BOXING DAY KNOCKOUT
Ole’s Red Devils had one of their good days as goals for Martial, Greenwood and Rashford put dire Newcastle to the sword
MANCHESTER UNITED endorsed their Jekyll and Hyde status with this comprehensive dismantling of Newcastle.
After losing to Watford – then the Premier League’s bottom club – on Sunday, the pressure was on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side to respond and get back on track in their pursuit of a top-four place.
They duly did that with this convincing win but, in so doing, it raised the question of why they cannot produce this level of performance on a consistent basis throughout the season.
Anthony Martial scored twice, with Mason Greenwood and Marcus Rashford plundering the other goals, to send the Reds up one place to seventh, four points off fourth spot.
At the halfway stage of the campaign, they remain an enigma – a team capable of beating the likes of Manchester City and Tottenham, only to capitulate to the lesser lights of the top flight.
Here, though, was a return to winning ways, with Solskjaer’s men coming from behind, after a timid start, to blitz Toon with three goals in 19 minutes, the fourth coming just after the restart.
Matty Longstaff, who scored in Newcastle’s 1-0 win over the Reds at St James’ Park in October, repeated that feat after 17 minutes.
Fred lost possession in midfield, with Dwight Gayle finding Longstaff with a ball that pulled the hosts’ defence wide open.
With the Reds’ backline all over the place, Longstaff lobbed the ball in to Joelinton, who held it up before returning the favour.
Longstaff kept a cool head, steering a clinical finish into the far corner, giving keeper David De
Gea no chance of saving it. It was a deserved lead for Newcastle, who took full advantage of their opponents’ sloppy and sluggish
start to raise the prospect of a first league double over the Old Trafford side for 89 years.
But the Reds’ response was swift and ruthless, Solskjaer’s men getting back on level terms within seven minutes and using that leveller as the platform to go on and win the game.
Luke Shaw made an impressive run down the left, funnelling the ball inside to Andreas Pereira, who in turn laid it off to Martial.
Martial took his shot early and hit it hard, the combination of the element of surprise and the power in the execution leaving Toon keeper Martin Dubravka unable to keep the ball out.
Suddenly, the momentum was with the home side, who went ahead 12 minutes later, Greenwood capitalising on a sloppy pass into no-man’s land from Fabian Schar.
Greenwood seized on the loose ball and skipped goalwards before unleashing a thunderous left-footed effort that took a deflection before crashing in off the underside of the bar.
It was Greenwood’s eighth goal of the season and fourth in his last five games, with the hosts in full swagger mode by this stage.
They went 3-1 up four minutes before the break, Aaron Wan-Bissaka crossing for Rashford to apply a Cristiano Ronaldo-esque header – hanging high in the air before meeting the ball – into the net.
There was no way back for the Magpies after that, with Martial claiming his second of the game, seizing on a woefully underhit pass from Sean Longstaff and clipping the ball over Dubravka.
With the game won, Martial and Rashford were swiftly replaced to keep them as fresh as possible for tomorrow’s trip to Burnley.