MANCHESTER UNITED 2-0 NEWCASTLE UNITED: Goals from Alexander Isak and Joelinton meant Ruben Amorim’s side suffered yet another defeat on a night of humiliation
Manchester United continued to star in their own festive farce, following another night of utter humiliation for Ruben Amorim and his flops.
The pantomime season got into full swing at Old Trafford, where United slumped to their fourth straight defeat thanks to this numbing from Newcastle.
Eddie Howe broke his duck with his first ever win as a manager at the Theatre of Dreams. While his opposite number was left spitting feathers, following another spineless and shameless display from United.
In a quite disastrous December, United have lost six of nine games. And the records are tumbling faster than Amorim’s reputation.
Goals from Alexander Isak and Joelinton secured Newcastle’s fifth straight win. Talk about two teams hurtling in different directions.
United have now suffered three home league defeats in succession for the first time since 1979. Not to mention having lost five league games or more in a single month for the first time since 1962.
And Newcastle thought they had a bad record at Old Trafford, where Howe’s men had won just one of their last 39 league games before last night.
The problem United had, though, was the visitors came to Manchester high on confidence, following four straight wins in all competitions by an aggregate score of 14-1. And boy did it show.
Newcastle were as good as United were bad. In an epically one-sided first half, Newcastle took less than four minutes to stand on the throats of United, in what was a nightmare start for Amorim.
Lewis Hall was allowed acres of space down the left flank and he picked out Isak, who rose between the motionless Harry Maguire and Lisandro Martinez to beat Andre Onana with a close range header.
Joelinton went close to doubling Newcastle’s lead, as United’s defence continued to go AWOL. United were so bad it wasn’t a stretch to suggest the visitors were taking the Micky out of them, with less than 15 minutes of the game gone.
Newcastle should have scored again when Isak found himself clean through, but his finish lacked conviction. So no-one was surprised when Newcastle did make it 2-0 moments later, with another goal so simple it was scary from United’s perspective.
Anthony Gordon crossed from the left, and Joelinton met it ahead of Martinez to power a header past Onana. Sound familiar?
Amorim dropped to his haunches, unable to comprehend what he was witnessing.
The battering was relentless, with Kieran Trippier coming close to beating Onana direct from a corner (again), Isak having a goal disallowed for off-side and Sandro Tonali hitting the post.
READ MORE: What Ruben Amorim got wrong vs Newcastle as Man Utd named ‘worst team in country’READ MORE: Ruben Amorim subs Man Utd flop on 34 minutes as Gary Neville slams cheering fans
It was so embarrassing Amorim hauled off Joshua Zirkzee inside 33 minutes and replaced him with a defensive midfielder, in the shape of Kobbie Mainoo.
Zikzee was cheered off by his own fans, while Amorim must have also been tempted to send on a second goalkeeper. It felt like the worst performance post Sir Alex Ferguson.
Just to add insult to injury, Rasmus Hojlund and Casemiro missed gold chances to get United back into the game, before Maguire headed against the post.
Watching the horror show unfold from the newly named ‘Theatre of Screams’ was a certain Marcus Rashford. He was recalled to the squad but remained on the bench. And if he can’t even get into this team, perhaps it is time for him to move on.
If this was to be Rashford’s farewell, it never came close to being a fond one.