Cavani salvages draw for Manchester United as Newcastle show new fight

For much of the evening Ralf Rangnick’s grimace suggested that Manchester United’s manager was suffering from severe toothache. Instead of following the supposed script and pressing Newcastle into submission, Rangnick’s disjointed team were frequently pulled apart by Allan Saint-Maximin’s attacking manoeuvres and Joelinton’s midfield excellence.

Although Edinson Cavani stepped off the bench to rescue a point for United, the period between Saint-Maximin’s seventh minute opener and the Uruguayan’s 71st minute equaliser possibly ranked among Rangnick’s least comfortable technical area interludes.

After getting his tactics so right for so long Eddie Howe deserved to see his side register a transformative victory, but many among a full house at St James’ Park will have departed believing, however improbably, that relegation can still be avoided. Granted, Newcastle have won only once all season but Rangnick had David De Gea to thank for preserving a point that leaves United seventh, seven points adrift of fourth placed Arsenal.

While an amalgam of Covid and injuries dictated that Howe was able to name only eight substitutes, including two goalkeepers, his technical area counterpart fielded an at least theoretically formidable starting XI for United’s first game in more than a fortnight.

Some observers suspected that this Covid induced break might prove a blessing in disguise but, in reality, United swiftly proved alarmingly ring rusty.

When Raphaël Varane turned in unusually ponderous fashion, he forfeited possession to Sean Longstaff and in a blink of an eye Saint-Maximin had the ball at his feet and was sashaying beyond three markers, Harry Maguire included.

For a moment it seemed as if the Frenchman had delayed his shot just too long, but instead Saint-Maximin was merely picking his spot in the top corner of the goal. As the ball curved imperiously beyond a helpless De Gea, even Cristiano Ronaldo looked impressed.

Results may have disappointed since Howe succeeded Steve Bruce but the newcomer’s man-management has certainly brought the best out of an apparently reinvented Joelinton. Once again operating at the heart of midfield rather than centre-forward, the Brazilian delighted in dispossessing a startled Scott McTominay on several occasions.

The deeper Joelinton dropped the better he got, in several instances serving as a quasi-sweeper protecting his defence from danger by whisking the ball from opponents’ toecaps, most memorably an advancing Diogo Dalot.

His presence as a reborn enforcer also protected Jonjo Shelvey, permitting his fellow midfielder to concentrate on finding gaps in Rangnick’s rearguard. Accordingly, De Gea needed to react smartly to divert Shelvey’s 25-yard shot at a juncture when Ronaldo’s expression started turning sullen.

Worryingly for United’s manager, there seemed a distinct lack of telepathy between Ronaldo, Mason Greenwood and Marcus Rashford. In mitigation, it hardly helped their cause that Bruno Fernandes was strangely ineffective in a thoroughly overrun midfield department in a team that sometimes appeared configured in a strangely awkward 4-2-2-2 guise.

Fortune quickly frowned on Howe again when Wilson, his most reliable scorer, injured an ankle and was forced off. The resultant reshuffle saw Jacob Murphy arrive wide on the left as Longstaff shifted slightly further forward and Saint-Maximin assumed central striking duties.

Unsurprisingly, Rangnick made a double substitution, introducing Jadon Sancho and Edinson Cavani at the expense of Fred and Greenwood. But his now improving side would have fallen further behind had Saint-Maximin not proved he is human after all by shooting straight at De Gea after being cued up by Emil Krafth’s right wing advance.

As Howe’s anguished body language emphasised it was the sort of miss that can change games, seasons even, Rangnick perhaps felt almost the same about the moment when Cavani side footed Sancho’s cutback off target.

Meanwhile, Ronaldo volleyed wide – and was arguably lucky to receive merely a yellow card for a wild, reckless, petulant off the ball kick at Ryan Fraser. It was not his finest hour.

It was left to Cavani to raise the tone by losing his marker, meeting Dalot’s cross and scoring on the rebound with Martin Dubravka stranded after his initial shot was blocked.

Somewhat fortuitously United were level, and when De Gea saved brilliantly from Miguel Almirón after Murphy had hit a post, Howe, who also saw Saint-Maximin hobble off, knew that it really was not going to be his night.