Osula hits wonder goal as 10-man Newcastle sink Manchester United

Eddie Howe says his Newcastle side are at their best when they create chaos and no one in black and white is better at conjuring it than Will Osula.

The maverick Denmark Under-21 striker is, to say the least, unpredictable but here he stepped off the substitutes bench to score a fabulous, virtuoso late winner for a team reduced to ten men by Jacob Ramsey’s sending off at the end of the first half.

Although Bruno Fernandes enjoyed a fine game in Michael Carrick’s midfield even he could not quite prevent Ruben Amorim’s interim successor marking his latest return to his native Tyneside by suffering a first Premier League defeat in charge of Manchester United.

Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko were three names that loomed large on Eddie Howe’s shopping list last summer but that trio all appeared on Manchester United’s team-sheet here.

Not that their presence prevented Newcastle starting very much on the front foot as they attempted to exorcise the memory of last Saturday’s 3-2 home defeat to Everton.

With Sandro Tonali at his best in central midfield – cynics might say the Italy international was perhaps auditioning for a similar role at Old Trafford next season – Lewis Hall advancing seamlessly from left-back and Harvey Barnes bending a shot wide, Carrick’s side hardly had things their own way.

Yet it is a testimony to Manchester United’s new found confidence that the attacking pace of Anthony Gordon and co failed to ruffle them. Instead Casemiro, Fernandes and friends passed and moved with the swagger of a team that had collected 19 of 21 possible points since Carrick took interim charge.

Nonetheless while Newcastle spent the majority of the first half declining to test Senne Lammens in the visiting goal, Aaron Ramsdale – preferred to the dropped Nick Pope – initially remained similarly well protected at the other end.

While Ramsdale was eventually required to keep Kobbie Mainoo’s rising, swerving, first half shot out before swiftly again saving well to deny Cunha, Lammens was beaten by Gordon’s penalty in first half stoppage time.

Gordon, Howe’s first choice centre forward these days, had been sent tumbling by a sneaky nudge on the back of his thigh from Fernandes’s knee.

At the end of an opening 45 minutes that had seen Harry Maguire repeatedly swat him aside with the sort of grudging respect usually reserved for a particularly angry wasp, Gordon revelled in striking his kick straight down the middle – and straight through Lammens’s legs.

That penalty had been awarded in the immediate aftermath of Newcastle’s reduction to 10 men after Ramsey was shown a second yellow card for diving.

Howe’s players have developed a horrible habit of conceding almost immediately after taking leads and they were at it again before Peter Bankes could blow for half time.

Sure enough, in the ninth minute of added time, Fernandes curled a free kick in and Casemiro’s glancing header proved far too good for Ramsdale

The need for a bit more midfield fortification to compensate for Ramsey’s dismissal saw Howe replace Barnes with Joe Willock for the second period.

By now the mood inside St James’ Park had turned more than a little venomous toward Bankes, particularly as the referee had initially indicated there would be only three minutes added to the opening 45. That said, Dan Burn had arguably been lucky to escape punishment for an unfortunate elbow on Luke Shaw.

As a child Carrick, then playing for Wallsend Boys Club, was a regular face in the crowd here before eventually heading south to begin his senior career at West Ham.

Little can the young Carrick have imagined that he would return one day as Manchester United’s manager. But here he was standing, calmly with hands placed mainly behind his back as he watched Fernandes lead his side’s attempts to unpick Newcastle’s defensive locks.

The only problem was that Howe had instructed his players to make the game much more direct and force their guests to play long balls. Meanwhile Fernandes was becoming irritated with the apparent inability of Mbeumo and Cunha especially to operate on his wavelength.

Fernandes was creating virtually all the best visiting moments and from one of his prompts Leny Yoro’s header prefaced Ramsdale making an excellent save. An even better one from Joshua Zirkzee would follow before Osula replaced Gordon and changed the narrative.

Howe’s wild card had barely stepped onto the pitch before he chased a ball down in his own half, skilfully kept it in play before cutting inside and sending a shot curving imperiously beyond Lammens. Suddenly it was possible to see why Eintracht Frankfurt bid £30m for Osula’s raw talent last year.