Alexis Sanchez earns Manchester United dramatic win over Newcastle and might just have saved Jose Mourinho’s job
Manchester United 3-2 Newcastle United: Juan Mata, Anthony Martial and Alexis Sanchez completed a remarkable second-half comeback to relieve a little pressure on their manager
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Your support makes all the difference.Having been close to the point of no return on Saturday morning, and having seemed to suddenly reach it by tea-time, José Mourinho spectacularly stepped back from the brink.
When Yoshinori Muto scored Newcastle United's second, after less than 10 minutes of play at Old Trafford, he appeared to have all but ended Mourinho’s reign as manager of Manchester United.
Few at that point foresaw a spectacular second-half comeback, but one came - inspired by Juan Mata, energised by Anthony Martial then completed emphatically by Alexis Sanchez. It may have earned Mourinho a stay of execution.
The question is whether this win can give Mourinho more than two more weeks of gainful employment. Can it galvanise his United side? Can three home points that were always expected against side that is yet to register a league win be a momentous result? Can victory excuse a first-half display in which United were as dismal and as directionless as they have ever been under Mourinho’s management?
Given the depths this team has plumbed of late, given the place they found themselves after Muto added to Kennedy’s opener and given that many of the journalists sat in Old Trafford’s cramped press box spent most of their evening writing Mourinho's epitaph, the answer is simple: yes, it can.
The evening began in the manner of United's last league outing, the dismal defeat at West Ham United last week. Nemanja Matic admitted to putting in the worst performance of United career at the London Stadium, but here was a new entry to rival it.
The Serbian, a Mourinho drill sergeant trusted to marshal the troops when under fire, was instead partially at fault for Newcastle’s first goal, failing when asked to make a crucial interception in on the halfway line.
Ayoze Perez picked up the loose ball and slid a pass through the disorganised defence to Kenedy. Ashley Young, just as culpable as Matic, was rounded with an appalling ease and David de Gea was easily beaten. Mourinho, incensed, waved his hands angrily on the touchline, shouting as if any of his players were listening.
Within two minutes, it was two. This time, Young was solely responsible, again easily turned by Muto after Jonjo Shelvey's cross in from the right. This time, Mourinho responded with actions rather than words, calling Mata from the substitutes' bench and hauling off Eric Bailly. The game was just 19 minutes old.
This eye-catching change would only bear fruit in the second half, and United's comeback would have began a lot earlier had Marcus Rashford converted a gilded opportunity shortly after Mata's introduction. The youngster, heading from six yards out, glanced Romelu Lukaku's cross wide.
Matic's afternoon was summed up in the early stages of the second half when, after Paul Pogba's drive was parried by Martin Dubravka, he ignored the open goal at his mercy and lifted the rebound well over the crossbar.
Old Trafford's mood never dampened, though. The Stretford End had challenged United's players to improve as they walked towards the tunnel for half time and there was an air of expectancy as Mata stood over his free-kick in front of them in the 70th minute. When it beat Dubravka, they believed.
Marouane Fellaini and Chris Smalling were both denied heroically by a Newcastle side desperate to hold on for three points - their first of this league season - but their lead was finally eradicated and their resolve broken by Martial. So often a disappointment to Mourinho, on this occasion he delivered, exchanging passes with Pogba before equalising with ripping, low drive.
Martial turned and punched the air in celebration but quickly urged his team-mates to return to the centre circle and search for another. Mourinho did the same and this insistence on victory, that a draw would not do, that this club's standards would be upheld, may be the most heartening aspect of the performance for any United fan.
The winner was found by Sanchez, dropped to the substitutes' bench at the start of the day but United’s saviour by the end of it. Young went some way to absolving himself for Newcastle's goals, hanging up a cross to the far post in the 90th minute for the Chilean to nod in.
This was cruel on Newcastle, whose players fell on their haunches at the sound of the final whistle. Mourinho, meanwhile, savoured the public show of support he desires, according to some reports on Saturday.
It did not come from his superiors but the supporters, who had already made their feelings known on where their loyalties lie. “Jose’s right, the board are shite,” could be heard at 0-2. At 3-2, they simply sang “Jose Mourinho.” He is still, for now, their manager.
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