Gary Neville has praised Newcastle United after their battling performance against Manchester United on Sunday afternoon.
The Magpies headed to Old Trafford with genuine hope of a positive result.
Big wins over Fulham and Brentford had given Newcastle real momentum and Eddie Howe’s men are becoming a real threat in the PremieR League.
The game ended in a 0-0 draw but it could have been very different for both sides.
Gary Neville has praised Newcastle United
Newcastle will rue a golden chance when Joelinton hit the woodwork not once but twice in the same attack.
United did put pressure on the Newcastle goal but just couldn’t break through with Marcus Rashford heading a golden chance wide in injury time.
Newcastle deserved their point though and continued their impressive start to the season from a defensive perspective.
Newcastle have conceded just nine goals in 10 Premier League games this season with no other team still in single figures.
The Magpies have placed a keen focus on bolstering their back line ever since their takeover last year.
Nick Pope, Kieran Trippier, Sven Botman, Dan Burn and Matt Targett have all arrived, effectively giving Eddie Howe a whole new back line if he wanted to field them all.
This recruitment has certainly helped Newcastle and teams are now finding it very difficult to break them down.
Gary Neville of course has Manchester United close to his heart but he did offer some praise for Newcastle after Sunday’s 0-0 draw.
Neville has told the Gary Neville Podcast that he felt Newcastle deserved to be ahead in the first half and were a real threat from Kieran Trippier’s set pieces.
Neville added that Newcastle ‘did really well’ against a United side that really missed Christian Eriksen, offering decent praise for the Magpies as they left with a deserved point.
“I watched the first half and I thought, from set pieces in particular, Newcastle could easily have looked like scoring,” said Neville. “They hit the post, I think it was Joelinton. Newcastle definitely deserved something in that first half, deserved to be in front.”
“I didn’t see all of the second half but it didn’t feel like a good performance from United. Eriksen didn’t play and it looked like they missed him, he’s been a big player and when he doesn’t play you maybe realise how big of a player he is because he connects and glues the team together.”
“I’ll be handing over to people who know better, who were at the game and I’ll be speaking to them later but that’s how it looked to me and Newcastle, I thought, did really well,” he added.
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