Newcastle United absolutely trounced Manchester United in the first half of tonight’s Old Trafford contest.
No player has covered themself in glory at all, but the defence, in particular, has been abysmal.
Alexander Isak scored what’s likely to be the easiest header of his career when he broke the deadlock in the sixth minute and was left completely unmarked by Lisandro Martinez, Harry Maguire and Matthijs de Ligt.
Martinez was then, unsurprisingly, beaten in the air by 6”1’ Joelinton, who extended the visitors’ lead just 15 minutes after his Swedish counterpart opened the scoring.
The tide has turned somewhat in the second half, though United are still yet to find the back of the net or really trouble the Magpies
Martinez was no match for the Magpies’ prolific frontline
Analysing the first 45 minutes of action during the interval on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football, Jamie Carragher named the one Red whose form has suffered since Amorim took the reins and implemented his new tactical system.
“Martinez has been awful,” Carragher claimed. “He has been caught out more in a back three than he was in a (back) four.”
Reacting to Amorim’s – albeit forced due to the suspensions of Bruno Fernandes and Manuel Ugarte – inclusions of Casemiro and Christian Eriksen, he added: “We have been speaking about Eriksen and Casemiro on this show 18 months ago. That’s on the manager.
“These players can’t run. We know that. That is on the manager putting these two players in that position and in that system. It is a major flaw.”
