The morning after (the night before)

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The Mag

·16 May 2024

The morning after (the night before)

I’d been in a relatively relaxed mood in the build-up to Newcastle United’s penultimate game of the season at Old Trafford.

Beforehand, I thought a result against ten Hag’s Red Devils was there for the taking if we really wanted it more than our hosts.

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Manchester United came into Wednesday night’s game on the back of a woeful run of form in the Premier League.

I thought Eddie would have changed things around a little and tweaked the formation by starting Joelinton and Almiron.

With Tino Livramento picking up an ankle injury our captain Kieran Trippier returned at right-back and Newcastle began the game on the front foot.

Talking of Tino, his ability and versatility reminds me of 1970s Gallowgate favourite Irving Nattrass. I do hope that the injury curses Irving endured aren’t going to come back and haunt Tino in the same way.

Newcastle seemed to take our foot off the pedal after the promising opening minutes and when the first goal duly arrived, it was more or less strolled into our net through a combination of Diallo and Mainoo.

Our defence looked static with Kieran Trippier looking like he had been having a Grandad-nap before finally being awoken to the danger.

Newcastle 1-0 down and the initiative totally lost to a pedestrian looking Salford side.

Gordon had already been denied a stonewall penalty after being fouled by Amrabat, not once but twice, the second foul being inside the box. VAR proving yet again that five years after it’s inception it is still not fit for purpose.

Eddie Howe must have held a canny half-time team talk because the Toon came out looking sharp after the restart.

Within a few minutes we were level after an excellent cross by Jacob Murphy was superbly converted from close range by Anthony Gordon.

At this point, I thought we would go on and win the game, but a second goal proved elusive.

It was inevitable that something might eventually happen at the other end and after Newcastle failed to adequately clear, Diallo struck a fine effort past Dubravka.

We had some excellent chances that we didn’t take and Man Utd’s £72m substitute Hojlund doubled their lead with six minutes of normal time remaining.

The best goal of the night was a consolation goal for Newcastle by the impressive Lewis Hall in injury time.

In the cold light of day I’ve managed to get over the disappointment I deeply felt at the final whistle.

With Chelsea winning at Brighton and moving three points clear of us, I am sure it will be the Blues who secure a Europa League place on Sunday.

Pochettino’s side have been on a hell of a run of late so credit where it’s due.

We now need to quickly get this latest setback out of our system and try to give the very best performance we can at Brentford’s G-tech Community Stadium on Sunday.

I want United to finish above Man Utd for the first time since the 1976/77 season.

Finishing in 7th place in the Premier League will be no mean feat for a Newcastle United team that has been constantly up against it in more ways than one this season.

Whether that would bring Europa Conference League football, who knows?

The outcome of the FA Cup Final between Manchester’s City and United will decide that.

My big mate Jim doesn’t want Newcastle to compete in the Conference next season. There are also a lot of fans who would rather us just concentrate on the EPL and the domestic Cups.

I just want to finish as high as possible and see where that leaves us.

Finally, I would just like to take my hat off to our wonderful and vociferous travelling supporters who once again put the Mould Trafford day trippers to shame.

Stats via BBC Sport:

Manchester United 3 Newcastle United 2 – Wednesday 15 May 8pm

Goals:

Newcastle United:

Gordon 49, Hall 90+2

Mainoo 31, Amad 57, Hojlund 84

(Half-time stats in brackets)

Possession was Man U 45% Newcastle 55%

Total shots were Man U 17 Newcastle 21

Shots on target were Man U 8 Newcastle 8

Corners were Man U 9 Newcastle 9

Referee: Robert Jones