Eddie Howe a happy man on Wednesday night.
Such a deserved victory over Manchester United.
Newcastle United the better team in the first half, then after a shocking decision from the appalling referee Peter Bankes to send Jacob Ramsey off, United just as much the better team against Man U in the second half despite being a man down.
Eddie Howe reflecting on this latest victory over Manchester United: “An amazing night. It was a great performance all the way through…11 v 11 or 11 v 10. I thought we deserved to win. The main emotion was trying to work out how we’d play in that second half. We wanted to regroup. I thought that Jacob Ramsey’s sending off was really harsh. I don’t think he’s looking for a penalty there.”
This is now four wins at home in a row against Man U for Eddie Howe.
Whilst the last eight games between the two teams have seen Howe win six of them.
Eddie Howe happy to talk about Anthony Gordon, doing brilliantly to win a penalty with a driving run just after the Ramsey red card, then as usual, coolly scoring from the spot.
The United Head Coach saying about his top scorer: “Anthony has turned into a very good penalty taker for us. He earned the penalty himself with a typical driving run. I think the pairing of Gordon and Elanga gave them trouble in the second half.”
Newcastle United fans were braced for a second half onslaught as Man U had the man advantage, but we are all still waiting for that onslaught, as remarkably United continued to be the better team after the break.
Eddie Howe impressed with how his players handled that second half: “We knew we wouldn’t have the majority of the ball and that we would have to defend well. There have been a lot of questions about our defending lately, so it was a good opportunity to answer those questions and we did. With 10 men, you know your goalkeeper is going to have saves to make. He (Aaron Ramsdale) is a top class goalkeeper with really good experience.”
Anthony Gordon and Anthony Elanga had run themselves into the ground and were eventually replaced with five minutes to go, with Will Osula and Jacob Murphy the replacements.
As the clock reached 90 minutes, a brilliant ball down the right from the excellent Trippier found Will Osula, he did ever so well to cut inside and then with no clear shot seemingly on, the Danish striker produced a stunning curling left foot finish that bent around the defender and gave the Man U keeper zero chance.
Eddie Howe on that stunning Will Osula winner: “He did 10 shots at the end of training [on Tuesday] and he wanted more. Fair play to him. It’s the desire to repeat and to practise. He’s delivered an amazing moment for the supporters here. It’s a great moment for him and he deserves it. Hopefully it’s a turning point for him. A big moment for us. We have proved we’re competitive against any team.”