Newcastle United legend Warren Barton was left frustrated with the Magpies’ performance against Manchester United.
Newcastle United lost 1-0 to Man United, as Eddie Howe and his players failed to give the Toon Army a belated Christmas present.
It was an infuriating Boxing Day for Newcastle United, who failed to take advantage of their dominance at Old Trafford. They were extremely poor in attack, with neither Nick Woltemade nor Yoane Wissa coming close to scoring.
The Magpies were toothless, with former Toon defender Warren Barton questioning the way that Eddie Howe’s side chased the game in the second half.
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Pretty much the entirety of the second 45 minutes was played in Manchester United’s half. Newcastle dominated the ball, but were unable to find the net.
Howe made changes during the second half in an attempt to change the game, bringing on attacking players like Wissa and Harvey Barnes.
However, those changes were like-for-like, with the Newcastle United manager opting not to revert away from his trusted 4-3-3 formation.
That decision has been questioned by Barton, who could not understand why the Magpies did not have more than one striker on the pitch during their pursuit of an equaliser.
Posting on X after the defeat, Barton wrote: “Here’s an idea when we are trying to get a goal, play two forwards. Just an idea.”
Instead of doing what Barton suggested, Howe swapped Woltemade for Wissa in the 68th minute. His other striker option was Sean Neave, but he was an unused substitute at Old Trafford.
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Woltemade and Wissa are dying to play together. It is not something they have done yet, but both players have spoken about how keen they are to be deployed as a front two.
So far, there has not really been a suitable moment for Howe to test them out as a partnership. However, that moment did come at Old Trafford.
With Newcastle dominating as they searched for an equaliser, the game was crying out for Woltemade and Wissa to play together. They needed another striker on the pitch to put Man United’s defence under more pressure, yet Howe opted to stick with just one.
That proved to be a mistake, as Newcastle slumped to another defeat away from home.