Newcastle United vs Manchester United Player Ratings
With Chelsea dropping points at home to Southampton, United are now just 6 points behind the Top 4 and the way the boys are playing under Ole Gunnar Solksjaer, it seems more than likely that United will catch the Londoners pretty soon.
Starting XI
De Gea, Valencia, Jones, Lindelof, Shaw, Matic, Herrera, Pogba. Martial, Mata, Rashford.
Player Ratings
David De Gea(GK): 8/10
After a forgettable 2018, DDG started 2019 in the best way possible. He finally had a clean sheet to his name that he deserved and his 4 saves on the night were enough to secure that. He was tested by Atsu and Shelvey on multiple occasions but dealt with their shots quite comfortably. Hopefully, this year brings back more clean sheets for the best keeper in the world.
Antonio Valencia(RB): 3/10
A player can have a good game or a bad game but hardly ever you will see a player having a game where he was just nonexistent. Valencia had come into the side for Ashley Young but it felt like United played with 10 men because the right side of United offered nothing, absolutely nothing, both in attack and defense. Valencia showed no motivation to attack a deep-lying Newcastle defense despite having several chances to do so. Even in defense, he was constantly caught out of the position of by Atsu. There is absolutely no way that Antonio Valencia plays for Manchester United beyond this season.
Phil Jones(CB): 6/10
In a span of 5 seconds midway during through the first half, United supporters saw the best and worst of Phil Jones. He was easily dispossessed of the ball and that led Solomon Rondon 1v1 with De Gea. But then Phil Jones put in a brilliant sliding tackle before the Venezuelan could fire his shot away. Although it was a crunching tackle and Jones did recover the ball but the result could have been very different had there been the likes of Aguero, Kane or Hazard in place of Rondon. During his past seven and a half seasons at the club, this erratic behavior combined with an injury prone record has proved that Jones is certainly not the man that can lead you to any trophies.
Victor Lindelof(CB): 10/10
Victor Lindelof recently won the Swedish Player of the Year award and his performances in the past few months are making sure that he will be in contention for Manchester United's Player of the Year award too. The Swede was immense on the night at St. James' Park where he dealt with everything that was thrown at him, be it in the air or on the ground. He out-muscled and out-jumped Rondon on several occasions and at the end secured the clean sheet that his authoritative performance deserved.
Luke Shaw(LB): 7/10
Shaw has had yet another solid display under his belt if not a very spectacular one. He could have provided a bit more going forward but he was a rock in defense. He was always aware of the threat of Ayoze Perez and Matt Ritchie and coped well with them.
Nemanja Matic(CM): 7/10
Matic has had a resurgence of unreal proportions under Solksjaer but in the first half against Newcastle, his passing radar was a bit off. He gave the ball away a few times but as the game progressed, he grew in confidence.
Ander Herrera(CM): 8/10
Herrera has been the true engine of Solksjaer's midfield and the Spaniard once again returned with a great performance. He was influential at both ends of the pitch and showed to the board why they need to act quickly on his new contract.
Paul Pogba(CM): 6/10
Pogba had three unbelievable games under Solksjaer so far where he contributed with 4 goals and 3 assists but the visit to Newcastle didn't go down that path. He clearly missed Jesse Lingard's off the ball runs but nevertheless, he should have found the back of the net when he had already beaten Dubravka and had the goal at his mercy.
Anthony Martial(LW): 6/10
Martial did find it difficult to break down a tight Newcastle defense who most of the times doubled up on him but the Frenchman should have done better with the two half chances he got in the first half. With the quality of Martial, you expect him to bury those chances into the bottom corner.
Juan Mata(RW): 6/10
Mata did find some space during the latter stages of the first half when his quick interplay released Martial but apart from that, the little magician was unable to split open a tight Newcastle backline. The lack of any kind of contribution from Valencia on the right also didn't help Mata's cause, thus forcing him to come infield.
Marcus Rashford(ST): 9/10
Rashford is in some astonishing form at the moment where everything is going his way. He troubled the Newcastle defenders throughout the first half and then it was his sizzling and powerful free-kick that lead to United's opener. Then he finished off his day by a well-taken goal where he calmly slotted the ball past Dubravka to seal the three points for the Red Devils.
Substitutes
Romelu Lukaku(ST): 9/10
Lukaku replaced Martial at the hour mark and with literally his first touch, he scored the opening goal for Man Utd. Dubravka couldn't handle Rashford's powerful free-kick and Big Rom with his killer striker instincts pounced upon it. He was even involved in the counter-attack that lead to Rashford's goal and could have had another one himself at the very end of the injury time. Lukaku's fine form under Solksjaer is going to give a headache for the Norwegian but a good headache indeed.
Alexis Sanchez(LW): 8/10
Sanchez was introduced along with Lukaku at the hour mark and was lively throughout his cameo. He even cleverly set up Rashford for United's second goal. Sanchez, after missing 9 games because of a hamstring injury, will look to fight for his place under Solksjaer.
Jesse Lingard(RW): N/A
Lingard came into the dying stages of the game to replace Rashford as United looked to punish tired legs of Newcastle defenders. He even set up Pogba on the break but the latter had left his shooting boots at home as his tame finish found the side netting.
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