Key events
The Newcastle players are doing a lap of honour, and why not. Hey Jude rings out again. One of the presenters points out that this time two years ago, Newcastle were bottom of the Premier League.
In the past year, Man United have only scored against Newcastle at Wembley. Where’s Wout Weghorst when they need him?
“Get IN,” says Michael Moore. “Insipid performance, inadequate recruitment, inept management. Will the Radcliffe investment inspire introspection and invigorate a return to the incisive style of play that’s instinctive to United’s DNA?” Ha.
FULL TIME! Newcastle 1-0 Man United (Gordon)
And that’s it. Newcastle hold on to win and they fully deserve it. They played with intent and skill for all 100 minutes; Man United matched them for about 15.
90+8 min Maguire, now settled up front, can’t get on the end of a long throw from Dalot. Amrabat has a shot but skies it.
“Schär,” says Isaac Gow. “Playing well but should he still be on the field? Two clear yellows for fouls on Fernandes. Neither given.”
Eddie Howe makes a substitution!
For the first time in about 200 minutes. Gordon off, someone on.
90+6 min Dubravka does well to claim the cross, getting a bang in the ribs for his trouble.
The player of the match is Anthony Gordon. He’s been great, but Trippier was robbed.
90+4 min Man United have turned up. They get a corner, easily defended, then a free kick on the left.
90+3 min Garnacho gets to the byline, but his cross is a patsy and Newcastle race away on the counter. Isak gets to the brink of the box, where Amrabat manhandles him and gets away with it.
90+2 min Gordon sets off on another adventure and is brought down by Antony, who gets a yellow card.
Nine minutes added!
90 min That seems fair … the Pope injury took up about three mins, Fernandes’s not much less, and there have been a few subs. Bring it on! There could easily be one more goal in this, probably for Newcastle, but not necessarily.
DISALLOWED GOAL! By Antony for Man U
OMG! Antony finds the net … but Maguire is clearly offside in the centre-forward position and the ball brushes his chest as it fizzes past him. Still, a sign of life.
87 min From the corner, Reguilon has a fierce shot. his second in no time. Man U are actually playing like they mean it.
87 min Man U have played better the last five minutes, which isn’t saying a great deal. Hojlund slips Garnacho into the area and Trippier times his lunge beautifully. He’s been the best player on the pitch.
86 min On comes Martin Dubravka, who now only plays against Man United – the team he spent last season with.
85 min Pope is going off, very gingerly. He gets a warm hand that recognises how well he played in Paris on Tuesday.
Time for an email, from Matthew Lysaght. “Thinking that Anthony Martial would be in anyway effective 2 games in a row,” he says, “should be a sackable offence on its own.”
Man U take a shot!
84 min In fact two, in the general melée after the corner. Both were blocked, and Nick Pope seems to be hurt. The ref stops the game.
82 min Garnacho, who hasn’t dome anything for about an hour, wins a corner on the Man U left.
80 min Trippier takes his seventh corner and Dalot clears. Mainoo and Wan-Bissaka go off; Amrabat and Reguilon come on. It’s hard to see it making much difference. If the score stays like this, or gets worse, Erik ten Hag’s record in big away league games will go from abysmal to worse: played 11, drawn one, lost ten.
78 min Wan-Bissaka somehow blocks a certain goal at point-blank range, but he may have handled the ball…. No, it’s his knee and then his chest.
77 min Livramento, who still has the freedom of the left wing, chips a cross in that curls out of play. Then Maguire scythes down Gordon and gets a yellow card. Man U are all over the place.
75 min Gordon sends a through ball towards Isak, skimming like a pebble on the beach, but Onana does well to race out and start a counter.
72 min Fernandes, now recovered, sends Antony away on the counter with Hojlund in support. One squares to the other … but Newcastle have five men back out of nowhere. Hojlund is bundled off the ball in a way that the ref finds legitimate.
70 min In three games between these sides since Man U lifted the League Cup, Newcastle have won 2-0, 3-0, and are now winning 1-0 (which should be 6-0).
“Fernandes,” says Martin Lancon. “I seem to remember a much less forceful accidental stamp on a foot being a red card for Rashford.” Ha.
68 min In the lull, the goal is shown again. It was Trippier who crossed, not Almiron as I thought. He received a neat through ball from Guimarares and Man U were simply sliced open.
67 min Bruno Fernandes, who has just been regaled with “There’s only one Bruno”, is down with a nasty injury. A replay shows that Schär trod on him, probably by accident. The VAR looks as it but doesn’t think it’s a red card.
66 min A minute passes without a Newcastle shot.
“As a United follower for a long time,” says John Smith, “all I can say is there needs to be a huge shake-up with the organisation as it stands now. This coach Van Gaal is an embarrassment and a fool of a man.” Nice Freudian slip.
64 min The commentators are lambasting the Man U players, but they used to know how to steal a big away win under Ole-Gunnar Solskjaer. It’s Ten Hag who seems to be unable to manage it.
62 min Man U have a free kick in a promising area on the left. Shaw takes it, better than his first one, but Maguire can’t keep the header down.
61 min Rashford sits down with a scowl and a moan at the next man, who I think is Sergio Reguilon.
60 min Cometh the hour, cometh the subs. Hojlund and Antony are about to replace Martial and Rashford. This means that Onana will no longer be the only Ten Hag signing on the pitch.
59 min Gordon’s goal came about partly because Aaron Wan-Bissaka switched off. He switches on now to tackle Gordon, but Newcastle are coming in waves and a second goal feels imminent.
58 min The 18th attempt comes from Schär – a screamer, over the top. Come on Erik, do something.
57 min The Toon Army are in full voice now. That was Newcastle’s 17th attempt, and their fourth on target.
56 min It’s been coming. And in the end it’s so simple – one winger to the other, a crisp cross and a simple finish at the far post. Gordon has been threatening to do that since the second minute.
GOAL! Newcastle 1-0 Man United (Gordon 55)
Finally, a chance they can’t miss!
53 min Ten Hag has Hojlund warming up again, and Antony too. Newcastle dance into the Man U area once more. Joelinton shoots, and once again the shot is a weak one, but …
51 min Man U have a smidgen of possession, but Newcastle soon win it back. “They just want it more,” says Darren Fletcher.
50 min Fernandes threatens to launch a counter and Schär chops him down. No yellow card, oddly.
49 min Trippier’s corner is heading for the net when Onana punches it away. Newcastle come again, Lascelles smells a chance but Shaw gets another vital foot in.
47 min Shaw’s turn to spare Man U’s blushes as Isak lines up a tap-in. One corner is instantly followed by another.
46 min Fernandes kicks off, and then Newcastle just resume hogging the ball. No change yet for either side.
Erik ten Hag needs to do something, fast. Only Maguire, Mainoo, Fernandes and Shaw have been any good (plus Rashford when attacking, not when tracking back). And the ploy of putting Shaw inside hasn’t worked as Newcastle’s full-backs have ruled the flanks. Rasmus Hojliund has been warming up, but he doesn’t seem to be coming on just yet.
Memo to the Man U scouts. “I watched Stuttgart beat Werder Bremen earlier today,” says Kári Tulinius. “Last season was a mess, with three coaches unable to get a tune out the players until the fourth, Sebastian Hoeness, finally did, building the team towards forward Serhou Guirassy, whose brilliant form has him linked to Manchester United. Rashford used to provide United with a focal point, but currently there’s no focus, and attacks build towards nothing in particular.”
That’s certainly true tonight. This United XI have never started together before, whereas Newcastle’s team, depleted as they are, have started three times in the past week. And it shows.
HALF-TIME! Newcastle 0-0 Man United
It’s goalless, but it’s been a long way from a stalemate. Newcastle have been by far the better team yet somehow have nothing to show for it. They have had 14 shots to Man United’s two, but only two of those 14 have been on target – and that’s the story of the half. Time to go and get warm.
Only one added minute!
45 min Newcastle are so keen to crowd Onana that there are 15 players in the six-yard box. The one who gets his head to the ball is Maguire, who has been commanding again.
Just one minute of stoppage time. Old-school!
44 min Livramento skips down the left, it’s four on four, but Maguire gets a toe in to squeeze the ball away for a corner.
41 min There’s a scrap for the ball on the Newcastle right wing, and Trippier and Almiron just fight for it more doggedly than Dalot. You won’t be surprised to hear that nothing comes of it
40 min Onana flirts with danger again as Gordon bears down on him. He hoofs it away, 1972-style, in the nick of time.
Trippier hits the bar!
38 min The free kick is a cracker. Onana is a mere spectator … but saved by the bar.
“We all know,” says Richard Hirst, “this is going to finish 1-0 to Man Utd, after a goal in stoppage time. I speak from bitter experience as a Fulham supporter.” They only do that against teams in the bottom half.
36 min Fabian Schär, feeling rather underemployed, goes for a run through the middle and wins a free kick near the D.
34 min Man U finally string more than three passes together, but the cross that results, from Wan-Bissaka on the right, is a damp squib. Newcastle charge up the other end, where Almiron shoots, left-footed and too high.
On passing accuracy, Newcastle are winning 86-75 per cent. In fact they’re winning on every measure except the one that counts.
32 min Mainoo, classy as ever in his embryonic career, sends Rashford down the right. He races on to the ball and lob in a good cross for Garnacho, who is too well policed to get a header in.
Some flickers of life from Man U, but a minute later Isak has yet another good chance, which he steers just wide.
30 min Luke Shaw takes the free kick and chips it straight into the arms of Nick Pope, like a dad trying to make things easy for a seven-year-old in the park.
