 5 — A Martial 5 (R Hoijlund 62, 5). Booked: Maguire, Antony.
Referee: Robert Jones.
