Osula magic keeps Newcastle United’s Premier League season alive as Mags beat Mancs

Ten-man Newcastle United were victorious against Manchester United thanks to substitute WIlliam Osula’s late strike at St. James’.

Newcastle United were left reeling after their home loss against Everton on Saturday. Just as it seemed they had turned a corner in terms of both performances and results, Everton scored three goals on Tyneside and came away with three points despite hardly threatening for much of the match.

Once again Newcastle were at a crossroads, and at the worst possible time, with the fixtures to come in March being their toughest run of successive games in recent memory. The first was the visit of Manchester United to St. James’ Park, with the Red Devils currently managed by boyhood Magpie, Michael Carrick.

Since becoming a Head Coach, Carrick had never returned to Tyneside. Would his homecoming be a happy one? The answer was a resounding no. His Manchester United side were deservedly beaten by Eddie Howe’s Newcastle who were brilliant to a man, despite playing for half of the match with ten men.

2-1 was the final score, with Newcastle’s winning goal coming beautifully late on through an unlikely source in William Osula. Howe was full of praise for his match-winner, revealing that Osula “asked after training yesterday for ten more balls. He wanted ten more finishes - [a] carbon copy of the goal he scored today, and he scored eight out of ten.”

Howe continued,“I’m a great believer in [if] you do the work, you get the reward. I’m delighted for him personally.”

A magical moment from Osula, and a reward, not just for him, but for Howe too, whose big calls both before and during the match paid off. “That was us somewhere near our best level again,” he made clear, and at just the right time of the season.

---

It was a lively encounter from the off. Newcastle were clearly out to make a positive impression in front of their supporters after three losses in succession at St. James’ Park in their last three Premier League games at home. The majority of the early running came from the Magpies, but the closest they came to opening the scoring was a looped cross from Kieran Trippier unintentionally ricocheting off the post.

Such has been Newcastle’s defensive frailties of late, there was a clear sense of fear when Manchester United managed to get into attacking positions, but the Magpies managed to prevent their opponents from really threatening during the opening part of the match.

Eddie Howe was without Nick Woltemade, who has been the subject of much discussion online in recent days, with the German forward ruled out with a sickness bug. It meant that Howe once again opted for Anthony Gordon in attack, in the hope that Gordon’s pace and pressing would be more effective against a Manchester United side who have been expansive under Michael Carrick.

Newcastle were certainly getting into good positions, but what they needed were more shots on target. Both Harvey Barnes and Joelinton had shots from the edge of the box where they really should have done better.

However, the overriding theme of the first half was referee Peter Bankes, slowly but surely, losing control of the game. He booked both Jacob Ramsey and Joelinton of Newcastle for professional fouls, before also carding Bryan Mbeumo and Luke Shaw of Manchester United.

The home crowd were aggravated that more decisions did not go in their favour, and they became incensed when Ramsey was shown a second yellow for apparent simulation in the visitors’ penalty area. The frustration came from the fact that neither Ramsey nor any of his teammates made any appeal for a penalty. There was no contact between the Newcastle midfielder and the Manchester United goalkeeper Senne Lammens, but Ramsey did not appear to have dived, instead his foot seemingly got caught in the turf causing him to fall.

The only positive that came for Newcastle in this situation was that it fired up the home crowd even more. As the half drew to a close, the noise drove Anthony Gordon forward into the box, where he was brought down by Bruno Fernandes. Gordon returned to his feet and fired the spot kick down the middle and into the net.

Just as it looked to be a great end to the half for Newcastle, despite the red card, the issue of the Magpies conceding almost immediately after scoring raised its head once again. Bankes seemed to allow play in stoppage time to continue for an eternity, and certainly long enough for Fernandes to whip in a free kick that was headed home by Casemiro.

Strangely, the second half was much less frantic than the first. Manchester United, despite their man advantage, did not immediately look to put Newcastle on the back foot. It was the home side who were the more positive initially, although Michael Carrick’s side eventually began to dominate possession.

Newcastle were relatively comfortable defending, although Aaron Ramsdale was forced into producing two highly impressive saves. They reinvigorated Newcastle and the crowd at St. James’ Park. The ‘us against the world’ mentality reemerged and suddenly it was the home side who looked to win the game.

That they did, in spectacular fashion. William Osula, recently on as a substitute, won the ball back in his own half before laying it off to Trippier. The young Danish forward then galloped off down the line like an Olympic sprinter and was found by Trippier, before taking the ball inside, and firing a curling effort goal-bound. In a flash the net rippled and the roof came off.

Unlike previously, Newcastle did not then concede straight from kick off. They instead defended manfully and saw the game out for a precious three points. The final whistle felt like the start of something big. Newcastle have had many moments where they have failed to build momentum this season, but perhaps this one, ahead of what is going to be a difficult run of games, can be the lift off they have been looking for.