Familiar away foes strike as blunt United defeated by Red Devils
Newcastle United succumbed to yet another defeat on the road, despite dominating possession but having failed to land a clinical blow on Manchester United.
An unpleasant sense of inevitability swept over Newcastle United as they kicked off away from Tyneside on Boxing Day. On this occasion it was at Old Trafford, but it needn’t have mattered whether the referee blew his first whistle in a Premier League stadium or on a frozen Sunday League pitch with lines painted on last minute. Newcastle would not win.
Newcastle’s struggles away from home are no longer a small issue, but one of season-defining proportions. They are at real risk of the campaign fizzling out to nothing in the league if their form away from St. James’ Park does not improve.
Their opponents on this usually football-filled festive day, Manchester United, are by no means a good team. They haven’t been for some time. And yet, they came away with the victory having defended for much of the match, against a Newcastle side who despite their overall dominance, had all the cutting edge of a knife that had chopped far too many vegetables the day before.
On other occasions this season where the Magpies have come unstuck away from home, they have been too passive and lacked intensity. This was not the case this time, but to not trouble a makeshift Manchester United side will have likely created a collective outpouring of anger and frustration across the North East. The glorious taste of Christmas dinner will have quickly turned sour.
The only goal of the game, a volley from Patrick Dorgu, looked impressive upon first viewing, but could Aaron Ramsdale have done better once again? Possibly? Probably. He got a hand to the ball, but only to palm it into the net, after Newcastle had begun to look comfortable.
Eddie Howe’s side took the game by the scruff of the neck in the second half, as if Howe had drawn on the hairdryer treatment made famous by a former employee at Old Trafford. It wasn’t enough, of course, as Newcastle left with nothing. Despite all of Howe’s possible anger at half time, the Magpies lacked creative spark, like a lighter without fluid.
Positives have been hard to come by in many of Newcastle’s away fixtures this season. Lewis Hall was one in this match. He continued to impress in all areas of the pitch, but Newcastle need more than just one young full back to show quality if they are going to shake this away hoodoo. It will have to be a quick fix though, with another away match just days away, as the Magpies visit Burnley on the 30th of December.
Away days have generated many positive memories for Newcastle under Eddie Howe. If looking through a Dickensian lens, the Ghost of Christmas Past would show the Magpies running riot at Old Trafford almost a year ago to the day, whereas the Ghost of Christmas Present has served up a much more sobering affair. It remains to be seen what the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come will bring a year from now.
Newcastle should not need a Christmas miracle to beat Burnley on Tuesday, but somehow it feels like that. Against Manchester United they should not have lost. Their performance did not deserve that, and yet that was the outcome. An all too familiar result on the road.