Manchester United 3 Newcastle United 2 – Shocking VAR decision denies NUFC

Manchester United 3 Newcastle United 2 – Wednesday, May 15, 8 p.m

A first half of wasted chances, poor refereeing and the kind of inept Trippier defending that saw Casemiro jeered at Selhurst Park last week meant we went in with a goal scored by Mainoo.

From a game point of view, we should have been at least level. Gordon had his Achilles scraped in the penalty area by Amrabat, but of course the VAR ruled it was not a clear and obvious referee error.

Four minutes of United pressing immediately after half-time partly rectified that mistake as Gordon slammed home Murphy’s perfect cross.

Three minutes later we wasted a three-on-one when Isak took too long to score, his left-footed effort deflected over the bar. He clearly wasn’t 100% tonight.

How many more chances do we have to prove our superiority? Not enough, as a weak header from Murphy from a weak corner fell straight to Diallo, who restored the lead.

That was the signal to bring on Schar, Joelinton and Almiron, with 28 of the 90 minutes remaining. More chances came and went in a crazy second half.

Longstaff and Big Joe were denied by Onana on 65 minutes. Almiron was inches away from tapping in a Gordon cross on the 72nd.

Barnes replaced Longstaff five minutes later as Howe went to the crease. The referee allowed more time to waste and the game was dying out.

Three home substitutions lasted two minutes and one substitute got the kick. Hojlund beat Burn and Hall, who had both been playing well, before beating our second-choice keeper from the edge of the box.

Joelinton had two late and half-times that came up short and we finished the night behind Chelsea in the table, despite a 92nd minute shout from Hall to give the final score some respectability.

Special mention to Gordon who was kicked from start to finish and kept coming back for more.

Stats via BBC Sport:

Manchester United 3 Newcastle United 2 – Wednesday, May 15, 8 p.m

Objectives:

Newcastle United:

Gordon 49, Hall 90+2

Man U:

Mainoo 31, Amad 57, Hojlund 84

(Halftime statistics in parentheses)

Holding was Man U 45% Newcastle 55%

Total hits it was Man U 17 Newcastle 21

Shots on target they were Man U 8 Newcastle 8

Corners they were Man U 9 Newcastle 9

Referee: Robert Jones

Newcastle United team:

Dubravka, Trippier (Schar 63), Krafth, Burn, Hall, Longstaff (Barnes 77), Bruno, Anderson (Joelinton 62), J Murphy (Almiron 62), Gordon, Isak

Unused substitutions:

Pope, Dummett, Ritchie, White, A Murphy

Newcastle United fixtures are now confirmed for the rest of the season:

Sunday 19 May 2024 – Brentford v Newcastle (4pm)

(Live TV matches on the last day of the season will be selected closer to the day, but all 10 PL matches will be played at the same time on the same day)

Wednesday 22 May 2024 – Tottenham v Newcastle (at MCG – Melbourne Cricket Ground)

Friday 24 May 2024 – A-League All Stars v Newcastle (at Marvel Stadium, Melbourne)