Memphizzle, no pop! For someone delegated to the delivering of set pieces, Memphis Depay was quite poor. Too close to Tim Krul, not clearing the first defender, or just hitting the wall. There was little guile and thought. He was also not quite the slippery customer on the wing, never completely breaking free of Massadio Haidara’s ministrations to his well advertised inside step. But that did not stop Peter Drury and Jim Beglin’s patter of heightened expectancy every time No7 touched the ball.

Under pressure, Wayne Rooney had a goal ruled offside, hit straight to Tim Krul on another, and then faded into a deeper position once Chicharito Herandez was brought on. He does deserve some praise for trying hard to lift that scoring blight.

Lots of possession (70%) but no finish. Utd have scored only one legitimate goal in three matches. Scoring goals would be a problem as highlighted on this blog. Which makes you wonder why Man Utd dropped the ball on Pedro. There is no other way to look at it. But lets give credit where credit is due. Newcastle provided stout resistance with Steve Taylor and Fabricio Coloccini, twin towers of strength. Ayoze Perez usually gets credit for his goal scoring invention but he threw his slight frame into defensive duties coming out on top.

The match began promisingly with Man Utd swamping the Magpies with waves of attack creating visions of an early goal. The best chance fell to Juan Mata but his cracking shot was pawed out in the nick of time by Tim Krul who was excellent throughout the match. Newcastle wriggled their way back in and Aleksandar Mitrovic was unlucky the crossbar got in the way of a towering header from a Chancel Mbemba cross. Romero on a pogo stick could not have found a way to save that.

The second half was played on Utd’s terms but familiarly despite all the possession and Newcastle’s inability to hold onto the ball for more than a nanosecond, there was no breakthrough. Chris Smalling’s header hit upright and then Tim Krul one on one with Chicharito pulled of a spectacular save batting the ball away with his leg. There seemed no way through the logjam. In the dying minutes, Newcastle’s rope a dope almost worked on a three on three breakaway with Florian Thauvin missing connecting with a Papis Cisse’s cross by a whisker.