A Game Of Two Halves

Newcastle take on Manchester United at Old Trafford. Both sides have injury problems of their own with McTominay, Van Den Beek and Cavani out for the Red Devils. and Manquillo, Schar, and Wilson out for the Toon. Federico Fernandez was back in training this week but it is too early to put him back into the line up for todays fixture.

Steve Bruce stuck with a familiar formation of 4-3-1-2 Keeping Darlow in goal despite the threat of Dubravka seeking an exit in the summer over a lack of game time. the full backs are Krafth on the right and Lewis on the left, with the centre back partnership remaining Lascelles and Clark. the trio in midfield are again Willock, Hayden and Shelvey. Just ahead of the trio is Alrmiron who retains his favoured CAM position. Saint-Maximin is upfront alongside Joelinton who returns to the starting lineup.

Manchester United got us under way and the first effort came to Joelinton in the 4th minute when Almiron took a short corner to Shelvey who miskicked it into the box, De Gea got there to puch the ball only as far as Joelinton who took a touch and vollied it towards goal forcing De Gea into a save. the following corner came to nothing. it was good pressing for United as just five minutes later the Manchester United defense got caught in their own area Almiron fed it to Shelvey who blazed it over the bar.

Nineteen minutes in and Dan James for Machester United went on the counter attack. managing to accumulate a wide position James crossed the ball into the box but Darlow was there to pounce on the cross. Almiron had shone so far in this encounter. on the 27th minute Miggy picked up the ball on the right hand side and made his way to the edge of the area then he went for finesse from out side of the box, curling into the bottom corner De Gea got down well. But on the 29th Minute it was Manchester United that went ahead with Rashford, toying with Emil Krafth getting past him into the area and driving it low past Karl Darlow. Could Darlow have done better? maybe, but Krafth certainy should have. 1-0.

thirty four minutes in Newcastle get a corner which again was taken short to Shelvey who whipped it in. it was headed out as far as Saint-Maximin who got past his man and took the shot which De gea got up well to deal with for a corner. Shelvey took the corner which was met with a partial clearance by Maguire. the ball fell for Allan Saint-Maximin once again whot hit the ball with a side foot on the half volley seven yards out and smashed it past the Spanish keeper. 1-1. Fred replied with a shot from outside of the area which was comftably caught down the throat of Darlow in the 40th minute. Half time. 1-1.

Second Half starts and The mags get us back underway, with no changes to the lineup decpite Joelinton seemingly suffering from niggling lower back pain. ASM had a good effort in the 50th minute when he dribbled his way to the edge of the area and had a good low shot which was matched by De gea. Then five minutes later Joelinton finally sucums to his injury. in his place comes Ryan Fraser. Lets hope its not too serious for the big Brazillian, he's being impressive today, more on him later. And then on the 56th minute The Red devils have retaken the lead with Matic playing the ball accross the box. Bruno Fernandez took a nick of the ball but fell to Dan James who slots it past Darlow. 2-1.

Newcastle begin to suffer without Joelinton as just four minutes later Man Utd were in again with Martial gliding past the Toon defence. Shifting the ball onto his right side Martial gets a shot away forcong Darlow into a good save.And Martial was starting to look dangerous again when Rashford played in a ball through for the Frenchman, Darlow came out quicly to make the block but it was adjudicated as offside anyway. Ryan Fraser had a half chance in the 68th minute having a low, left footed shot from outside the area, but not powerful enough to trouble De Gea. And then seventy three minuets in and willock concedes a penalty when he tried to challenge Rashford in the box. Bruno then takes the penalty and makes it 3-1. Bizzarly Darlow dived forwards.

The Reds almost had a fourth in the 81st minute from a corner that was met by Matic but somehow Shelvey managed to get his head in the way to get the ball behind for a corner. The ball comes in from the corner and it is met by the head of Maguire, with the ball dipping down Darlow gets up and palms the ball over the bar for yet another corner. Manchester United seemed happy to keep possesion, and they did that successfully apart from an effort skied by Murphy on his left foot in the 89th minute. It was nice to see another Geordie lad get some game time, albeit drerssed in red. Young Shola (Not Ameobi) Shoretire came off the bench to make his senior debut for Manchester United. Full Time Manchester United 3-1 Newcastle United.

We Started the game really well. Obviously Krafth dropped a clanger defending against Rashford. But Saint-Maximin had an awesome game, as did the boy who runs a lot Miguel Almiron. Miggy was so quick and sharp today. We as a team pressed the Reds defence a lot in the first hour. Now heres my issue. All three of our best attacking threats went off within just less than fifteen minutes to go. I know it wasn't Bruces fault Joelinton went off, but he was the main reason we could hold the ball up the Man Utd half of the pitch. It was clear to see that system worked. So the idealistic thing would have been to make a like-for-like replacement in Andy Carroll to keep the big man upfront to haggle for possession and get runners in behind. But no Bruce brought on the smallest player in the team, Ryan Fraser. I wanted to see Fraser but not in a target man capacity. Joelintons exit changed the texture of the game. We could no longer hold the ball in the opponents half and that made us give away the ball putting too much pressure on our back line. I hope Bruce learns this in time for next week versing Wolves who are very dangerous on the counter. This was Bruces 850th game in management. He has been in foortball longer than I have been alive. How cam I see that the Target man was the best way forward and he cant. we dust ourselves off and prepare for the next game.

By Sam west