Manchester United and Newcastle United – The best combined 11 from both teams | OneFootball

I have had a look at both the Manchester United and Newcastle United teams.

The starting elevens from the last round of matches.

Manchester United drawing 0-0 at Old Trafford against Manchester City on Sunday.

Then Newcastle United winning 3-0 away at Leicester City on Monday.

These were the respective starting elevens.

Newcastle United team that started against Leicester on Monday night:

Pope, Trippier, Schar, Burn, Livramento, Joelinton, Tonali, Bruno, Barnes, Isak, Murphy

Manchester United team that started against Manchester City on Sunday afternoon:

Onana, Mazraoui, Maguire, Yoro, Dalot, Casemiro, Ugarte, Dorgu, Fernandes, Hojlund, Garnacho

Ahead of Sunday when these two teams meet, I thought I would go through both the Newcastle United and Manchester United sides, then pick what I consider to be the best combined eleven from the twenty two players.

My best combined eleven from the Manchester United and Newcastle United teams:

Pope, Trippier, Schar, Burn, Livramento, Joelinton, Tonali, Bruno, Fernandes, Isak, Murphy

I had to be honest.

So through gritted teeth (and trying my best not to vomit!), I accepted that based on form and ability, Bruno Fernandes had to be in the eleven, from the 22 options above. Although Harvey Barnes has done well in this recent run of four wins, in the absence of Anthony Gordon.

However, I simply don’t think a single other Manchester United player would get in this combined eleven.

Indeed, if Gordon had been in Monday night’s team and I had him as a possibility, then I would have put him ahead of Bruno Fernandes and it would have been a complete black and white eleven, from the combined Man U and NUFC teams.

Some neutrals would rubbish Murphy ahead of Garnacho.

Reality is that in 30 Premier League appearances this season, Garnacho has managed five direct goal involvements,, scoring four and one assist.

In 27 Premier League appearances this season, Jacob Murphy has 16 direct goal involvements, scoring seven and nine assists.

It would be a joke wouldn’t it, to seriously suggest on form this season that the Man U winger should be ahead of the Newcastle one.

Others might say that Man U have injuries. Having had a look at who is injured, I wonder who they’d mean?

Martinez? Would you seriously put him ahead of either Burn or Schar? Never mind Botman once fit.

Mainoo? Showed some promise last season but woeful this campaign, play him ahead of any of the NUFC midfield trio? I thought not.

Amad? Probably Man U’s best player apart from Bruno Fernandes possibly, this season. However, in 22 PL appearances this season he has 12 direct goal involvements, scoring six and six assists, so the form still says that Jacob Murphy has outperformed the Man U winger.

The inarguable fact is that in recent years, Newcastle United have massively improved thanks to Eddie Howe, both in terms of recruitment and then moulding those and existing players into a team greater than the individual parts. At the same time, Man U have been heading in the opposite direction.

The brilliant Dolly Parton previously joked in a self-deprecating way;

“It takes a lot of time and money to look this cheap.”

Manchester United aren’t laughing though, as this applies perfectly to them.

Ridiculous amounts of time and money have been spent, for the Man U team and squad to instead look like it is the result of some kind of Mike Ashley minimal budget disaster.