Newcastle ‘could sense’ victory over Man Utd was coming after ‘unusual’ action from ‘poor’ player
Newcastle star Jacob Murphy has admitted they “could sense” they were on track to beat Man Utd over the weekend after how their opponents started the game.
Eddie Howe’s team were much the better side over the course of the 90 minutes. They spurned several chances before Murphy’s header with 25 minutes to go broke the deadlock.
Erik ten Hag subbed off Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane late on as Man Utd pushed for an equaliser. But this just left them wide open at the back and Callum Wilson doubled Newcastle’s advantage with a couple of minutes to go.
The two teams are now level on 50 points, but Newcastle are a place above Man Utd in third due to their better goal difference.
David De Gea attempted to take the sting out of the game early on as he was taking his time with goal kicks. Murphy thinks this “unusual” act gave Newcastle confidence that they were “going to have a good game”.
“Their first goal kick, De Gea was taking a while,” Murphy said on Rio Ferdinand’s FIVE YouTube channel. “This is a bit unusual; he was taking his time with it, he was asking everyone to go up field, then hit long.
“They were just taking a while, lots of pointing, I could sense from that, we were going to have a good game from there.”
Newcastle legend Alan Shearer added: “You’ve got to be brave.
“He’s not comfortable, there’s no way that David de Gea’s comfortable doing that, he doesn’t want to do that. Teams are quite happy to let him have the ball because they understand that’s a problem for Manchester United.”
De Gea is out of contract in the summer and he is currently in talks with Man Utd over a new deal.
The club’s hierarchy had the option to automatically extend his deal until 2024 but they instead would like him to accept lower terms.
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Gabby Agbonlahor thinks it would be a blessing in disguise for Man Utd if De Gea leaves in the summer as he has been “rinsing them for many years”.
“He’s in a completely different situation to Marcus Rashford, who is also out of contract soon,” Agbonlahor told Football Insider.
“Rashford is 25, De Gea is into his thirties.
“Rashford has been in the form of his life, De Gea hasn’t. Why would Man United be happy to keep him on his ridiculous contract?
“He doesn’t deserve it. I’m sure they’re not wanting him to go down to £100,000-a-week – he will still be on a fair wage. He’s not going to starve.
“Man United are probably not fussed if he goes. They’ve got Henderson potentially coming back, they can go into the market and sign whoever.
“De Gea has rinsed them for many years with some really poor performances. They can’t make the same mistake again.
“He won’t get that big money anywhere else, that’s for sure.”
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