Manchester United 3-2 Newcastle: 3 things we learned

Manchester United came from two goals down to beat Newcastle on Saturday. Here are three things we learned from the match.

Manchester United’s comeback win against Newcastle on Saturday invoked a spirit that’s been lacking from the club for most of Jose Mourinho’s tenure. Whether it’s enough to keep the Portuguese in the job remains to be seen, but was the sort of performance that could serve as a springboard heading forward. Here are three things we learned from the match.

United’s squad should really not be struggling

If there was one big takeaway from Saturday’s victory it’s that Manchester United shouldn’t have been languishing in 10th place.

Mourinho’s constant complaints about the quality of his players don’t stand up to scrutiny. When things are going wrong, he blames everyone but himself, but it’s clear there’s more than enough talent in this team to be comfortably in the top four, if not challenging for the title.

Juan Mata, Alexis  Sanchez and Marouane Fellaini all came off the bench (and that’s not to mention Ander Herrera and Jesse Lingard, who didn’t even make the squad) to make an impact, a sign of United’s quality.

The problems at the club run deep, but the performance against Newcastle may yet give rise to a renewed sense of hope and fight, the perfect tonic to the toxic atmosphere plaguing the red half of Manchester recently.

Seeing Mourinho aggressively gesticulate from the sidelines was a breath of fresh air — he showed the passion many fans have been craving for. So did his players.

At 2-0 down, it was hard to see the Red Devils mounting a comeback. Perhaps they were slightly fortunate the goal that got them back in it came from a set-piece, but the fight and arrogance they showed following Mata’s free-kick has rarely been seen at Old Trafford since the Sir Alex Ferguson era.

Newcastle fail when it counts

Mike Ashley remains public enemy number one among Newcastle fans, recent performances have led to more and more scrutiny on Rafael Benitez. The Spanish manager remains popular, but sooner or later he needs to start getting points.

Newcastle responded really well in the first half after taking an unexpected early lead, and managed to hold off and break United’s play up constantly. They’d executed their manager’s tactical plan to perfection.

Even given United’s current struggles, the Magpies must have anticipated a United fightback, and the manner in which they capitulated after the first goal went in was revealing. Newcastle are in serious danger of the drop if they can’t see out results like this.

Mourinho gets a major lifeline in his time as United manager

This week has been tumultuous for fans, players and manager alike. After yet another terrible match at Old Trafford against Valencia midweek, the pressure on Jose Mourinho continued to increase, with one report saying he’d be gone after this match regardless of the result.

The rumors seemed to get to the players early on, but a team that has completely given up on their manager don’t come from two goals down to win. The reprieve may only be temporary, but it seems there’s still some good will for Mourinho within the club.

Whatever dressing down Mourinho gave his players at halftime worked, but the final 20 minutes shouldn’t disguise the fact they were, once again, abject for over an hour. The fight his players showed was a huge boost for Mourinho, but he needs to find a way to harness that.