Newcastle United take-on Manchester United on Saturday evening. Here are three tactical tweaks that could allow them to sneak an unexpected victory.
There’s no doubt that Rafa Benitez would love to get one over on old rival José Mourinho when the pair go head-to-head on Saturday evening, but it’ll be a tough nut to crack.
Newcastle United have won just once at Old Trafford since 1973, and that was against a David Moyes-led Manchester United so doesn’t really count.
A win against a Mourinho side would be a true scalp indeed. But even though United aren’t in the best of form, they doing better than their north-eastern rivals and sit 9 points above them in the Premier League table.
So how could Newcastle upset the odds? Well…
Sit deep and break with pace
It’s probably an obvious thing, but Newcastle must absolutely not open up and attack United.
Despite the temptation to press the United defence and try to catch them unawares, it’s crucial that the Magpies don’t leave any space in behind their defence because that is exactly how United have sliced and diced their way to 23 Premier League goals.
Manchester United’s devastating late game flurries have all come as a result of their opponents opening up late in games as they chased an equaliser. Mourinho’s men took advantage of that fact to pulverise them.
If Newcastle want a result, even if they fall down one goal, they cannot expose themselves by rushing forward.
Man-mark Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial
With Paul Pogba absent, United no longer have a dominant midfield playmaker (Mikel Merino will be the best one on the park and he’ll be in black & white). The absence of Pogba has also seriously impacted the form of Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who now looks bereft of ideas and influence.
That means all of United’s creativity now flows through the double act of Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial in left-wing. This presents Newcastle with a great chance to shut down the Red Devils by simply man-marking those dynamic players. José Mourinho only ever plays one at a time, so it’s not a massive difficult task.
Keep it on the deck
The last tweak Newcastle should do is to keep the ball on the deck. The Magpies are fond of launching crosses into the air, having sent in 203 crosses in this seasons. And sure, it’s an easy solution to just send crosses in when up against it and hope that Manchester United’s defence will break or slip.
But of all the 117 chances that the Red Devils have conceded this season, only 19 have come from headed opportunities and only 2 of those have ended up as goals. It’s far easier to get chances against Manchester United by playing the ball on the ground without playing to the strengths of Chris Smalling and Eric Bailly.
Should Newcastle keep it on the deck, they’ll stand a much better chance of pulling off a huge upset.
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