Ten Hag, who is about to sign a new contract with Manchester United, led the team to the worst record in the history of countless teams last season, finishing 8th in the league is also the lowest place for the Red Devils in the Premier League era, if it is not for the final game to beat Manchester City to win the FA Cup, the season four are empty in Europe This unbroken result will inevitably make the Dutchman the first manager to be sacked after Rajue took over the team's competitive operations, and the latter has repeatedly stressed on many different occasions that his Manchester United is on the right path. But how did they lose away from home to Newcastle in the League Cup final in the past?
Manchester United, which is stable in the league but difficult to resist strong opponents
Soon after the start of the 23/24 season, Manchester United coach Ten Hag's days cannot be said to be the saddest one in the entire league, but the Dutchman can definitely squeeze into the top three of this list, after losing to Newcastle, the British media also made a special statistic, with data to prove that compared with last year's Ten Hag's league results are still reasonable, after all, the total points are only 1 point less, and the number of wins is 1 more than 1 game after 14 rounds a year ago;
Manchester United, who spent 400 million in the transfer market, did not have a draw after 14 rounds, ranked 7th in the Premier League with 8 wins and 6 losses and 24 points, and the Red Devils ranked 5th in the Premier League with 7 wins, 4 draws and 3 losses and 25 points after 14 rounds in the same period last year, and finally finished third at the end of the season, and also ended the team's championship drought with a League Cup title, goal difference, Manchester United scored 20 goals and conceded 19 goals after 14 rounds in the same period last year, and the goal difference was 1, and the season is currently scoring 16 goals and conceding 17 goals, with a goal difference of -1;
Not only are the results similar, but since entering the Theatre of Dreams, Ten Hag's Manchester United has also been "unusually consistent" against strong teams, but unlike the previous year, when they were able to beat the Gunners at home to Manchester City, two league title contenders, this season, whether home or away, the Red Devils have lost to all the teams higher than themselves: 1:3 Arsenal, 0:3 Manchester City, 0:1 Newcastle, 0:2 Tottenham.
Another statistic depicts Manchester United's attributes of being stable and difficult to resist strong opponents more vividly and exquisitely, 8-6, scoring 16 goals and conceding 17 goals The Red Devils, who are ranked 7th in the Premier League, have performed well in the face of middle and lower teams, and in the "small league" list composed of the bottom ten teams, Manchester United is 7 points "far ahead" of the second place at the top of the list, scoring 12 goals and conceding 4 goals to only lose to Crystal Palace;
On the other side, when they formed another 'mini-league' with the top 10 in the table, Ten Hag's side were bottom of the table with just three points from one win and five defeats, and it was only through substitute Wheat's stoppage-time brace against Brentford that they only got that victory.
Playing against strong teams and hitting the bottom of the table against the bottom of the table, although it can ensure that Manchester United does not lose the points they deserve, but for a giant club with the most glorious history of the Premier League era, such a status quo is obviously unsatisfactory, after the 0-1 defeat to Newcastle, Manchester United has been almost 2 years (since October 2021), and has not won a single away game against the top eight teams in the Premier League table, the last time the Red Devils beat the top eight teams in the Premier League away from home, Back on 31 October 2021 (Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's Manchester United beat Tottenham 3-0 away);
With this victory, Newcastle also wrote a number of new records in the history of both teams: it was the first time since 1922 that the Magpies had won three consecutive games against Manchester United, the first time they had won two consecutive top-flight games against Manchester United since 1972, the first time in 126 years that they had not conceded three league games in a row, Anthony Gordon's goal also broke United's record of 334 minutes without conceding a goal since facing Manchester City in October, and Manchester United have not won a draw in 21 consecutive top-flight games. This equalled the club's all-time record held between September 1893 and March 1894.
If the data of only 1 shot on target in the whole game does not show that the performance of the whole Manchester United team in this game is bad, then Newcastle has Pope in the case of minus 3 degrees, perhaps a person who has nothing to do at the back for too long and has not moved, resulting in a shoulder injury in a save in the 83rd minute of the game, and the fact that he was replaced by Dubravka can show how inefficient the performance of the Red Devils' attacking players is;
The home team had as many as 22 shots on goal, if it wasn't for the opportunity and bad luck in front of the goal, maybe Onana would never have picked up the ball from the net only once, in the 3rd minute of the game, Newcastle used the right side of Rashford and Wan-Bissaka to tear the gap in the Manchester United defense, and the teenager Livramento even had about 3 seconds to aim at the cross of his teammates in the penalty area, and 4 minutes later switched to the left side of Diolot and Garnacho, Newcastle can still easily complete the side two and three, Almiron used the same time of about 3 seconds to pass the ball into the penalty area, and it can be seen from the opening two wing attacks that the home team is far more able to score in attack than the away team, whether it is in the counter-attack phase or positional battle;
On the other hand, on the side of Manchester United, after being placed on the right side, Rashford not only lost his previous sharpness on the left side in the offensive end, but also could not give any help to Wan-Bissaka behind him at the defensive end, he hesitated to dribble in an attack in the 4th minute and was cut off by Newcastle players neatly, which also became a microcosm of England's poor performance in this game;
In the whole game, except for Maguire, who was reused by Ten Hag, and Luke Shaw, who played as a guest central defender, the whole Manchester United team was almost in a sleepwalking state, and in the 9th minute, Dalot, who played on the left side, made a mistake in clearing the siege, and the Portuguese, who made a mistake in communication with Onana, almost made an own goal, but fortunately he cleared the ball in time in his second reaction;
Compared with Rashford, who has no presence on the right, Garnacho on the left has some contribution at least in the first 15 minutes of the game, and the one-on-one heads-up with the 33-year-old Kieran Trippier allowed the Argentine to play with his advantages in speed, explosiveness and dexterity, but this situation was quickly suppressed by Newcastle's wave of attacks, and the Argentine youngster, who could not get more support from his teammates, soon calmed down;
From the 17th minute to the end of the half, Newcastle were able to launch an attack that threatened the Red Devils' goal every less than 5 minutes, and the facts proved that it was only a matter of time before the home team scored in such a situation, and in the 10th minute after the half-time break, Luke Shaw's ball at the back was broken, Kieran Pierre counterattacked and assisted Gordon to outflank the goal, and Newcastle finally scored a late goal after nearly an hour of bombardment;
Manchester United still sent the teenager Mainou as the starting line-up in the midfield, and he was partnered with McTominay, who was almost sold by the team at the beginning of the season, the leading scorer of the Scottish national team in the European qualifiers, because of the stoppage time brace against the Bees, completely saved his Red Devils career, but the similar situation did not appear in "waste wood" such as Martial van de Beek, but the teenager Mainou is only 18 years old after all, and he lacks major tournament experience when he plays against opponents like Newcastle, It is easy to make amateur mistakes that are taken away from the midfield position by the opponent, similar mistakes in the previous Champions League games, Manchester United appeared more than once, and finally buried a good game of 2 goals lead, can beat Mbappe-led Paris at home, Newcastle naturally have the ability to easily handle the attacking side of Manchester United in St James, Trippier also successfully took advantage of Luke Shaw and Garnacho's connection error, assisted Gordon to open the door to victory for the team.
After the deadlock was broken, Ten Hag began his own substitutions, bringing on Hojlen and Antony for Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford, who were beaten back to the defensive by himself in the first half, but such changes did not work in the face of Newcastle's tidal attack, and after the game was about to enter injury time, United had some shots that looked like they could really warm up the home team's substitute goalkeeper Dubravka;
In the 89th minute, taking advantage of the previous corner kick opportunity, the Red Devils continued to besiege the Newcastle goal, Antony's close-range shot was ruled invalid due to Maguire's offside, the Brazilian finally sent the ball into the net to end his goal drought, but in the end failed to achieve the desire to help the team retreat from the away side, although the Newcastle players will not be particularly satisfied with the 1:0 result, but this real three points have actually been in their pockets since the beginning of the game, Manchester United don't even want to take it away.
After losing 1-0 away to Newcastle, Manchester United have lost six of their 14 Premier League games so far this season, which is the most in Manchester United's history in the same period in the top flight since the 86/87 season, when they lost seven of their first 14 rounds, and what is even more frightening than the defeat is the poor statistic that United only had eight shots on goal in 90 minutes, only one on target, and under Ten Hag, Manchester United only had two Premier League games with fewer than two shots on target. Coincidentally, these two times were against Newcastle:
Away to Newcastle on April 2, Manchester United had one shot on target;
Away to Newcastle on 2 December, United had one shot on target.
As Newcastle captain Kieran Trippier, who provided a beautiful assist for Gordon in this game, he topped the team in many statistics this game:
Touches – 113;
Offensive third passes – 36;
Cross – 9;
Creating opportunities – 6;
Clearance - 4;
Successes - 3;
Assisting—1;
In stark contrast, after the home team bombarded the whole game, only Luke Shaw of Manchester United's defenders was higher than 7 percent (92.9%) in passing data, unable to hand over the ball intercepted by tackles to teammates, which also caused Manchester United to be beaten passively for a long time throughout the game (Maguire, Dalot, Aaron Wan-Bissaka all had a pass success rate of 60%+), but the personnel and tactical arrangements in the midfield position, as well as the game attitude and state of the attacking players in the front, It is also an important reason for the poor performance of Manchester United's whole team in this game.
Even more unacceptable to supporters than the defeat was the attitude of the players
Manchester United lost 0:1 to Newcastle in the Premier League, a Manchester United fan recorded Rashford's poor performance in this game on Twitter, and in this picture posted after the first half, it recorded Rashford's wrong performance in various periods of the first half, such as no chasing back in the 3rd minute, jogging in the 14th minute and not grabbing the ball, not chasing back in the 17th minute, walking in the 26th minute, etc., with 11 records in the first half alone;
After Rashford was substituted in the second half, the fan posted another picture, Rashford made 7 more mistakes, including fouling Livramento in 52 minutes, Livramento in 53 minutes, poor body language in 56 minutes, etc.;
Throughout the game, the fan recorded a total of 18 problems with Rashford in the game, and after Rashford went off the pitch, the fan also wrote, "Rashford has been replaced, this guy's £350,000 weekly salary is really incomprehensible." ”
Manchester United legend Roy Keane said bluntly that Anthony Martial was not enough to play in the Premier League: "We mentioned Anthony Martial, his first few touches last night...... We forgive Anthony Martial because he only scores a goal every 14 years, I forgive the player, but let me tell you, when Newcastle press high we pass the ball to you and you'd better keep that ball and give us a little breathing space on the pitch; He just touched the ball and it was easy to get it back, you can go to the lower leagues and play like that, a couple of years ago Manchester United were trying to get rid of him and put a defensive mindset in the whole team, now they look like a bunch of strangers, even though they played well against the weaker teams, but this year they have also won against the weaker teams, and you judge them based on their performances in key games, including the Champions League campaign against Newcastle, which is the responsibility of the Manchester United players. If you can't play against other top teams, then you're not [a player] and that's what we judge. ”
Speaking after the win over Manchester United, Newcastle boss Eddie Howe highlighted both full-backs but said a good midfield would allow them to push higher, saying: "If he's out for a while, it's a huge blow for us. It doesn't seem like a big deal, but usually the more it happens, the more serious it is. You can see he's in pain, it looks like he dislocated his shoulder while making a save, Dubravka also had a tricky situation with 10 minutes left, the lead was slim, it's not good for the goalkeeper, so I have to commend him, he did well; ”
'I'm very happy with the players tonight. We played really well against three top teams and that will give us confidence that when some of our players come back we can push further and I have no worries, we gave them a good rest and had a good time between Paris and this game to get them physically ready for tonight. Of course, there are a lot of signs of risk for all, when you have to throw them into another game so quickly; ”
'What worries me is what we will do after conceding so late in Paris, after that we feel sorry for ourselves easily, but we rolled up our sleeves and played well again tonight, Kieran Trippier and Livramento are both very smart players, they are very creative, Kieran Trippier has been playing like this for many, many years and has the ability to stop and hold the ball, Livramento was a little different today and the running on the flanks caused a lot of problems for the opponent;"
'It's always been a cat-and-mouse game between the wingers and the full-backs because you want to be on the pitch and I think it's a credit to our midfielders because it takes them to play well to push the full-backs higher and I have to give credit to the three of us, especially Lewis Miley for the performance and control today.
As one of only two players in the game to pass the game, Manchester United centre-back Harry Maguire said in an interview with the media that three away games in six days were very difficult for the team, "It was a tough week, three away games in six days, to be fair, in the first half we looked like the team that was the third away game in six days, the rhythm was not there, the intensity was not there, they played much better than us, we gradually adapted to the game, but in the end we didn't try enough, we put pressure and we could have scored. But our goal was disallowed and we didn't create enough chances in the game and didn't threaten enough; ”
'Marcus had an unbelievable season last season, this season he wasn't ideal, he's trying to get back into shape, everyone in the dressing room knows what he's capable of, it's not a good stat, we know it's a good opportunity to prove ourselves, we also know the intensity of their game, we don't do enough, we're going to try to get the three points in the next games, we've kept a lot of clean sheets in the Premier League, we've conceded some goals in the Champions LeagueIt's a disappointment for the team, we have a lot of good defenders in the squad. ”
Speaking after the game, manager Erik ten Hag said the defeat would be discussed with the team after the game and we had some chances to score, 'I've been waiting for this problem, so we always have problems, I know it's your job, we have the form to play at home and we have to play away, we have this problem and we have to overcome it, it's a fact, Garnacho could have had a chance to score when the game started, but Newcastle were better and more proactive than us. We had to drop back and we acted but they scored a goal and then we counter-attacked, there were two good chances, but we didn't even get a point; ”
'It's not about Anthony Martial, it's about the team as a whole, you try to motivate the team and get a reaction from them, and at this moment, you know we've been through a tough period, so it's normal to be more aggressive when you're in charge;'
'If you lose, you're always going to be unhappy, you talk to the team and talk about why it's happening, I'm sure this team is resilient, we have to pick ourselves up, this team has experience, we have to be ready for next Wednesday's game, don't think too much about this game, I know it's going to be a problem, but Rashford has given a lot and we support him and he'll get back to fit;'
'I'll discuss the reasons with the team but we have to do better and as I said, I'm sure they'll accept that, I'm sure we're resilient, they have that quality, in the previous games against Everton and Galatasaray I saw that we had good performances, you always want to play perfectly in every game you play, we have so many games in a short period of time and you may not be doing well and now we have to start again.'
Write at the end
According to well-known journalist Romano, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Forward Eagle coach Rene Haq are expected to become new members of Ten Hag's coaching staff, the Italian pointed out that Manchester United plans to include Forward Eagles coach Rene Haque into the coaching staff next season, and he is expected to become a new member of Ten Hag's coaching staff with Ruud van Nistelrooy, and the club will complete a contract extension with the Dutchman, Rene Haque will take over the Dutch club Forward Eagles in 2022, leading the team to a record of 28 wins, 20 draws and 28 losses, Previously, he coached clubs such as FC Twente and Utrecht.