Newcastle United used to bring out a DVD to celebrate victories like this over Manchester United, now they just laugh and mock how bad their old nemesis has become.
That is because Newcastle are a much better team than Manchester United. It is that simple. Stronger in every department, better led, better coached and far too good to be worried by them. This was all the evidence you needed.
There was a time when Manchester United enjoyed their trips to St James’ Park, silencing the crowd, outplaying their hosts and crushing Newcastle’s spirit with their power, pace and skill
That was then, this is now. While Man Utd are a club living in the past, Newcastle are thriving in the present.
Under Eddie Howe, few teams have done more to shatter those old illusions of grandeur than Newcastle and this was a rout; a fresh low for the visitors.
They outclassed Ruben Amorim’s side and by the end, were toying with them, while the home crowd – still stung by those painful memories of the past – bayed for blood. Times have changed and none of them reflect well on the red men from Manchester.
There was a pre-match tribute to Kevin Keegan from the home fans, a flag display to celebrate a man who did so much to transform the club, first as a player in the 80s and then as a manager in the 90s.
But as good as his Newcastle team were, as fun as they were to watch, they very rarely got the better of Manchester United. When they won 5-0 at St James’ Park in 1996, the release of a DVD to commemorate the occasion was a bit of fun, but the Manchester team shrugged off the result and kept on winning silverware.
Nobody will be shrugging after this. Amorim, predictably spoke about needing to rotate and rest players ahead of Thursday night’s Europa League clash with Lyon, a win-or-bust fixture for the Portuguese in his first season.
He said he “did not care about criticism” of the performance because the pain of the defeat was all that mattered, but that does not do enough to excuse his team being this woeful again.
The lack of quality was there, but so too was a lack of resilience and fight. It is hard to identify what improvements he has overseen since he arrived back in November. He inherited a mess and will be given more time to clear it up, but a rotten stench lingers at Old Trafford and he does not have any air freshener.
Man Utd have lost 14 games in the league, are entrenched in the bottom half of the table and very little seems to have improved since he replaced Erik ten Hag, either in terms of individual players he is coaching or as a collective.
As for Newcastle, they have been improving for more than three years under Howe and if Keegan came close to glory, at least daring the club to dream again, Howe’s side should be regarded as a superior manifestation of the team he tried to be.
Not only have they won the Carabao Cup this season, ending a 70-year wait for a domestic trophy, Howe’s vintage are closing in on Champions League qualification for the second time in three years.
Newcastle have won 11 out of their past 16 games in all competitions, five on the spin and moved up to ...
