Jacob Murphy explains how Newcastle targeted Man United player in 2-0 win

Newcastle’s Jacob Murphy has explained how his team targeted David de Gea’s goal kicks during their 2-0 win against Manchester United on Sunday.

It was one of the poorest performances of the season for Erik ten Hag’s side, who were dominated from start to finish at St James’ Park.

United’s build-up proved to be detrimental in the game, with Newcastle’s first goal coming from a turnover in possession as United looked to play out of the back from a goal kick.

Although that was taken by Lisandro Martinez, who passed to David de Gea, Murphy detailed how De Gea’s hesitance during his goal kicks helped Newcastle know what to target to have a good game.

“On their first goal kick De Gea was taking a while. It was a bit unusual, we thought they’d start playing out quickly and he was taking his time with it.

“He ended up then asking everyone to go upfield and kicked it long, so I was thinking, OK, let’s see how the next goal kick goes.”

One clip showed Raphael Varane telling Diogo Dalot to drop in deeper during a goal kick so that United could attempt to play out of the back. After the full-back retreated to a position to receive, his goalkeeper sent his team up the pitch to kick long. The French centre-back was visibly frustrated with the decision.

“They were just taking a while and lots of people pointing ‘you go here, you go there’ – I could sense from that we were going to have a good game from there,” added Murphy.

Newcastle’s dominance came from their high press and they knew that it was effective against United from the first goal kick.

It has been a problem for The Reds in the games against high-pressing teams. Despite Lisandro Martinez’s excellent ball-playing, the likes of Varane and De Gea can struggle against these teams in the build-up.