Days like this are why Rafa stayed with Toon

BACK in the summer of 2016, after his efforts to save them from relegation had failed, it was surely the anticipation of afternoons like this that prompted Rafael Benitez to commit himself to Newcastle United.

On days like this, when St James’ Park hums and throbs so loudly they must be able to hear and feel it down by the river, there are few finer places to be.

Yes, such days remind us all why Newcastle remain such a valued resident of the Premier League.

Benitez may not have anticipated all that has come his way during his time in the North East. The constant, painful and repetitive dialogue with Mike Ashley — an owner who does not seem disposed to help him — is wearying and when a takeover that he himself brought to the table failed to materialise, it must have been deflating.

But here at full time was a snapshot of the joys, thrills and potential of managing this great club.

When things go well at Newcastle, the rewards follow you all the way home at night.

Manchester United were complicit victims at times. The free-kick that led to Matt Ritchie’s second-half winner was conceded by a dive from Chris Smalling of all people and the defending that followed was not much better. Late on United were wasteful.

As they chased the game, meanwhile, Jose Mourinho once again decided he could do without Paul Pogba and took him off.

It was another poor afternoon for the French international and the debate about his role in this team will now grow louder.

Pogba should be the heartbeat of the side and that heart should beat louder in times of trouble. That is a view which has nothing to do with his transfer fee and everything to do with his talent.

United are getting only a fraction of what they need from him and the way that he sat in the dugout — hood pulled up — for the last 25 minutes suggest that he knows it, too.

This, though, was a story largely about Newcastle. Mourinho suggested afterwards that the home team had been lucky but that seemed disingenuous. The warm way he congratulated Benitez, a long-standing adversary, at the end probably served as a more reliable barometer of what he really felt.

Even he must have recognised this was a win the home team deserved for pluck and hard work alone.

Huddersfield’s victory early in the afternoon had left Newcastle in the bottom three and placed their predicament in stark context. A point may not have been enough to drag them clear.

So Newcastle simply went for the full bag instead.

There was none of the cautious, stifling play they had attempted to impose on Manchester City here at Christmas.

Instead, these were tactics straight from the traditional Newcastle playbook. Hard running, fierce pressing, tempo, ambition. The crowd responded immediately and only five minutes had gone when United goalkeeper David de Gea was touching a Jonjo Shelvey rasper over the bar.

Shelvey had contributed a rather sour interview to the matchday programme but his performance was terrific. As Newcastle hung grimly to their lead in the final stages of the game, they needed him and he delivered.

In the first half, meanwhile, Newcastle were steadily progressive without ever being really dominant. The Brazilian winger Kenedy tested De Gea from 30 yards and Dwight Gayle should have had a penalty when Smalling tripped him.

United, for their part, were too passive, too reactive. They are like this too often under