No one knew if Eddie Howe was well enough to watch his Newcastle players from the hospital bed he has occupied since Friday night but they ultimately put on the sort of show he would have relished.
As Thomas Tuchel took a seat in the directors’ box, Tino Livramento pressed his international claims with an excellent game out of position at left back as goals from the similarly outstanding Sandro Tonali, Harvey Barnes (twice) and Bruno Guimarães lifted Newcastle to fourth in the table. A Champions League place appears well within their grasp.
Newcastle 4-1 Manchester United: Premier League – live reaction
If Howe’s deputy, Jason Tindall, had reason to punch the air in delight at the final whistle, his Manchester United counterpart Ruben Amorim seemed a walking, talking study in despair.
Only two minutes into a long awaited Premier League debut, Altay Bayindir found himself picking the ball out of his net. Fortunately for Manchester United’s Turkey goalkeeper, selected ahead of the dropped – or according to Amorim, rested – André Onana, Joelinton was clearly offside as he turned Kieran Trippier’s cross home.
When Joshua Zirkzee subsequently turned slapdash and forfeited possession, Jacob Murphy very nearly capitalised but after watching the winger’s shot fly fractionally wide, Amorim’s players gradually started getting their act together.
As the visitors showed they were capable of establishing, if not quite maintaining, a slick, sharp passing rhythm, their 18-year debut-making left-wing back Harry Amass looked encouragingly unfazed in the face of the streetwise attentions of Trippier and Fabian Schär.
It may have been a false dawn but for a while the sting was drawn from Newcastle’s high intensity opening. Indeed a particularly deft one-two involving Zirkzee and Bruno Fernandes concluded with Nick Pope tipping the former’s shot over the crossbar.
Not that Amorim looked exactly satisfied as he, incessantly, paced the perimeters of his technical area in the manner of a hyperactive child fuelled by a sugar rush. The Manchester United manager’s body language turned even more manic as Sandro Tonali volleyed Newcastle into the lead.
It began with Manuel Ugarte conceding possession and allowing Trippier to pick out Alexander Isak. All that remained was for the Swede to swivel free of his marker before dinking a pass for Tonali to volley past Bayindir. The only consolation for the former Fenerbahce goalkeeper was that there was nothing he could have done about it.
The anxiety etched on Amorim’s face every time Tonali received the ball and assumed control of central midfield reflected the impact the Italy international was exerting on the game. Anyone devising an identikit of the complete midfielder could do worse than model it on Tonali’s blend of string-pulling, tempo control and goal-scoring knack.
He nearly scored a second but curled a 25-yard shot narrowly wide as Amorim shook his header with the bewilderment of a man who very possibly wonders why on earth he left Lisbon.
Sandro Tonali fires Newcastle into a first-half lead. Photograph: Richard Lee/Shutterstock
Not that his team were quite out of it. Or, significantly, the once again impressive Fernandes was willing to be eclipsed. By way of proving that Manchester United are dangerous at both ends, Alejandro Garnacho duly shot low, and left footed into the bottom corner at the end of a fine counterattack conjured by the suddenly quick-thinking Ugarte and Diogo Dalot.
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The rapidity of Garnacho’s acceleration seemed capable of wrong-footing Newcastle and with half-time approaching, Pope was required to once again come to the rescue and deny him a second goal. If only Amorim’s defence did not look quite so prone to melting in the face of the slightest bit of attacking heat, his team might not be stuck in the bottom half of the table.
They could do with a bit of Newcastle’s efficiency at both ends, something emphasised as Harvey Barnes restored his side’s lead. Although Anthony Gordon had recovered from a hip injury, Barnes retained his place on the left wing and helped justify that starting role with a simple tap in following Livramento’s counterattacking advance. With Dalot left trailing in Livramento’s rear-view mirror, the full-back crossed for Murphy to cut the ball back into Barnes’s path. Tuchel can hardly have failed to be impressed.
A couple of minutes earlier Dalot thought he should have been awarded a penalty after a challenge from Tonali in the area but neither the referee, Chris Kavanagh, or VAR were buying it. If that did disappoint Amorim, his dismay deepened as first Zirkzee hobbled off with a hamstring injury and then Barnes scored again. His first goal may have been routine but this was most definitely not.
It began with the winger dispossessing Noussair Mazraoui and involved him sprinting past two more defenders before lashing an unstoppable shot beyond Bayindir’s reach. Maybe Tuchel could do worse than offer Barnes an England cap.
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Poor Bayindir was at fault for the fourth as, attempting to play out from the back, he passed straight to Joelinton, whose ensuing header cued up Guimãraes to do the rest as Manchester United slipped to 14th.
It will be intriguing to see who Amorim selects in goal for Thursday night’s all important Europa League engagement with Lyon.
