Manchester United’s submissive stance at St James’ Park highlights the differing directions the teams are heading in
As the players finished their handshakes and retreated to their halves ahead of kick-off the familiar strains of Local Hero tumbling from the public address briefly faltered, before starting again from the beginning. A rewind was exactly what was coming next, with Newcastle and Manchester United reminding us exactly what they are about.
Towards the end of normal time in an utterly one-sided match substitute Antony’s shot deflecting in off Harry Maguire (who mercifully for the home side was offside) briefly threatened to taunt the Geordies over a lack of ability to kill an occasion game – the same trait that had improbably robbed them of three points against an ailing, 10-man Liverpool back in late August. Yet anything other than a home win would have been moonlight robbery.
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