Manchester United 4-1 Newcastle United: Player Ratings

Manchester United returned to winning ways in the Premier League, with an emphatic 4-1 victory against Newcastle United at Old Trafford.

Newcastle took a shock lead when Dwight Gayle opened the scoring with a finish, in off the post, early in the first half. However, United would restore the game to normal proceedings scoring through two headers from Anthony Martial and Chris Smalling.

In the second half, they then comfortably sealed the three points through goals from Paul Pogba, who made a sensational return from injury, and Romelu Lukaku, who ended a worrying goal-drought.

Here's a look at the player ratings from last night's game:

Manchester United

David de Gea – 7/10

The Spaniard has been in magnificent form, as usual, all season, but unfortunately, he could do nothing about Gayle’s finish that went in off the post. His afternoon was made easier as United comfortably turned the game around, and he remained solid as usual.

Antonio Valencia – 6/10

As usual, Valencia was important to United’s build up and he defended well, but his performance didn’t quite live up to the standard of his recent form.

Chris Smalling – 7/10

The Englishman showed the sort of performance that everyone has been expecting of him since his first move to United. He was commanding at the back and even got in and amongst the goals, scoring United’s second of the evening.

Victor Lindelof – 6/10

The Swede, unfortunately, slipped as Yedlin’s cross came in for Gayle’s goal, but otherwise, he did very little wrong for the 90 minutes. He looked to be quite nervous at times, but this performance should calm his nerves slightly as United dominated.

Ashley Young – 8/10

On the overlap, Young was finding it difficult to deal with Yedlin’s pace, but his delivery for Smalling’s goal more than made up for his weaker defensive contribution, as that cross helped give United the lead. He continued to threaten all afternoon too, putting in some fantastic deliveries.

Paul Pogba – 9/10

Coming back into the line-up after a long spell on the sidelines, the Frenchman was expected to inspire a United side struggling for creativity, and he did just that. His chipped cross set his compatriot Martial up perfectly for the United equaliser, before he then scored and rounded off an excellent return to the line-up.

Nemanja Matic – 5/10

Matic has been largely impressive for United this season after his move from Chelsea, but he replicated his poor performances from last season against Newcastle, often going missing. Most notably in the build-up for Newcastle’s opener, the Serbian could have stopped the cross with some more awareness. United went on to win the game but it wasn’t a very good individual performance from Matic.

Marcus Rashford – 8/10

Rashford looked rather wasteful and disappointing in the first half, but he came alive in the second half, putting in some dangerous deliveries and assisting Pogba with an intelligently cushioned header.

Juan Mata – 6/10

Mata still has magical feet and boasted his technical ability often waltzing round Newcastle players, but the Spaniard was not creative enough in the number 10 role, failing to make any key passes.

Anthony Martial – 8/10

It looked like Martial had once again failed to capitalise on Mourinho’s decision to start him as he was dispossessed on a number of occasions in the first half. However, his header in the 37th minute was instrumental in United turning the match around and he got better as the game went on.

Romelu Lukaku – 8/10

Without a goal in four games, Lukaku looked short of confidence and fired over the bar from close range early when he might have scored earlier in the season. However, he was crucial in the build-up to United’s third, chipping the ball to Rashford, and even got his own name on the scoresheet as he smashed the ball high into the net from close range.

Also read: Twitter explodes as Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic return to sink Newcastle United

Substitutions:

Marouane Fellaini – 6/10

The Belgian came on with United in control and he continued to help the team control the midfield.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic – 6/10

On his return after a long spell on the sidelines, he received a massive round of applause upon his arrival on the pitch. The Swede got involved and created a couple of chances, but admittedly, it was too late in the game for him to have much of an impact.

Ander Herrera – N/A

Herrera played the last ten minutes of the game with victory completely sealed, making it hard for him to have much of an impact.

Newcastle United

Robert Elliot – 6/10

For both the headers, Elliot could do very little and it was similar for Pogba’s close-range finish. He was quick off his line on a number of occasions but it wasn’t enough to keep Newcastle from losing heavily.

DeAndre Yedlin – 8/10

The American showed tremendous speed down the right-hand side, before putting in a delicious cross for Gayle to give Newcastle a shock lead. Furthermore, the right-back dealt with Martial brilliantly for the most part, and was Newcastle’s best player all evening.

Ciaran Clark – 5/10

Clark looked to have started solidly clearing away lots of dangerous crosses at the near post and nullifying Lukaku up front. However, after the first goal went in, the floodgates opened, and he and his partner Lejuene could not deal with the opposition’s attack.

Florian Lejeune – 5/10

Newcastle fans will be delighted when Lascelles returns from injury to replace Lejuene at centre-back. His performance was not particularly bad, but it was always going to be a mismatch with him playing centre-back against a front three of Rashford, Lukaku and Martial.

Javi Manquillo – 5/10

Facing Rashford on his side, the Spaniard kept him out of the game for large periods and mainly forced him into short passes or wasteful long shots at goal in the first half. However, as he tired defensively, gaps appeared and the left-back began to find it very tough to cope with the United attack.

Matt Ritchie – 4/10

Ritchie tracked back well, but didn’t have the same impact Murphy did on the right-hand side, going forward. He was Newcastle’s first substitute, as he struggled to make an impact.

Isaac Hayden – 6/10

Hayden was booked for a rash tackle on Mata and looked to be walking a tightrope, but he dusted himself off and put in a strong shift. The going was arguably just too tough against a strong United midfield partnership.

Jonjo Shelvey – 7/10

Shelvey showed off his excellent passing range as he held his own against Pogba and Matic in the United midfield. As the game went on, he began to find it more difficult with Newcastle being on the back foot, but he can take pride in how he performed.

Jacob Murphy – 7/10

Murphy linked up extremely well with Yedlin throughout the first half and played an important role in Newcastle’s opener. As the game dragged on, Newcastle found it hard, but he still looked to be positive.

Joselu – 6/10

Joselu’s link up was very impressive in the first half, but the two United goals before half-time killed his momentum. United controlled the game and he didn’t see much of the ball for the second half before he was taken off.

Dwight Gayle – 6/10

Gayle was given an opportunity which he grabbed with both hands as he his excellent finish beat de Gea early in the game. However, he showed his limitations as the game went on and he struggled to have any sort of involvement.

Substitutions:

Rolando Aarons – 5/10

Aarons came on for the last 25 minutes of the game, but with Newcastle seeing so little of the ball, he found it extremely difficult to get into the game.

Aleksandar Mitrovic – N/A

Coming on for Joselu, Mitrovic found it hard to see any of the ball due to united’s control of the ball and the fact that the game was already over at 4-1.

Mohamed Diame – N/A

Diame played the final 15 minutes of the game and barely got involved, not due to any fault of his own, but more because of Man United’s sheer control of the match by that point.