Newcastle United 0-2 Manchester United: Four Things We Learned

Manchester United continued their winning streak to four matches after beating Newcastle United 2-0 at St James’ Park. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is still 100 percent, as his players continued performing to the necessary levels. After scoring 12 goals in first three games, this time the Devils needed only two to beat well-organized opponent, through second-half goals from Romelu Lukaku and Marcus Rashford.

It was a typical match for Newcastle United against a top six side, sitting deep with all 10 players behind the ball, negating the space and frustrating the opponent. However, the visitors found the net after 64 minutes and everything was much easier after that, with Rashford confirming the win with 10 minutes to play.

Marcus Rashford Is Ready To Grow

Marcus Rashford continued his great form with another five-star performance, assisting for the opener and scoring the second goal. It was not a conventional assist for the first goal, but rather a very good free-kick that was tough to save. The deflection fell Lukaku’s way to score the goal with his first touch since coming on.

Still, it was all about Rashford in this match. He was a menace from start to end, creating problems for Magpies all around the pitch. He also had incredible seven shots, always getting on the end of moves. Rashford showed that he needs space for growing and Solskjaer should think about keeping him as a centre-forward even with Lukaku ready to play. The Belgian could be accommodated on the right wing, while Rashford truly needs continuity he was missing under Mourinho.

Lindelöf Looks More Confident

Victor Lindelöf had a very good performance in centre of the back four. The Swedish centre-back looked confident and transferring calmness to the team. He was always going to enjoy a match against a team that has big issues creating problems for top six sides, but nevertheless, he exuded confidence he has been often missing. Lindelöf had several important clearances and a couple of tackles, but it was his reading of the game and his composure on the ball that was also important.

Phil Jones looked well alongside him too, as the pair gave Man United their first clean-sheet since the win against Young Boys in late November.

Dubravka Helps The Devils To Frustrate Magpies

It was all Martin Dubravka’s fault for Lukaku’s goal. He was unable to control Rashford’s shot. The Englishman took a free-kick in his usual manner, with a knuckle-ball which flew rapidly and unpredictably, falling through the air out of nowhere, just in front of Dubravka. The Slovakian was unable to save the shot and the ball bounced off his hands in path of the Belgian striker.

This will frustrate Newcastle fans as their team did well to keep a 0-0 right until then.

Is Luke Shaw Most Consistent United Player This Season?

This is not something that could be measured in a certain way, but it looks like Luke Shaw is Man United’s most consistent player this season. If you exclude the players that often did not play this season, you get a lot of players who had their issues this season. Pogba was hugely inconsistent, the defence was often fragile while David De Gea was not the old David De Gea. All attackers had their problems in creating and scoring goals at some point and that leaves us with Luke Shaw.

Right from the start of the season, the left-back has been consistent and constantly improving. He was often one of more vibrant United players in attack and against Newcastle he also had a couple of really good defensive actions to clear the danger.

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