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Newcastle United toyed with Manchester United’s ageing midfield duo of Casemiro and Christian Eriksen.
Premier League: Newcastle United beat Manchester United (AP)
Gary Neville reckons a poor performance by the midfielders led to Manchester United suffering a humiliating defeat to Newcastle United in the last Premier League outing on Tuesday, December 31. Alexander Isak broke the deadlock for the Magpies early in the first half. Newcastle toyed with United’s ageing midfield duo of Casemiro and Christian Eriksen before Lewis Hall sent an aerial pass to Isak, who slotted it home with a perfect header. Only 15 minutes later, Newcastle again scored from a cross delivered by Anthony Gordon and Joelinton converted it with much composure.
Casemiro and Eriksen were caught napping during the buildup of the second goal as well. Gary Neville, on commentary duty for the Premier League clash, minced no words while dissecting the performance of the veteran midfielders.
After Newcastle’s first goal, the Manchester United legend shared that he always had “concerns” whenever Casemiro and Eriksen started together in the middle of the park. “They have not got the legs to get around,” he said, as quoted by the Express.
When the Red Devils were trailing by two goals, Neville once again lashed out at the midfield duo, saying, “You mentioned their age before, they should not be playing together in the Premier League. A little one-two around Eriksen and it’s just so easy for Newcastle. The two central midfielders have got no legs.”
Neville was quite irked by Ruben Amorim’s line-upsetfor the home game. While Rasmus Hojlund was playing as a striker, Joshua Zirkzee was operating as an inside forward behind him. Meanwhile, in the defence, Matthijs de Ligt was serving as a right-sided centre-half and the decision didn’t go down well with Neville as well.
“The wing-backs aren’t strong in the attacking quadrant of the pitch. There’sno balance with Hojlund and Zirkzee up front. You’ve only really got Amad Diallo, who can do something for you. You’re relying on one person. This team will need changing at half-time, and in the short-to-medium-term, it will need changing en masse,” Neville explained.
Amorim made a few changes in the second half. Zirkzee was subbed off, with Kobbie Mainoo replacing him up front. United failed to alter the scoreline as the match ended 2-0 in Newcastle United’s favour.
