The defeat was foreseen but the manner in which it came about is weirdly United.
Just when we think they won’t perform they actually play relatively well and were more than holding their own, in the first half at least.
United were full value for their equalizer as they looked the better team for a decent portion of that first half.
As always with us though, we concede a stupid goal and Newcastle assert their dominance. A hospital pass by the centre-back replacement Lindelof caused problems for both Eriksen and Ugarte with the Uruguayan eventually giving the ball away in the lead up to Sandro Tonali’s goal.
The Eddie Howe-less Newcastle (their manager is in hospital with an illness) then started to create chances with the incoming Bayindir having to make a double save to keep Alexander Isak out.
United began to get back in the game after a few opportunites for the Magpies. Zirkzee with a shot that forced a decent save from Nick Pope after a brilliant move between Eriksen, Bruno and the Dutchman.
Eventually, the away side’s efforts paid off as the heavily criticized Garnacho put the ball in the back of the net to restore parity. Dalot getting the assist for the youngster who was playing on the right of the two tens.
Going into the break at 1-1 wasn’t a bad result considering a rotated lineup, being away from home and Newcastle having the freshness of a week off.
The second half though, that’s another story.
What composure and organization United had in that first period pretty much went undone straightaway as Newcastle retook the lead just 4 minutes after the restart.
Another piece of poor defending as Dalot was easily beaten by Tino Livramento who then put in a cross that went all the way across goal to Jacob Murphy at the back post who pulled it back for an unmarked Harvey Barnes for a tap-in. Ruben Amorim’s halftime team talk thrown out the window instantly.
Newcastle never looked back from there as MUFC appeared completely deflated. The 3rd and killer blow was landed by Barnes again as thanks to a slip by Mazraoui, the forward was in on goal in which he breezed past both Lindelof and Yoro to make it 3-1.
If that wasn’t bad enough, just over 10 minutes later, the man we were all calling for in goal took a page out of his teammate's book and made a massive cockup of his own.
A poor pass out from the back went straight to Joelinton who headed to Bruno Guimaraes who made it 4-1 with a simple finish. Whether Bayindir was possessed by Onana or not, it’s clear that United need a new goalkeeper. Perhaps two.
That ended a pretty miserable few days United after the disasterclass by Onana that caused them to draw in Lyon when they should’ve won and followed that up by another awful performance.
If that wasn’t bad enough, the man we all wanted to play up front in Zirkzee, pulled his hamstring and by the severity of it, could mean that his first season at Old Trafford comes to a disappointing end just when things were starting to look up for him.
It doesn’t rain but it pours for Ruben Amorim.
He obviously wouldn’t have wanted to lose but probably expected a difficult game. What would’ve let him down would’ve been the manner of the concession of the goals. While he had to rotate his side with Thursday’s all important encounter, he would no doubt have expected much more from those he put out.
Newcastle didn’t have to work hard to get that what turned out to be a harrowing defeat for United.
I don’t actually know what Amorim did wrong to warrant such a defeat. He rotated the team, rested those for Thursday that needed resting (he even substituted Bruno 👀) and saw his side still perform at a solid enough level to get something out of the game, yet still lose 4-1.
All focus now moves to Thursday’s second leg which will be difficult after two such results and the injury to a key player in Zirkzee.
Ratings
Bayindir - 5
Mazraoui - 6
Lindelof - 4
Yoro - 6
Dalot - 5
Ugarte - 6.5 MOTM
Eriksen - 5
Amass - 6
Bruno - 6
Garnacho - 6.5
Zirkzee - 6
Hojlund - 5
Mount - 6
Dorgu - 6
Mainoo - 6
Shaw - 6
Ruben Amorim - 6
Final Thoughts
We didn’t want to win anyway 🤷♂️😅.
It’s not that we lost that was disappointing but how.
If we were terrible and Newcastle were brilliant, we’ll take it as it’s more understandable. But we were actually decent. We actually didn’t do too bad especially in that first half but to completely crumble and giveaway such silly goals was just typical United.
Even when things don’t look too bad, we seem to mess up. We lost this one rather than Newcastle won it.
That injury to Zirkzee is probably worse than the defeat as well.
We HAVE to win on Thursday.
Background image: Newcastle 4-1 Man Utd | Altay Bayindir makes Andre Onana-style mistake in defeat | Creator: Stu Forster | Credit: Getty Images Copyright: 2025 Getty Images via Goal