Newcastle United made it five wins in a row in the Premier League to go fifth in the table as they outclassed Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Ruben Amorim’s side have experienced an abject end to 2024, losing five of their last six league games. Halfway through the season, they are 14th in the table with 22 points from 19 matches.
The game was effectively over after 20 minutes, with Newcastle two goals ahead through the in-form Alexander Isak and Joelinton. Manchester United missed big chances in the first half through Rasmus Hojlund and Casemiro, and they failed to find a breakthrough after half-time as Newcastle took their foot off the gas.
George Caulkin, Charlotte Harpur and Chris Waugh analyse the key talking points…
Manchester United are making history by being bad
Manchester United are breaking records — and for all the wrong reasons.
Defeat against Newcastle means they have now lost five league games in December. The last time that happened was 62 years ago in September 1962. It was a different world back then. Man had not landed on the moon, and England had not won the World Cup.
The 2-0 loss also means they have suffered three league defeats in a row at Old Trafford. That hasn’t been achieved since February 1979. To add insult to injury, they did not score on Monday either for the third consecutive game. It’s the first time they have lost three in a row in the league without scoring since May 2015.
And the statistics keep coming. It is their second defeat in their last 40 home league games against Newcastle (the only other one was under David Moyes in December 2013) and the first time they have lost their final league game in consecutive calendar years since 1985 (vs Everton) and 1986 (vs Norwich).
Charlotte Harpur
While Newcastle are making history by being good
Did Newcastle experience some second-half nerves or did they simply conserve their energy as they entered what amounts to uncharted territory (for them) at Old Trafford?
True, there was the Carabao Cup last season, when Newcastle won 3-0, but that was a night of no-context comedy, when Eddie Howe named five full-backs in his team and they still prevailed.
Traditionally, this has been a harrowing venue for Newcastle supporters and traditionally Manchester United are the team who spoil everything. They did it in 1995-96, overhauling Kevin Keegan’s brilliant side at the top of the table and they did it at Wembley in February 2023. They’ve done it in cups and Community Shields.
They even did it last season, when Newcastle managed to finish above them for the first time in the Premier League era and still lost out on a place in Europe when Manchester United somehow beat Manchester City in the FA Cup final.
Newcastle do not win here. The last time they did so was in December 2013, when a goal from Yohan Cabaye was enough to seal victory. Before then, it was February 1972.
As bad as Manchester United were, Newcastle were sensational in the first half. On Sky Sports, Gary Neville described it as a “mauling,” and he wasn’t wrong. If Howe’s team took their feet off the gas, then they could afford to. Nobody and nothing could spoil this.
George Caulkin
Isak’s electric form for Newcastle
Alexander Isak would like to wish you a very Happy Old Year.
While 2024 has, for various reasons, been a testing one for Newcastle, the Sweden international has rarely allowed his standards to dip and December, in particular, has been much to his liking.
Isak’s fourth minute goal, a simple downward header to meet Lewis Hall’s deflected cross, means the striker has scored in every Newcastle league match this month, a six-game hot streak that predates his team’s general uptick in form but is also emblematic of it.
He could and probably should have had another a short while later, when he raced onto a lovely long pass from Bruno Guimaraes and attempted a dinked shot above Andre Onana when power might have been better and another effort was ruled offside, but it is difficult to argue with Isak’s quality or his statistics.
Isak ends the year with 25 Premier League goals, a total that only Alan Shearer, with 27, has bettered for Newcastle over the course of a calendar year, illustrious company but not inappropriate. He has 12 goals in his last 13 fixtures in all competitions.
https://t.co/snSkzpdJsa pic.twitter.com/OiV6zkDtWn
— Opta Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) December 30, 2024
The scary thing? “He wants to improve, that’s the beauty of his attitude,” Eddie Howe said the other day. What might 2025 bring?
George Caulkin
Martinez struggles again in Amorim’s defence
Amorim has continued to rotate his squad, chopping and changing, in order to reduce player workload and the risk of injury. The constant has been Bruno Fernandes, however, Amorim’s trusted captain who has started every game since the new head coach’s arrival.
But tonight Fernandes was missing through suspension. Amorim handed Martinez the armband in his absence but the Argentinian has, aside from the FA Cup final victory, struggled for form ever since his knee injury sustained in February.
When Manchester United were looking for leadership, the centre-back did not lead by example. He let Isak run in front of him for Newcastle’s first and got bullied off the ball by Joelinton for their second.
(Harriet Massey/Newcastle United via Getty Images)
Following a yellow card in the 61st minute, Amorim called it a day four minutes later and replaced him with Leny Yoro. Perhaps that was precautionary but Manchester United’s struggles on that left side of defence continue.
Charlotte Harpur
Zirkzee lasts only 33 minutes — and is cheered off the pitch
Nobody wants to be hooked at half-time, let alone the 33rd minute.
It was humiliating for Joshua Zirkzee who was replaced by Kobbie Mainoo, a decision that appeared to be cheered by the home fans as he walked off the pitch. He looked distraught as he headed straight down the tunnel.
When he came back out, he was cheered more warmly by the fans before taking his place on the bench with the hood on his coat pulled over his head.
(Carl Recine/Getty Images)
Something needed to change, though, as Manchester United were being completely overrun in midfield.
Zirkzee, who was playing in the No 10 position in the absence of the suspended Bruno Fernandes, was anonymous. In 33 minutes, he completed just three passes before being substituted.
Joshua Zirkzee completed just three passes in his 33-minute performance before being substituted versus Newcastle. pic.twitter.com/f3b72AbLoj
— Opta Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) December 30, 2024
Manchester United needed more dynamism in the No 6 roles. Casemiro and Christian Eriksen, who have not started together since Amorim’s first game against Ipswich (a 1-1 draw), looked stodgy and disconnected. Tonali and Guimaraes ripped through them.
When Mainoo came on Casemiro shuffled along to the left while Eriksen took Zirkzee’s role in the No 10 and Mainoo slotted in to the right of Casemiro. Manchester United registered their first shot immediately after that substitution, a brilliant chance when Lisandro Martinez threaded in Rasmus Hojlund whose left-footed shot was inches wide of the post. But it did not get much better than that.
Newcastle’s midfield dominates at Old Trafford
Newcastle may have been dominant across the pitch, but it was in midfield where their superiority really told.
Sandro Tonali, Bruno Guimaraes and Joelinton overpowered, outran and out-thought the ageing and largely pedestrian Christian Eriksen and Casemiro.
At times, the ease at which Newcastle’s trio played through Manchester United’s duo bordered upon the embarrassing.
It was Guimaraes’ pass out wide to Lewis Hall which laid on Isak’s opener, then the Brazilian nicked possession off Eriksen before playing a lofted through-ball for the Sweden international striker to fire a one-on-one straight at Andre Onana.
But the move which led to Newcastle’s second goal encapsulated the supremacy of their midfield. Guimaraes played a one-two with Tonali, completely bypassing Eriksen and Casemiro in the process. Eventually, having been afforded time and space in midfield, Guimaraes then spread play to Anthony Gordon on the left, who curled an in-swinging cross into the box, where Joelinton nodded in the second.
Since Tonali shifted into the No 6 position a month ago, Newcastle’s form has been transformed. They have won five and drawn two of the games he has started, while they have conceded only once in their past five matches, scoring 16 in the process. And it is their midfield which is really making them tick.
Chris Waugh
What next for Man Utd?
Sunday, January 5: Liverpool (A), Premier League, 4.30pm UK, 11.30am ET
What next for Newcastle?
Saturday, January 4: Spurs (A), Premier League, 12.30pm UK, 7.30am ET
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(Top photo: Getty Images)
