Man Utd Player Ratings As Amad And Mainoo Shine Brightest
Manchester United sign off from Old Trafford for the season with a vital win to keep their hopes of European football alive.
How the game unfolded
Manchester United kept their European hopes alive with a 3-2 victory over Newcastle United in their final home game of the season on Wednesday.
Amad Diallo scored his first Premier League goal to put the hosts 2-1 up in the second half, before Rasmus Hojlund came off the bench to wrap up the points.
Kobbie Mainoo had earlier netted the opener just after the half-hour mark, though the Red Devils were pegged back early in the second half through Anthony Gordon.
Newcastle Lewis Hall took advantage of some slack defending in stoppage time to set up a nervy finish, but the hosts held strong to see out the win.
Erik ten Hag’s side remain in eighth but are now level on points with Newcastle, who have a superior goal difference. Chelsea’s win at Brighton means the Magpies drop to seventh.
Newcastle soon came under pressure as Martin Dubravka made a routine save to deny Scott McTominay before pushing away Diallo’s curler.
Mainoo then found the opening, latching onto Diallo’s throughball before picking out the bottom-left corner with his composed finish.
The Magpies responded well, and Dan Burn’s towering header was inches away from pulling them level, but Casemiro brilliantly cleared on the line.Newcastle were rewarded for a bright start to the second half as Gordon met Jacob Murphy’s cross to fire an equaliser past Andre Onana in the 49th minute.
Less than 10 minutes later, though, Eddie Howe’s side were behind once more – Diallo latched onto a poor clearance to rifle a powerful strike past Dubravka from the edge of the box.
The hosts were indebted to Onana as he then made two big saves, smothering Sean Longstaff one-on-one and stretching to tip Joelinton’s shot over the bar.
Anthony Gordon almost levelled for a second time when his fizzed shot threatened to sneak in at the far post, but Miguel Almiron could not get the vital touch to take it over the line.
Hojlund then came off the bench and with his first touch of the ball, he held off Burn to slot a low shot through Hall’s legs and into the bottom-left corner.
In the 92nd minute, Hall gave Newcastle late hope after latching onto a loose clearance and firing in a brilliant strike from distance, but they were unable to find a second.
All three of United’s goalscorers were aged 21 or younger, with Hojlund scoring just 106 seconds after coming off the bench.
Here’s how the Manchester United players were rated.
Manchester United player ratings
GK: Andre Onana – 6/10 – Made saves – including an excellent one – but his passing was a little sloppy at times and put pressure on his team.
RB: Aaron Wan-Bissaka – 5/10 -A mistake in possession risked gifting Newcastle a go-ahead goal at 1-1 until Amrabat spared his blushes.
CB: Casemiro – 7/10 – All-action at the heart of the defence after much recent criticism. Made a few big interventions and brushed himself off after an awkward fall. Not perfect but much, much better.
CB: Jonny Evans – 6/10 – Careful with the ball and had no problem repelling aerial threats.
LB: Diogo Dalot – 6/10 – Made sure to get forward in support of the attack.
CM: Sofyan Amrabat – 7/10 – Kept his starting place from the weekend but there’s a chance this was his last Old Trafford game as his loan nears its conclusion.
At fault in the equaliser build-up but then stopped Newcastle going ahead with an incredible block almost straight after. Mixed.
CM: Kobbie Mainoo – 8/10 – Regularly getting his head up and driving forward to link defence with attack. Got himself into the box too and was rewarded with a well-taken goal. It’s a good thing he finished it off, through, because it looked as though he assumed he was offside.
RM: Amad Diallo – 8/10 – Forced the first meaningful save of the match out of Dubravka and later thumped a beauty of a strike past the Newcastle goalkeeper. Assisted the opener too.
AM: Scott McTominay – 6/10 – Operated really far forward to both support Fernandes and provide a focal point when the skipper went searching for the ball.
LM: Alejandro Garnacho – 6/10 – Limited involvement. Has played a lot better this season.
ST: Bruno Fernandes (c) – 8/10 – Lined up in an unorthodox ‘false nine’ position but actyally drifted all over the pitch to try and influence play. Set up the third for Hojlund.
Substitutes
SUB: Lisandro Martinez (83′ for Mainoo) – 6/10
SUB: Marcus Rashford (83′ for Garnacho) – 6/10SUB: Rasmus Hojlund (83′ for Amad) – 7/10
Subs not used: Altay Bayindir (GK), Lisandro Martinez, Willy Kambwala, Christian Eriksen, Toby Collyer, Antony, Omari Forson.
