Manchester United suffered its first defeat of the Michael Carrick interim era on Wednesday at Newcastle, falling to the 10-men from Tyneside after a gut-punch solo goal in the 90th minute of a nervy and aggressive matchup.
The First half didn’t start off too hot, but the match picked up around the half-hour mark. United only had brief glimpses of the Newcastle goal until then, notably a slip on a shot by Matheus Cunha and a couple of blocked efforts.
Newcastle didn’t make much more than the Reds did,
and the aggressive nature of the contest led to a slew of yellow cards going both ways.
United got a shot on target from Kobbie Mainoo, who tried his luck from distance with a shot curling toward the top left corner, and it forced a decent save from Aaron Ramsdale. The keeper saw it all the way but still had to parry it away rather than catch the effort.
The best effort fell to Bryan Mbeumo, who caught a rebounded effort from Cunha on the left wing by collapsing on goal from the right. The loose ball went wide of Benjamin Sesko and into Mbeumo’s path, only for the winger to sky the shot with his left foot. The net was open for him, though defenders were scrambling at the goalmouth.
The game went off the rails going into stoppage time of the first half, starting with a red card for Jacob Ramsey. He dove looking for a penalty, and instead picked up his second yellow card. Newcastle would however get a penalty moments later as Bruno caught Anthony Gordon entering the box, who then converted from the spot for 1-0.
The chaos in stoppage time led to even more stoppage time, which worked out nicely for the Reds as they picked up a free kick on the right wing. Bruno Fernandes sent a cross in for Casemiro, who glanced a header past Ramsdale to equalize just before the break.
Pundits spent the halftime break calling the second yellow for Ramsey controversial, but on top of the textbook law for punishing simulation, there were instances from both Dan Burn and Joelinton that could have been red card offenses and neither player was punished. Nevertheless, the referee was public enemy No. 1 to the Newcastle crowd from the break onwards.
Despite being down to 10-men, Newcastle’s midfield continued to get the better of the Reds out of halftime. Some sloppy passing in midfield and miscommunications hindered efforts for a winning goal, though the Reds did eventually start to get forward with regularity.
At about the 70-minute mark they finally broke out after a pair of chances for Newcastle were whiffed by Malick Thiaw and Anthony Gordon. Mbeumo and Diogo Dalot both had chances to take a swing after a corner kick, but neither got a shot off. Leny Yoro and Manuel Ugarte both missed on headed chances as well.
Carrick introduced Joshua Zirkzee and Amad in an attempt to dial up the pressure in the final 10 minutes. The Dutchman’s tricky feet set up Sesko for a chance, but the attempt was blocked. He had dribbled through two defenders at the top of the box to tee up his strike, and created a chance for himself with a well-struck hit from distance, only denied by a good save from Ramsdale. It was headed for the top right corner and surely would have settled the contest.
Instead, it was Newcastle who got the breakthrough. Substitute William Osula dribbled the length of the United’s half and curled a strike into the far left corner to make it 2-1 on 90 minutes.
First loss under Carrick, second loss to a team playing down a man this season. Not a good day at the office.
We go again in two weeks against Aston Villa.
