Manchester United locked horns with Newcastle United at St. James’ Park earlier this evening hoping to grind out a win on the road. The Red Devils made a sloppy start to the game and conceded early in the second minute when Luke Shaw scored an unfortunate own goal. However, Harry Maguire equalised for Man United in the 23rd minute which calmed the nerves of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Both sides went into the half-time interval with nothing to split them.
The Mancunian outfit put the pressure on the Newcastle defence in search of the lead but struggled to break them down. However, Bruno Fernandes refused to give up and finally managed to make the breakthrough in the 86th minute. Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Marcus Rashford scored two more goals for the Red Devils in injury-time to cap off a dominant 4-1 victory at Tyneside.
Let’s take a look at how each Man United player fared during the match against the Magpies.
GK: David De Gea – 7/10
The Spanish goalie couldn’t do much about Luke Shaw’s own goal. He was solid throughout the remainder of the contest and pulled off two good saves to deny the Magpies from scoring more than once.
RB: Aaron Wan-Bissaka – 7/10
The ex-Crystal Palace full-back was defensively solid throughout the 90 minutes but struggled to create too many chances in the final third. He made the points secure for his team with his injury-time goal.
CB: Victor Lindelof – 5/10
Lindelof was guilty of making some poor errors during the game and put in another lacklustre display in defence tonight.
CB: Harry Maguire – 8/10
The Man United centre-back fired back at his critics by producing a matured display at the heart of Solskjaer’s defence. He passed the ball well, won a few headers and even, made some important interceptions for his team. Furthermore, Maguire scored the all-important equaliser in the first half.
LB: Luke Shaw – 6.5/10
He scored an unfortunate own goal early in the game. However, Shaw showed a lot of character to come back strong in the remainder of the match and was a real nuisance for the opposition down the left flank.
CM: Scott McTominay – 5/10
McTominay was too rigid at times and struggled to give Man United an edge in midfield. He failed to create anything of note going forward.
CM: Fred – 6/10
The Brazilian midfield ace worked hard but didn’t have too many bright moments in the offensive end of the field.
LW: Daniel James – 6/10
He showed a lot of promise to get himself into some promising areas but lacked the cutting edge inside the opposition penalty box.
CAM: Bruno Fernandes – 8/10
The Portuguese playmaker atoned for his penalty miss by scoring his team’s decisive second goal in the 86th minute. He was arguably the best player on the field and showed a lot of heart with his performance tonight.
RW: Juan Mata – 7/10
The Spanish veteran passed the ball well and even picked up an assist for setting up Maguire’s equaliser.
ST: Marcus Rashford – 8/10
The English striker was unusually quiet in the first 45 minutes but produced a mesmerising display in the second half when he registered one goal and two assists for his team.
Substitutes:
CM: Paul Pogba – 5/10
The Frenchman hardly got into the game after coming off the bench.
CM: Donny van de Beek – 7/10
He showed a few glimpses of his brilliance.
CM: Nemanja Matic – N/A
Not enough time to make an impact.
