3 good, 2 bad from Newcastle’s 2-1 defeat at Man City

United were more than a match for their opponents and only some sloppy defending and some disputed refereeing decisions saw us come away with nothing. Nico O’Reilly scored a brace for City, with Lewis Hall grabbing Newcastle’s goal.

Here’s my three good and two bad from the game:

Good: A performance at the Etihad…at last

Having landed back in England at 5am on Thursday morning with little time to do anything other than sleep between returning and this game kicking off, I thought United were excellent physically despite a shaky start. Few teams, if any, play four away games in a row (with one of those being a 5000+ mile round trip to Azerbaijan) and if it had been only a matter of a couple of weeks ago, United may have wilted with exhaustion as City started the stronger.

Hall’s goal sparked the side into life and from that moment forward, United were competitive, ending the first half with more shots on target than their hosts. The tactical gameplan was also miles above anything we’ve put in at the Etihad for several years and despite coming away with nothing, I think we’ve managed to hold onto any momentum we’ve built over the last three away wins, something we need to take into Everton next weekend with Qarabag on Tuesday a dead rubber.

Despite the positives, I thought some of the subs were ill-judged and made us weaker as the game went on, especially taking off Gordon and replacing him with Osula which just neutered our attack. Elanga was also anonymous and wasteful too (especially the non-pass to a through on goal Gordon which wasn’t even a difficult ball to play), and after a slight upturn in his form it’s been a poor week of regression for the Swede.

Good: Donnarumma was the busier goalkeeper

Harvey Barnes late long-range effort was Donnarumma’s sixth big save of the game (and by far his best) and it was a huge indication of why City wanted to sign him. He’s pulled off a world class save to win his team the game, and that’s the level of player you’re trying to overcome with injuries to key players of our own, more shoddy officiating (more on that to come), and trying to recover from too poorly conceded goals.

Unfortunately for us, Pope was weak wristed for City’s opener (he really should’ve pushed that wide having got a decent hand on it despite the power with which the shot was hit) and with Ramsdale a spotty understudy, United really need to go out and buy either a world class keeper in the summer or one with the potential to grow into one in the future.

Bad: Sloppy defending

Despite the overall improved performance, United’s defending for both City’s goals was sloppy in the extreme. Marking man for man left us two on two at the back on numerous occasions in the opening 15 minutes and Malick Thiaw deciding to run away from O’Reilly as he was through in the centre of the goal was a poor decision. Perhaps he was concerned with Haaland’s overlap but the danger in the position was surely the player with the ball.

Trippier was weak too for O’Reilly’s second, not defending the floated cross well at all, but Elanga also let him run off of him, which is incredibly poor for a winger with his pace, when all you want is for him to threaten the attacker and give him something to think about as he jumps to head the ball.

Bad: More poor officiating 

I did a brief double take at the start of the match when I realised the Premier League/PGMOL, in all their wisdom, had appointed the most inexperienced referee in the division to such a big game, yet 90 minutes later I reflected that those in charge got exactly what they wanted from him: a title race.

There were a number of soft, momentum sapping fouls awarded to the hosts; Thiaw was ordered off the pitch despite being the player fouled (not specifically the ref’s fault I’ll admit but an awful rule that must be removed from the game), the non-awarding of a second yellow card for Bernando Silva when he deliberately clattered into Dan Burn with no intention of playing the ball (a guaranteed card if he hadn’t already been booked), and the strange sight of our second goal being disallowed and a freekick awarded to Man City when the very least it should’ve been is a retake of said freekick as Ruben Dias pushed Dan Burn into the offside position.

Throw in a linesman who, apart from being responsible for 90% of the UK’s “Just for Men” sales and 70% of its creatine sales too, was far too eager to put his flag up when we were attacking but kept it down for an eternity when City were attacking the same end second half, and it certainly feels like the officiating in this country lately has been against us.

Good: Hall, Ramsey, and Gordon

Along with the improved team performance, there were some individuals who stood out above the rest. Hall grabbed his first goal of the season which was just reward for his excellent recent form, Ramsey is growing into this side and he had another solid display, passing well, and retaining possession under pressure.

Gordon appears to be a man reborn playing up front, his pace frightened their defenders, and he stretched the play incredibly well, drawing a booking out of Ruben Dias and seeing him off at half time to be replaced with a quicker defender in Khusunov. It was so strange that he came off, especially with him not being needed on Tuesday, but the last week has clearly shown that he will be starting up front for the rest of the season.

Despite all the positive’s it was still another defeat in the league, and we simply must beat Everton next weekend.

Keep the faith. HWTL