Manchester United 4-1 Newcastle United: Three Things We Learned

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Manchester United are back and with a bang! The Red Devils have played their first match after a two-week break due to international football, but on their return, they defeated Newcastle United 4-1 at Old Trafford, with Cristiano Ronaldo shining on his second debut in the famous red shirt.

It was all about Cristiano Ronaldo before the game, but the 36-year-old made sure it also remained after the match, with the Portuguese star collecting two goals to guide Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to their third win of the campaign. It was Ronaldo who scored the first two goals for United, ‘sandwiching’ the Javier Manquillo’s equaliser from early into the second half. However, after Ronaldo collected a brace, it all became easier for Man United, with Bruno Fernandes adding the third with 10 minutes to go, before Jesse Lingard made it 4-1 in the stoppage time.

Cristiano Ronaldo Makes A Five-Star Return

The entire world waited for Cristiano Ronaldo’s second debut for Man United, the entire Fantasy Premier League community expected him to shine and guess what? Cristiano Ronaldo delivered. Who knew? It simply had to be him, as the Portuguese star returned to Old Trafford and made sure it was all about him after the game ended. Neither of the two goals were incredibly pretty, the first one even being a close range tap-in. But both of the goals were all Cristiano has become in the 12 years he was away. He became a pure goalscorer, interested only in putting the ball into the net and nothing else. And United will definitely be fine with that, especially if he continues with such performances, as Ronaldo brought the goals when the team needed them the most – just before half-time and not long after Newcastle managed to equalise.

Bruno Links Well With Ronaldo

This match was also interesting to watch from the perspective of other players surounding Ronaldo. While Jadon Sancho and Mason Greenwood did not enjoy their best games, everyone was looking forward to seeing how wil Bruno Fernandes link up with Ronaldo. And while they will probably remain some questions for weeks to come, this time the duo functioned very well. Bruno managed to slip some passes into Ronaldo, especially one early on, while the Cristiano himself also managed to return the favour once. But Solskjaer will still have to have a look at how he will make the most of the players he has at disposal. One of those is Paul Pogba.

Pogba Still Finding His Role

Pogba is still struggling to find his ideal role in this new Man United team. Do not get us wrong – with seven assists in four matches, the Frenchman has had a great start to the season, but there still remain defensive issues. With Sancho, Rashford and Martial in this team, there are plenty of players vying for the left wing spot he did so well from at the start of the campaign. But now, in his consecutive matches in a midfield two, this time alongside Nemanja Matic, Pogba still proved to have problems there. Defensively, he is not able to offer the much needed balance, especially when there are the likes of Ronaldo and Bruno on the pitch. Their positions further up the pitch are such that this team could not allow another central midfielder to have low impact on defensive contribution.

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