MANCHESTER, England — As Manchester United manager, Ruben Amorim has seen wins over Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea, but he might feel the one over Newcastle United on Boxing Day was the most satisfying of the lot.
Down to the bare bones because of injuries and international call-ups, Amorim’s makeshift team hung on for a narrow-yet-valuable 1-0 victory at Old Trafford.
It was sealed thanks to a stunning strike from Patrick Dorgu, the left-back starting as a right winger. Under immense pressure from Newcastle throughout the second half, the result was seen out by a defence consisting of Leny Yoro, Tyler Fredricson, Ayden Heaven and Tyrell Malacia.
The mixture of youngsters and outcasts helped Man United earn just a second clean sheet of the season, and for the first time since March 2022 United won a Premier League game without Bruno Fernandes.
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Amorim tweaked his tactical set-up to start with a back four for the first time since arriving from Sporting CP more than a year ago. It worked, particularly in the first half, but the Portuguese coach insisted afterwards that was most pleased with the desire and determination shown by his players in what was a difficult moment.
“I’m really pleased, especially in the second half,” said Amorim. “We suffer all together. You can say we defend well because we did not suffer a goal, but they had chances. You need luck sometimes.
“If we have always this spirit we are going to win so many games. I think it is something we need to feel. That we can win games with the spirit and togetherness.”
Amorim wrote in his programme notes ahead of kick-off there would be “no excuses” against Newcastle, but there’s no escaping the fact that he’s dealing with a growing list of problems.
Bryan Mbeumo, Amad Diallo and Noussair Mazraoui are away at AFCON. Fernandes is missing with a hamstring injury. The player identified by Amorim as his replacement, Kobbie Mainoo, is also injured. So too are senior centre-backs Matthijs de Ligt and Harry Maguire.
The problems didn’t end there. Mason Mount went off at half-time and was replaced by 18-year-old Jack Fletcher. And Lisandro Martínez, starting for a game for the first time since suffering a knee ligament injury in February, and Luke Shaw both had to be withdrawn before full-time. So too was Casemiro.
Malacia, frozen out over the summer, was thrown for his first appearance since January. Fredricson, who has spent most of the season with the Under-21s, was also pushed into the deep end.
Somehow, though, Man United survived.
Newcastle played their part and despite Senne Lammens facing 16 shots, the Belgian goalkeeper didn’t have to make too many saves. Only three efforts hit the target and full-back Lewis Hall came closest in the second half when he hit the crossbar.
It’s now just seven goals in nine away games and you can understand why Newcastle have only won once away from St James’ Park this season.
United managed to win with just 33% possession, their lowest in a league match ending in victory since beating Manchester City in January 2023.
“It’s a difficult one for us to work out,” said Newcastle manager Eddie Howe. “I thought there was a real opportunity to grab the game. Second half was much better but we didn’t create outstanding chances so we’re desperately disappointed.
“Away from home we haven’t done well enough in front of goal. You can make an argument that we should have got something out of it today, but we haven’t and that’s happened too many times on the road.”
While Howe continues his attempts to cure the travel sickness, Amorim’s United are quietly putting together a run of performances. Results haven’t always backed it up, but there have been positives from each of the last four games. Against Aston Villa last time out, they couldn’t find a way to win.
That’s exactly what they did manage to conjure against Newcastle — against the odds — and that will be of great comfort to Amorim as he tries to navigate the next month without many of his key players.
If nothing else, he’s perhaps learned that he can now lean more heavily on the likes of Dorgu, Heaven and the returning Martinez. Matheus Cunha has stepped up too in the absence of fellow summer signing Mbeumo.
This isn’t Amorim’s plan for United, just his plan for right now. And he can only hope that his depleted squad can maintain the challenge for the European places until Mbeumo, Amad, De Ligt and, most importantly, Fernandes are ready to make their comebacks.
Without them United moved up to fifth in the table to hint again that Champions League football is on offer if they can find the consistency to take the opportunity.
If they show the same fight for the rest of the season, it’s possible.
