Forget Rashford and Martial, one man needs to be blamed for Man Utd loss v Newcastle

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Manchester United were defeated 1-0 by Edde Howe’s Newcastle side, in what was a rather spineless performance.

An Anthony Gordon strike was enough to separate the two sides, but in regards to performance – the two clubs were worlds apart.

Marcus Rashford was off his game again, Scott McTominay went missing and, in general, Manchester United’s first-team squad let themselves down in front of the travelling fans.

Despite the poor player’s performances – we can’t help to think that Erik ten Hag needs to take the blame for this one.

Erik ten Hag’s questionable starting XI

After Galatasaray in midweek, it was clear the squad would need a little tweaking – but Ten Hag got it all wrong against Newcastle.

We’ll give him credit in the pick of Luke Shaw and Harry Maguire at centre-back, they were ‘absolutely brilliant‘. But there were some questionable shouts elsewhere.

Anthony Martial‘s involvement from the off was a seriously strange one. Rasmus Hojlund started the game midweek and came off early – indicating he would be fine to feature on Tyneside.

However, this wasn’t the case and Martial played… and once again did absolutely nothing. He provides no focal point for United and was a huge part of the fact the Red Devils were simply starved in attack.

Another part of United’s attack that Ten Hag changed was bringing back Rashford on the right – which proved a ludicrous move.

One of United’s better players in midweek was Antony, who looked competent in his most favoured position. Yet, Ten Hag decided to play an out-of-form Rashford in a position he doesn’t enjoy playing in instead.

Another questionable pick was Diogo Dalot at left-back. One of the positive things we saw against Galatasaray and Everton was having full-backs playing on their stronger side helped immensely in both attack and defence.

Playing Dalot at left-back meant this defensive synergy was shattered once again, and led to some seriously questionable moments.

Erik ten Hag’s substitutes weren’t much better

Manchester United were dominated in the opening 45 minutes.

It was evident that something needed to change, albeit through substitution or tactically – Ten Hag seemingly changed nothing.

It wasn’t until the 61st minute that a double change was initiated for, you guessed it, Martial and Rashford. They were replaced by Antony and Hojlund – the two players who evidently should have been starting the fixture.

The tides did sway slightly with the outlet of Hojlund up front, nevertheless, as we know it still wasn’t good enough – and United began the Christmas period with defeat.

Erik ten Hag to blame

Say what you want about player performances, but the tactics and managerial decisions have got to fall solely on Erik ten Hag in this one.

United were outclassed and a lot of that was down to the shape of the side and how they lined up. Ten Hag was fully in control of this and let Newcastle dictate the game for far too long.

We still trust in Ten Hag greatly and think he’s the right man at the helm – but this defeat was a lapse of judgement from the Dutchman, which we hope he rectifies going forward.