Yesterday Manchester United put in a pretty abysmal performance against Newcastle United. In all fairness to the Magpies they probably deserved the three points. Somehow we managed to get a draw and here are five things that we learnt.
Centre-back worries
Prior to the match there were lots of reports that Raphael Varane would be making a return in this game. United’s twitter account even hinted at this a few hours before kick-off. This was something that, naturally, lots of fans were very excited about. On paper, we had our best defender at the club, back playing for us. However, things went down very differently on the pitch.
Both, Raphael Varane and Harry Maguire looked very worrying. There were multiple instances were they looked very shaky and not confident in the slightest. Neither of them looked anything near the top class defenders we all know that they can be. You could argue that both of these players can take some blame for the Newcastle goal. Whilst it was an outstanding finish from Allan Saint-Maximin, both Maguire and Varane made errors that gave him the space to get into the position to take the shot in the first place. Maybe Varane was rushed back from his injury, or perhaps there was a lack of match sharpness with the disruptions from Covid. But either way those performances were not good enough and they need to sharpen up fast for the next game.
Sloppiness in possession
Manchester United had a high percentage of possession in yesterday’s game. 68.6% to be precise. Yet it did not feel like that at all. We did nothing with that possession really. United had 13 shots and only 4 of those were on target. We were constantly giving the ball away. Both McTominay and Fred particularly stood out for this. They weren’t the only ones who were sloppy with the ball. But they stood out particularly. Their inability to make the simplest of passes at times was infuriating.
The sad thing is that we have partly come to expect this from both of these players. But their usual qualities of energy and pressing didn’t even pay off really. We need to be able to dominate a game from the off and control possession in midfield. I think the reality is that this won’t be a possibility when we have McFred in midfield.
De Gea Saviour
Once again David de Gea was our literal saviour. There were two distinct instances where he kept us in the game. As well as this he made some top quality saves. The stop for Allan Saint-Maximin’s shot early in the second half was vital for keeping us in the game. Granted the shot was towards his body. But he got a strong enough stop behind it to allow the clearance from Jadon Sancho. And then later on in the second half there was a genuine world-class save. After a shot from Ryan Fraser rattled off the inside of the post and came out. Miguel Almiron looked to curl one into the top corner from outside the box. But David de Gea made that extraordinary save and kept us in the game and meant that we came away with 1 point rather than nothing.
Cavani has to play more
Edinson Cavani is a player who has definitely cemented his place as a real cult-favourite amongst Manchester United fans. The way that he gives everything on the pitch and his world-class movement and finishing are so exciting to see. And on top of that it means that he scores some brilliant and important goals. Like he did yesterday.
The problem with Cavani is that he hasn’t played that much. There have been several injury issues over the past two seasons. We have had a suspension to contend with. And then quarantine issues resulting from international duty. All of this has led to us not seeing too much of Cavani on the pitch. But yesterday was a reminder of why we need a player of Cavani’s quality. And with the rumours surrounding a January departure for the Uruguayan forward there is even more reason for concern over how much we are going to see of El Matador.
Need to see improvements
We have seen poor performances from United in you could say two and half games. We obviously saw a poor performance last night against Newcastle. The performance against Norwich was pretty shocking as well despite the result. And the second half against Crystal Palace was also not up to scratch. At what point does Rangnick have to start making changes to the lineup.
All of the players need to improve to be honest. No one really put in a good performance. On top of that lots of the players body language was poor. Lots of dropped heads. People complaining to the referee, to their teammates. At the end of the day, when players are having a bad performance, they have to step up and take responsibility for their actions. This is Manchester United. If we can’t be beating a Newcastle team destined for relegation there needs to be a serious shaping up in that dressing room.