Erik ten Hag: We couldn't match Newcastle's passion and desire
STATEMENT WIN: Newcastle United's Joe Willock (second right) celebrates scoring his side's first goal of the game with team-mates during the Premier League match at St. James' Park, Newcastle. Pic: PA
It's almost half a century since Newcastle finished above Manchester United but such is the shifting power balance at the top of the Premier League, it is another statistic that looks set to be flattened by the weight of Saudi Arabian financial muscle.
Old Trafford could well be the latest club to become a play-thing of one of the super-rich but morally bankrupt states vying for sports-washed legitimacy in that part of the world, but, crucially, the Geordies have an 18-month head start when it comes to taking the plunge in such an unholy marriage of convenience.
Newcastle continued their fast-tracked return to the top table of English football with a fully-deserved victory, their third in a row as they continue a timely recovery from a five-game winless wobble in February and March. It took them above their vanquished opponents back into third place on goal difference. It would be no surprise if that's where they finished in May.
Luke Shaw admitted that Newcastle simply wanted it more. His manager concurred with the England defender: Erik ten Hag said, "That was my assessment. Today was not a good day and I was surprised that we couldn't match the passion and desire of the opponent. If you want to win big games you have to be mature and I didn't see that today on the pitch.
"We didn't under-estimate Newcastle but they played above their levels. We had to match that but we didn't. I hate to say it but they were better today, especially their determination, passion and desire. They wanted to win more."
Newcastle will enjoy few easier 90 minutes this season, and in reality it's hard to overstate the gulf between the sides in this non-contest. This was Manchester United's first away game in the league since their seven-goal humiliation at Liverpool and it's no exaggeration to suggest they could have been left to reflect on a similar scoreline here had Newcastle's finishing matched their impressive work everywhere else.
That 22 shots brought only two goals was one of the few positives for the visitors to take on another chastening road trip. Just as the Magpies had failed to lay a glove on them in February's Carabao Cup final stroll, this time the United in red and white were supine in the extreme in another 2-0 'hammering'.
In reaching the 50-point mark, Newcastle eclipsed their tally for the whole of last season with 11 games still to play.Â
"We fully deserved the win," Eddie Howe insisted. The Newcastle head coach added: "We showed real belief and remained patient. People will make a lot of winning this one because of what happened in the final but for me it wasn't about that. Ultimately, it further builds our confidence levels that we can beat anybody home or away."
Anthony Martial had a late effort deflected wide and Antony should have done better with an unmarked far-post volley from a first-half corner, but other than that, as a team performance, this was Anfield-light from ten Hag's side. The return of Casemiro from suspension can't come quickly enough on the evidence of this pallid surrender.
Joe Willock should have left St James' Park clutching the match ball, but in mitigation, the one he did get proved to be rather important as Newcastle made overly hard work of securing the three points.
Willock missed two glorious first-half openings to reward his side's dominance. Undeterred, the midfielder made sure he didn't waste a hat-trick of chances by breaking the deadlock midway through the second-half.
Ten Hag's troops barely looked capable of hauling back a single-goal deficit, so it was game over when Callum Wilson, with virtually his first touch after coming on as a late substitute, gave the scoreline a more realistic look by glancing home the second from Kieran Trippier's 88th-minute delivery.
Willock should have been two-thirds towards claiming his spherical memento by the interval, but started a profligate afternoon in front of goal by firing straight at a prone David de Gea from five yards after the Spaniard had clawed out Alexander Isak's powerful near post header early on.
Worse followed shortly before half-time when at the culmination of a breathless 75-yard counter-attack, Willock fired wildly into the Leazes End when meeting an inviting Allan Saint-Maximin square pass 12 yards from goal.
That was all quickly forgiven and forgotten 20 minutes into the second-half. With three substitutes stripped and ready to enter the fray, Isak released Bruno Guimaraes into the visitors' area for the Brazilian to stand-up an inviting cross to the far post where Saint-Maximin headed the ball back across goal for Willock to break the deadlock with a diving header. Less than a yard from goal, even he couldn't fail to end a four-and-a-half month wait to find the net with a third of the season.
The near incessant pressure continued as de Gea brilliantly pushed a Jolinton header onto the bar at a chaotic corner, with Martial clearing Fabian Schar's close-range follow-up off the line with the help of a post.
Wilson's deft finish shortly afterwards for the England forward's first goal since February ensured there was no way back, just a comprehensive defeat and more soul searching and waiting to discover whether the Middle East moola will be heading their way to help them hang onto Newcastle's wealthy coat-tails.
Pope 8; Tripper 8, Schar 8, Botman 8, Burn 8; Longstaff 7, Guimaraes 8, Willock 8 (Anderson 84, 6); Murphy 6 (Gordon 68, 5), Isak 7 (Wilson 80, 6), Saint-Maximin 7 (Joelinton 68, 6).
 De Gea 7; Dalot 5, Varane 5 (Lindelof 83, 5), Martinez 5 (Pellistri 83, 5), Shaw 5; Sabitzer 6, McTominay 6 (Fred 83, 5); Antony 4 (Sancho 62, 5), Fernandes 5, Rashford 5; Weghorst 3 (Martial 62, 6).
S Attwell.
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