United outplayed again as Amorim's formation fails

Ruben Amorim was crouching, shaking his head in disbelief.

- RICHARD JOLLY

Even a brief time in charge of Manchester United has acquainted him with disappointment but nothing he had witnessed to date had seemed this disastrous. As Newcastle United powered to a victory where their regret should be that it wasn’t a thrashing, Amorim’s ideas were unravelling before his eyes.

Having warned his job could be in danger if United carried on losing, his team produced a first 35 minutes so abject that it suggested perilous times may await. In that context, an eventual 2-0 defeat was relatively respectable. This promised to be five or six, the sort of scoreline that would echo through the ages. Amorim finished off warning his side could be in a relegation battle. “It is a really difficult moment, one of the more difficult moments in the history of Manchester United,” he said. “I think our club needs a shock.”

It was a fifth league defeat in a month, something United had not suffered since 1962. It was another historic low for a club who seem to specialise in plumbing new depths. “It is a bit embarrassing to be Manchester United coach and lose a lot of games,” said Amorim. No manager has made such a bad start at the club for nine decades. No United team had lost three consecutive home league games for 45 years. This one were beaten inside 20 minutes.

It threatened to be humiliation for Manchester United. It was still jubilation for Newcastle United. Eddie Howe’s side had won 3-0 at Old Trafford in the Carabao Cup last season but Newcastle only had one league win at Old Trafford in half a century. “We know the hurt this fixture has had for us historically,” said Howe. “It was a big step forward psychologically.”