Magpies unlucky to only draw against Red Devils

Newcastle United will feel disappointed to only come away from their 1-1 draw against Manchester United with a point having defied their lowly position to dominate the match.

The Magpies had only managed one win out of 18 prior to the visit of the Red Devils and had lost their previous three matches, conceding 11 goals and only scoring once. However, home advantage, along with the fact that Manchester United hadn’t played for over two weeks due to an outbreak in COVID-19 cases, gave Newcastle reasons for optimism.

That hint of positivity soon turned into joy only seven minutes in when Allan Saint-Maximin gave his team the lead after cutting inside to poke the ball into the corner and past a motionless David De Gea.

Instead of shutting up shop, the home side continued to create more chances and had the ball in the back of the net again in the 38^th minute, only for Callum Wilson to be rightly flagged offside.

Newcastle continued their dominance after the break and had a glorious chance to double their lead, but Saint-Maximin could only direct his side-footed volley towards De Gea with the goal gaping at his mercy.

Ralf Rangnick’s side occasionally threatened with Marcus Rashford’s long-range effort pushed over the bar by Martin Dubravka.

Ryan Fraser threatened at the opposite end and had a powerful shot pushed out by De Gea before being bundled over when latching onto the rebound, but his claims for a penalty were waved away by referee Craig Pawson.

Cristiano Ronaldo was lucky to escape being sent off in the 57^th minute after he mistimed a challenge on Fraser, with Pawson opting to brandish a yellow card as opposed to a red one.

The visitors somehow managed to draw level against the run of play when Diogo Dalot broke through on the right-hand side and crossed over for Edinson Cavani whose initial attempt on goal was blocked but then prodded past Dubravka into the bottom corner in the 70^th minute.

Newcastle were unfazed by the disappointment of losing their lead and had two great chances to go in front again in the 87^th minute after substitute Jacob Murphy rattled the ball off the post with De Gea pulling off a fingertip save from Miguel Almiron’s rebound.

Manager, Eddie Howe, felt his side deserved more from the match and was encouraged by the performances from a number of players.

“We’re very disappointed because I thought we deserved to win.

Hopefully we’ve seen the beginning of a new team, I was really pleased with the players.”

On the other hand, Rangnick acknowledged his team’s showing was a poor one.

“We didn’t play well today with too many unforced errors and too many giveaways”.

He went on to say “it was a problem of energy, intensity and speed.”

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