In the words of the late, great Dolores O’Riordan: “It’s the animal, the animal, the animal instinct in me.” On Sunday it seemed as if Newcastle United channeled the message of The Cranberries hit song in their huge, 1-0 upset victory over Manchester United.
Red Devils boss Jose Mourinho certainly thought so, telling Sky Sports in a post match interview: “They fought like animals – I hope they take that as a compliment.”
“The gods of football were on their side. It wasn’t going to happen for us today. Newcastle gave what they have and what they don’t have, that’s a beautiful thing in football.”
WATCH: "They fought like animals!"
Jose Mourinho compliments @NUFC after beating his @ManUtd side 1-0.
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— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) February 11, 2018
“We made a defensive mistake and when they are in front they had only one thing in mind and gave their lives to keep a clean sheet.”
The only scoring of the match came via Matt Ritchie’s first goal of the season in the 65′.
The Scotland winger converted the free kick, which was set up by Chris Smalling taking a dive. The result was the first Premier League win in five outings for Newcastle.
While the Magpies fought like animals, to lift themselves out of the relegation zone for the time being, Manchester United often looked like a side that couldn’t be bothered.
United got more shots, and shots on goal than the Magpies, but critical mistakes from Red Devils Anthony Martial, Chris Smalling, Alexis Sanchez, Paul Pogba and others allowed Newcastle to snap an 8-match home PL losing streak. This was the home side’s first win against a team currently in the top half of the table this season (1-10-2).
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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