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Juan Mata admits Manchester United got lucky first half against Newcastle United

5 years ago
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Juan Muta found himself on the pitch after only 19 minutes.

The midfielder a desperate early change for Bailly as Newcastle went two up.

Juan Mata admitting that Man Utd were lucky to reach half-time only 2-0 down, saying his team were low on confidence and Newcastle had had plenty more chances to score before the break.

In addition, local referee Anthony Taylor (from Altrincham) missed a clear penalty when Ashley Young handled Shelvey’s cross.

However, things were bound to get tougher for Newcastle and so it proved, as Mourinho also brought on Fellaini and Sanchez, the £100m worth of subs proving the difference.

Juan Mata says he had been practising free-kicks as recently as Friday, which paid off as he left Dubravka with no chance as the Spaniard got Man Utd back in the game.

Mata dedicated the win to the fans and said they don’t deserve what they are going through this season…

Laugable on two counts. Manchester United with four points from two games in the Champions League, as well as now eighth in the league, it isn’t exactly a nightmare. Whilst as for deserving better, the support the home fans gave their team was almost non-existent until that later rally.

Juan Mata talking to MUTV:

“It was special.

“We were losing 2-0, Newcastle created even more chances to score more goals and confidence levels were low.

“We needed to change something and when you have nothing to lose you just throw it and you push even more.

“We couldn’t afford another defeat, especially for the fans. I think they saw today that we tried everything and we came back and from the mental point of view it was a very important three points.”

em>“We needed something and yesterday [Friday] I was practising free kicks in the training ground. I scored three in a row and I left, so I said, I think I have the touch and today exactly it proved.

”Normally it (early substitution) happens if a teammate is injured, but today we needed something. We needed to try to be more intense, to create a bit more and that’s what we did.

“First half was difficult, but after the half-time rest we came back with everything and definitely that first half helped.“

“(The fans) Definitely pushed us, they helped us, to go more, to try more, to give this 50 minutes more and I’m very happy for them.

“I’m very happy for the team, for us, but especially for the fans. They don’t deserve everything that is going on, so they deserve to see a team like today.

“We felt that if we scored it was not impossible, especially at Old Trafford.

“If you score once you can score a few goals in some minutes; I’ve seen Manchester United doing that a lot of times over the years and today we did it. Even though it felt very difficult we did it.

“We created more chances to score more goals and that’s a very positive sign.

“I will say that today the victory is a pride victory. I felt that on the pitch, I did not want to feel another sadness feeling, another disappointment feeling.”

Stats from BBC Sport:

Manchester United 3 Newcastle United 2

Goals:

Newcastle: Kenedy 7, Muto 10

Man Utd: Mata 70, Martial 76, Sanchez 90

Possession was Man Utd 73% Newcastle 27%

Total shots were  Man Utd 18 Newcastle 13

Shots on target were Man Utd 10 Newcastle 8

Corners were  Man Utd 10 Newcastle 6

Referee: Anthony Taylor

Newcastle United:

Dubravka, Yedlin, Lascelles, Fernandez, Manquillo, Ritchie, Diame, Shelvey, Kenedy (Murphy 68), Perez (Joselu 88), Muto (Atsu 78)

Unused Subs:

Darlow, Clark, Schar, Hayden

Crowd: 74,519 (NUFC Approx 3,000)

(Alan Shearer blames referee for Newcastle not beating Man Utd – Read Here)

(NUFC fan/writer reaction to Saturday’s cruel defeat Here)

(Match ratings of all NUFC players for the defeat at Old Trafford Here)

(Positives and Negatives from the match Here)

(A tale of two benches – Read Here)

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