MANCHESTER: It was dull, dour and dreary at Old Trafford — but just what the doctor ordered for Newcastle United.
This was billed as one of the more watchable Premier League encounters on a busy Sunday, pitching 5th against 6th, with two of the form outfits in the top flight doing battle.
It turned out to be no advert for football as Eddie Howe’s Magpies frustrated the life out of Manchester United in a 0-0 stalemate, restricting the home side to just speculative efforts and a smattering of late openings to dent the Red Devils’ top four ambitions, and strengthen their own European dreams.
Newcastle made just the one change from the side who strode to consecutive 4-1 and 5-1 victories against Fulham and Brentford, with Joelinton restored to the team in place of Joe Willock, who can count himself unlucky to miss out given his recent form.
Lively and end-to-end, the opening exchanges lived up to this game’s impressive billing as both sides looked to exploit opposition weaknesses down the flanks.
Fred saw one skew wide from the edge of the area before a contentious call at the other end left striker Callum Wilson perplexed and in a crumpled heap in the Old Trafford area.
Raphael Varane’s outstretched leg put the former Bournemouth man down but referee Craig Pawson was unmoved, somehow.
Newcastle kept their foot on the pedal and had three chances in quick succession to take the lead, all of which fell to their Brazilian midfield duet of Joelinton and Bruno Guimaraes. The former will be kicking himself how he didn’t make the most of a quickfire double chance.
When a Kieran Trippier free-kick was blocked by the Red Devils’ wall, Joelinton won a header when the ball was recycled, looping one off the bar. The rebound came right back to him and with the goal gaping, he nodded on to the post.
Despite not having scored from one yet this season, Newcastle’s set piece delivery has been second-to-none — and that rich vein kept flowing in the North West, as a Trippier corner set-piece was flicked on at the front post by Sven Botman, only for Bruno to miss the opportunity to turn home as it skidded across goal.
At the other end, Man United attacks were fleeting and infrequent as Newcastle kept the home side at arms length, largely.
Nick Pope did have to be on his toes to deny Antony on the break, but aside from that, Newcastle went in level at the break, but with a sense of a missed opportunity.
Another sluggish start to the second half saw Newcastle on top and within inches of netting an opener. This time Wilson worked an angle for himself in the area but his left-footed drive at goal went wide of David De Gea’s post.
Having been criticized in some quarters this season for his lack of goals and leadership, Cristiano Ronaldo did little to quieten that noise with a ineffective show, although he was clipped in the area by Trippier but again, having set the bar high when it came to contact in the area, Pawson wasn’t in the mood to blow for an infringement.
While Newcastle shaded the first 45, it was the hosts who could stake a claim to have done so in the second.
However, for all their possession — they limited the Magpies to nothing more than hit and hope balls forward — Erik ten Hag’s outfit found it tough to unlock the door.
They almost did after four minutes of five added when a deep, searching ball into the area found substitute Marcus Rashford, who, having ghosted away from Botman, headed wide from six yards.
Another point to add to the 14 others picked up in the opening 10 games, making it five games unbeaten in the top flight.
While things are very tight in the Premier League, with just five games to the split for the World Cup, Newcastle find themselves sixth in the table — and if you’d offered that to any fan at the start of the season, they’d definitely have taken it.
Momentum very much feels like it is with Newcastle at this moment, and Howe will hope his side carry on their impressive performances in just three days when resurgent Everton, under Frank Lampard, come to Tyneside.
To do so, however, they’ll have to rekindle some of that Fulham and Brentford fluency, although adding a defensively solid and resolute facet to their game is far from unwelcomed. A point tinged with some disappointment it wasn’t three, shows just how far this Newcastle side have come, in such a short space of time.
