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By CHRIS WHEELER, NORTHERN SPORTS WRITER Published: 18: 00 AEDT, 27 December 2025 | Updated: 18: 00 AEDT, 27 December 2025 11 View comments If you haven’t heard, it was the only Boxing Day game in the Premier League. No team has won more of these festive fixtures than Manchester United, and no team has lost more than Newcastle United – so maybe we shouldn’t have been surprised that Ruben Amorim’s side ran out 1-0 victors at Old Trafford thanks to Patrick Dorgu’s first goal for the club. If the result was predictable, the game certainly wasn’t as United controlled much of the first half and then spent the second hanging on for long periods. In the end they got the job done and Ruben Amorim admitted it was one of his most satisfying results in charge at Old Trafford. ‘Yes, especially if you see the second half, ’ he said. ‘We managed to defend sometimes with a back-six and we suffered together. If we have this spirit, we are going to win so many games. ’ Daily Mail Sport looks at how United got the win they needed to move into fifth place on a difficult night at Old Trafford. Manchester United got the job done against Newcastle but it was a difficult battle Having experimented intermittently with a back-four in recent games, Ruben Amorim set out his stall from the start at Old Trafford with the 4-2-3-1 formation favoured by his predecessor Erik ten Hag. It was a commonsense move by Amorim who too often in his first 13 months in charge has been steadfastly wedded to the 3-4-2-1 system he used at Sporting Lisbon. Short of right wingers because Bryan Mbeumo and Amad Diallo are away at the Africa Cup of Nations, Amorim moved Patrick Dorgu from left wing-back and drew on the Denmark’s pace and athleticism. A goal would have been a bonus and Dorgu got his first since arriving from Lecce in February with a sumptuous left-footed volley. Short on attacking central midfielders in the absence of Bruno Fernandes and Kobbie Mainoo, Amorim welcomed back Casemiro from suspension and partnered him with Manuel Ugarte. Neither likes to venture too far forward so it made sense to play them together in a more defensive pivot in front of Lisandro Martinez – quite a formidable South American combination. Short of right-sided centre-backs in the continued absence of Matthijs De Ligt and Harry Maguire, Amorim decided to switch to a back-four and give Martinez his first start since February – and the captaincy – after the Argentine had made five appearances off the bench on his comeback from a knee injury. United have missed his leadership and tenacity, and he shone alongside the equally outstanding Ayden Heaven with Diogo Dalot and Luke Shaw at full-back. It meant that United looked compact and composed in the first half, certainly compared to the chaos of a 4-4 draw with Bournemouth in their last game at Old Trafford. That changed straight after the restart as Newcastle flew out of the blocks and hit the woodwork twice. It’s fair to say that from the moment Anthony Taylor began the second half to the moment he blew the final whistle after seven added minutes at the end, United never looked comfortable. Ruben Amorim abandoned his regular formation for a 4-2-3-1 - the system Erik ten Hag used Lisandro Martinez started for the first time since February and thrived with the captaincy Some of that may have been down to Amorim’s substitutions. An injury to Mason Mount forced him to bring on Jack Fletcher at the interval. Casemiro looked staggered to be replaced by Leny Yoro just after the hour mark in a double change that saw Joshua Zirkzee come on for Benjamin Sesko. Fletcher played alongside Ugarte, Yoro went in at right-back with Dalot pushing further forward on the right, and switched Dorgu to the left. When Amorim threw on Tyrell Malacia for his first appearance since the end of January and Tyler Fredricson in the 88th minute, it meant United finished the game with an unlikely back -four of Yoro-Fredricson-Heaven-Malacia. An unfamiliar line-up held on despite riding their luck. It was one of those games where the end justifies the means and this was a big Boxing Day win for Amorim. The problem with Bruno Fernandes being such a talisman for United in a six-year career is that the team have often looked lost without him. During that entire period, the United captain had missed just two games through injury and one through illness before he limped out of Sunday’s defeat at Aston Villa with the puzzled look of a man who had never had a hamstring injury in his life. Fernandes should be back sooner than expected, possibly after three weeks in time for the Manchester derby on January 17, but at least United showed they can win without him at last. Since the start of the 2022-23 season, they played seven Premier League games in his absence and failed to win any of them, losing six times and drawing once. Indeed, this was the first time they had won without him since a 3-2 victory over Tottenham in March 2022 under Ralf Rangnick. Admitting that he is impossible to replace, Amorim had spoken before this game about the opportunity it would give other players to step up and shoulder responsibility and they did just that, with Martinez and Matheus Cunha leading the way. It was no surprise that they were last off the pitch, taking the applause from the Stretford End. Matheus Cunha shouldered responsibility well in the absence of Bruno Fernandes One of United’s biggest hurdles towards breaking into the top-four this season has been an inability to keep a clean sheet. They managed it here for the first time in 10 games since shutting out Sunderland on October 4 despite having just 33. 4 per cent possession, their lowest in a league game this season. It wasn’t comfortable by any means as Newcastle threw everything at United in the second half and hit the woodwork twice. Goalkeeper Senne Lammens had to come out and claim a number of crosses, which was one of the qualities United identified in the young Belgian when they signed him from Antwerp in the summer. ‘Finally, a clean sheet, ’ said Ayden Heaven, who was voted man of the match. ‘We've been waiting for this, and I'm just so happy. I think as Manchester United, we belong in Europe. We want to get back there next season so we can even push for top four, possibly win the league, anything's possible. We want to keep trying. ’ It’s also worth noting that Patrick Dorgu’s goal came from a long throw-in, meaning that United have scored 13 goals from set-pieces this season – more than any other Premier League club. Man of the match Ayden Heaven was delighted that United kept a clean sheet. .. for the first time in 10 games Newcastle's profligacy in front of goal away from home once again left Eddie Howe puzzled Newcastle’s misery in front of goal away from St James’s Park continued as they failed to score again, leaving them with just seven goals in nine games on the road this season – and four of those came in one match at Everton. Eddie Howe was left to lament his team’s lack of killer instinct, saying: ‘We’re finding a way to concede goals and we’re not scoring the goals that we should at the other end - it’s a deadly mix for us. ’
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