The bad news for Manchester United wasn’t so much that they were outclassed by Newcastle United and suffered a third straight home defeat in the league for the first time since 1979.
The bad news for Ruben Amorim and his team wasn’t so much that they embarrassed themselves in a first half in which Newcastle made the game look like men against boys and should have put the game out of reach.
The bad news wasn’t even that United looked clueless, hopeless and stupid in those first 45 minutes and that they deservedly suffered their fifth league defeat in the last six games with a 2-0 scoreline that flattered them.
No, the bad news for Amorim and United was that Ipswich Town won on Monday evening. The bad news was that Ipswich shocked the league by beating Chelsea at Portman Road to move to within seven points of United.
That is United’s reality now. Any hopes of qualifying for the Champions League are long gone. They are in 14th place and are falling fast. They play Liverpool away on Sunday and on this evidence they have no desire to get anything out of it.
They are involved in a relegation battle. That’s the truth. The results they need to look out for now are Ipswich and Wolves and Crystal Palace and Everton. Because that is their level now. That’s the company they keep. “Say hello to Sunderland,” the Geordie fans sang. If United don’t start winning soon, that could yet be their fate.
Ruben Amorim’s team suffered their third Premier League defeat in a row on Monday evening
Man United are in fourteenth place, seven points ahead of Ipswich in the relegation zone
The Red Devils kept just one clean sheet in the eleven games in which Amorim was in charge
United rallied somewhat against Newcastle in the second half, but it was not enough to dim the memory of the first half shambles. Without the suspended Bruno Fernandes in midfield, they looked even worse than in the recent defeats to Bournemouth and Wolves.
Amorim, a manager who has made a fatal leap in United’s fortunes since joining from Sporting Lisbon two months ago, has made the team even worse as he tries to juggle the scarce resources that Erik ten Hag and the cowboys who have him left behind. running recruitment at Old Trafford.
“Sacked in the Morning,” the Newcastle fans sang to him as the game went away from his side in the dying stages. Even Amorim’s standoff with Marcus Rashford is now starting to look tiresome.
Amorim brought him back into the squad after a four-match exile, but left him on the bench while other substitutions were made. This United team is so bad that even an out-of-control Rashford can only improve it.
Instead, we were left with this lament from United, with the moribund partnership of Casemiro and Christian Eriksen being outplayed and outrun in midfield. Newcastle, for whom Alexander Isak scored his 11th goal in his last 11 league games, were excellent in the first half but there was a macabre fascination in seeing how far Amorim’s team have fallen.
These are extremely uncertain times for United. The club seems to be in chaos both on and off the field. Sir Jim Ratcliffe is cutting a few thousand here and there from United’s running costs with a series of unpopular cuts, while sanctioning spending £52m on a player like Manuel Ugarte.
The suggestion is that United’s recruitment has been so poor, wasteful and extravagant for so long that even the biggest club in English football cannot get out of trouble this time.
Let’s not forget that critics of the profit and sustainability rules say they build in the supremacy of the big clubs. United’s cocktail of profligacy and incompetence has also exploded that argument. If PSR cuts off United’s wings while they are in mid-table, it is a sign that it is working.
Newcastle climbed to fifth in the table, three points behind Chelsea in the final top four
United have scored just 21 goals in the league this season – the fifth fewest of any other team
However, it’s yet another problem Amorim must face as he tries to get to grips with his new job. He has been very honest about the scale of the task he faces and did not change his position when speaking before the match.
“We know that with bad results it is very difficult to sell an idea,” Amorim said. ‘I’m not going to change my ideas because that would mean the end for me. You have to be really focused on your idea. If you start changing because of the results, that’s the end for any coach and I know that very clearly.’
Brave words, but they couldn’t change the fact that United went into the match with all the nerves of a team in free fall. Their defense was torn to shreds by a fine move from Newcastle with less than four minutes left on the clock.
Clever play on the right brought the ball to Bruno Guimaraes and he sent a pass wide to the left for Lewis Hall. Hall crossed into the middle and Isak rose completely unchallenged six yards out to nod the ball down and past Andre Onana.
Lisandro Martinez, captain in the absence of the suspended Bruno Fernandes, was one of United’s centre-backs watching as Isak rose to meet the cross. Harry Maguire was the other. It defended straight from the circus playbook.
United were embarrassingly poor in that opening phase. The third of their three accomplices at the back, Matthijs de Ligt, was put on a mug by Isak, Gordon hit the ball past Noussair Mazraoui as if he was not there. Newcastle were faster, sharper and hungrier.
Newcastle should have doubled their lead after sixteen minutes. Guimaraes dispossessed Christian Eriksen on the edge of Newcastle and fired the ball forward towards Isak. One long ball was enough to eliminate United’s entire defense.
Martinez was guilty again. He looks more like a cheater with each play. Isaac abandoned him and went to Onana. This time his confidence became his undoing. He tried to dribble the ball over the goalkeeper, but only managed to lift it straight into his hands.
Lisandro Martinez was arguably to blame for both of Newcastle’s headed goals
United wantaway Marcus Rashford returned to the side but was an unused substitute
It was only a brief reprieve for Amorim’s men. Two minutes later Guimaraes worked the ball wide to Gordon, Gordon teased his marker and lifted a cross into the box and Joelinton rose above the hapless Martinez to bundle the ball over the line.
Newcastle almost made it three after half an hour. By then there could easily have been four or five. The visitors pushed their way through United’s defense and Sandro Tonali poked his shot against the post when he should have scored.
Amorim had to do something. He chose to sacrifice Joshua Zirkzee, who once again looked out of his depth. Thirteen minutes before half-time, Zirkzee’s number 11 appeared on the board and a huge cheer echoed through the ground. It was a terrible moment. It must have been a very long way for Zirkzee to jog to the sidelines while Kobbie Mainoo waited to replace him.
United saw the first moment of hope almost immediately. Martinez headed a ball forward for Rasmus Hoijlund, but when Hoijlund lifted the ball over Martin Dubravka, he also dragged it just wide of the far post.
Newcastle felt so comfortable that they even tried to give United a goal. Fabian Schar played the ball out of defense with the outside of his right foot, but sent it straight to Mainoo. Mainoo played the ball straight to Casemiro, who only had Dubravka to beat, but curled a tame shot well wide of the ball for the first time. It was no surprise that United were booed at half-time.
United started the second half more positively. They could hardly have been worse. Maguire almost pulled a goal back but his diving header hit the post as Dubravka was beaten and Hall blocked De Ligt’s follow-up.
United then huffed and puffed, but were unable to make a real breakthrough. Newcastle absolutely deserved their win, Eddie Howe’s first league win at Old Trafford. His team looked well coached and beautifully trained. Not Amorim’s.