EXACTLY 30 years on from Eric Cantona’s goal at the Gallowgate, Manchester United were without another talisman at St James’ Park.
United have not won or scored first at Newcastle with matchgoers present since December 2018 and both of those sequences will continue.
This was their most complacent performance yet under Michael Carrick, who has never been angrier in the dugout since his return.
The flimsiness of the United squad was also exposed. Injury to Noussair Mazraoui, a back-up right back starting for the first time since December, cost them.
Tyrell Malacia, on his second substitute appearance all season and due to be released in the summer, replaced Mazraoui.
Malacia was off the pace when Will Osula charged into the United third. Harry Maguire had no pace to match Osula..
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Both defenders stood off Osula and he could not have struck the ball sweeter for the winning goal.
Maguire’s deal also expires in the summer and this was not compelling evidence to sanction a renewal.
He was not on a booking and would have reached Osula to at least have committed a tactical foul and halted the counter-attack.
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This was a night Carrick cut loose repeatedly. In the second half, he and Steve Holland suddenly started cracking the whip and Bruno Fernandes was the one who truly responded.
This was a major missed opportunity for United against another side reduced to ten men.
For the second month running, they have dropped points three days after they last played.
In a season where they will end up playing only 40 games, there is evidently a mentality issue, or they have unintentionally nestled into their comfort zone of one game per week.
St James’ seems too stern a test of their nerve and it is undeniably their biggest bogey ground. United have lost their past four games at Newcastle now.
United’s standing in the Champions League places has not weakened significantly. Defeats to Liverpool and Aston Villa should soften the blow.
If United are to return to that competition then Fernandes remains the one player they cannot do without.
Despite the absence of his namesake Guimaraes, the Gallowgate heckled Fernandes with a rendition of “There’s only one Bruno”.
He did not exactly endear himself to the United fans up in the gods with a brainless trip on Anthony Gordon inside the penalty area moments after Jacob Ramsey’s red card.
After Gordon converted the spotkick, Fernandes moaned at Matheus Cunha, just to restore some normality. From the restart, he demanded teammates go direct.
The fear for United fans would have been that Fernandes would spend the rest of the contest trying too hard and not influencing the game as he should.
Yet Fernandes produced in the dying embers of the first half to put the ball into the area for Casemiro to equalise from another dead-ball kick.
That specific combination between United’s oldest outfield players has resulted in four goals this season.
Fernandes turned to the Geordies in the Milburn Stand and celebrated wildly. As animated as Fernandes was again (a booking for Bryan Mbeumo prompted him to vent at Casemiro), he did rein it in.
Carrick instructed Fernandes to stop harping at the referee about Dan Burn’s elbow on Luke Shaw. Fernandes stopped immediately.
Fernandes also created fine headed chances for Leny Yoro and Manuel Ugarte in quick succession as United seemed likely to go ahead in the second half.
Carrick’s final batch of changes – Joshua Zirkzee and Amad for Kobbie Mainoo and Bryan Mbeumo – ensured Fernandes would then drop deep, from where he was already starting to exert control.
Fernandes could not entirely mask United’s midfield shortcomings again. Casemiro, though he scored, toiled against his fellow Brazilian Joelinton.
The 34-year-old was dispossessed quickly by Joelinton and seconds later Mainoo was caught on his heels. Mainoo beat the turf, frustrated by his own slackness.
Mainoo’s second Premier League start as an 18-year-old was at St James’ in December 2023 and he struggled to get up to speed again as he failed to complete 90 minutes.
Casemiro, into the final months of his United career, barely lasted an hour as Carrick replaced him with the uninspiring Ugarte.
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MICHAEL CARRICK’S winning run as Manchester United head coach came to a bitter end at his old favourite stadium.
The Geordie boss seven-match unbeaten streak snapped as 10-man Newcastle snatched a dramatic 2-1 win at St James’ Park.
Casemiro’s header capped off a dramatic first-half stoppage time that saw Anthony Gordon score a penalty and Jacob Ramsey sent-off diving.
Bruno Fernandes clashed with Joelinton in the tunnel at the break, before tensions levelled in the second-half.
But super-sub Will Osula’s incredible curling finish won it for Eddie Howe’s side in the 90th minute.
Boyhood Geordie Carrick remains third in the table on goal difference and head into a 14 day break until hosting the Villans on March 15.
Here’s how SunSport’s Katherine Walsh rated the United players at a simmering St James’ Park…
United were too often flustered. Carrick, standing in the technical area with his hands behind his back, barely flinched at first.
His players did not manage the raucous home crowd, taking an eternity at goal kicks and irking the natives.
After a few false starts, Carrick ordered the players to move higher up and abandon any plans of playing out of the 18-yard box.
The simmering atmosphere eventually caused Carrick to get hot under the collar after Joelinton avoided a second yellow card for sarcastically applauding the referee for receiving a card.
The United fans were more dominant in the stands in the first half, belting out their chants about Andy Cole, Kevin Keegan and Alan Shearer, reminders of when these sides were, briefly, rivals in the Nineties.
Shearer, whom Sir Alex Ferguson wanted to partner Cantona, was sat in the stands and considerably happier than the nearby Sir Jim Ratcliffe at full-time.