Newcastle United hammered Manchester United 4-1 at St James' Park back in April and the manner of the Magpies' victory certainly stuck with Roy Keane
Roy Keane
Roy Keane
In some ways, it feels like a lifetime ago now. As the wait goes on for a breakthrough in the transfer window, it was just a couple of months ago that Newcastle United's current stars thumped much-changed Manchester United 4-1 at St James' Park.
To think Gary Neville predicted a narrow defeat on account of his former side supposedly being 'quite solid'. Fellow pundit Paul Merson even suggested that Ruben Amorim's team would 'frustrate' Newcastle.
Eddie Howe may not have physically been there on the touchline that afternoon, but this win was a fitting tribute to the Newcastle boss: the way the players knew their jobs and did not let their standards slip in his absence; the manner in which Alexander Isak and Sandro Tonali combined for the Magpies' superb opener; how the hosts did not panic after Manchester United equalised; the ruthless fashion in which the black-and-whites pounced on errors from Noussair Mazraoui and Altay Bayindir late on...
Newcastle were ultimately so comfortable that assistant Jason Tindall had the luxury of taking off Kieran Trippier, Bruno Guimaraes, Joelinton, Jacob Murphy and Alexander Isak long before full-time.
There were even audible olés from Geordies in the closing stages as Newcastle popped the ball around and made Manchester United look every inch a side that would end up finishing 24 points behind the Magpies.
Newcastle, in the process, recorded a first top-flight double over the Red Devils since 1931 and their fifth victory in six meetings against the visitors.
Keane was the first to recognise that the 'table doesn't lie' after Newcastle qualified for the Champions League and the Irishman took aim at Manchester United for being a 'disgrace'.
"Up at Newcastle they were saying, 'We've got a second-leg against Lyon,'" he recalled in behind the scenes footage released by the Overlap released this week. "You've always got another game to worry about.
"You make that many changes and you're still rubbish. You're 3-0 up from the first leg, the game is not until Thursday night and they're like, 'Oh we've got...' What are you doing? What mindset is that?"
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