14 mins: Ciaran Clark won a header in midfield and played a forward pass to Dwight Gayle who in turn laid it off to the overlapping DeAndre Yedlin down the right. He surged past Chris Smalling before pulling the ball back for Gayle to side-foot the ball in off the far post, Victor Lindelof's timely slip giving the Newcastle man sight of goal in front of the Stretford End. 1-0

37 mins: Enner Valencia played the ball back to Paul Pogba on the right edge of the Newcastle box and he beat Isaac Hayden far too easily before standing the ball up to the far post. Anthony Martial was on hand to out-jump Yedlin and nod home with minimum effort 1-1

45+1 mins: Ciaran Clark's ill-advised attempt to trick his way out of trouble from the right back slot saw him lose possession and a corner ultimately arrived via a blocked shot from Valencia.

That was played short and then back to Ashley Young, who evaded Matt Ritchie before crossing to the back post for Smalling to power a header past Elliot who got a hand to it. 

For some reason Lukaku felt the need to celebrate with a gesture and a "f*** off" aimed in the direction of the away end - we're struggling to recall any "previous" with us from his Everton, West Brom or Chelsea days 1-2 

Half time: Red Devils 2 Magpies 1

54 mins: Gayle's ball across the home area was intercepted and the home side broke at speed with Juan Mata and Lukaku down the right. A ball to Marcus Rashford was nodded back to Pogba, who had the easiest of finishes from point-blank range. 1-3

70 mins: Lukaku and Mata exchanged swapped passes down the right once again and the former surged into the box. Lejeune missed his tackle leaving Lukaku time and space to pick his spot and lash the ball past Elliot into the roof of the net. 1-4

Full time: Red Devils 4 Magpies 1

 
Rafa:

"For sure. This time, you see the difference between money spent. It's not something we didn't know, we knew it would make a massive difference between both teams.

"But I am really pleased with what I saw in the first 30 minutes.

"I think it's a quite simple analysis, a really good first half for 30 minutes, everything was right, we were working hard, we had a clear idea what to do, we did well.

"And then we conceded a goal, then the second goal made a difference in terms of the mentality. We had the chance of Hayden later on, but we couldn't score.

"The second half was more difficult because the belief that we had in the first half, to keep this belief until the end, it depended on the goal. And then when we conceded a third goal it was a different game.

"But I am really pleased and really proud of my players in their first 30 minutes. And after when you pay big money for players, they can make the difference, so you make mistakes, you pay for that because you play against top-class players."

Mourinho:

"The goal was like a wake-up call and the team reacted very well, very strong. In the second half I was seated and really enjoying the quality, and many times the beauty, of our game."
 
About Paul Pogba:

"He was top. It looked like he had not been out. He came back with a really great performance. He was a great influence in the game.

"He had to come out when he felt the first sign of fatigue, because we don't want to go over the limits. So he played a little bit more than an hour, and for that hour it looked like he wasn't for such a long time not playing football.

"He affects our football. We all know, myself and the fellow players, that certain players influence the levels of the team. With him we have much more creation. I am so happy.

"Now let's see the best decision for Wednesday - if the best thing for him is to play again, or for him to rest, because he is a player we need to protect.

About Ibrahimovic:

"It was a very emotional scene for all of us that have stayed close to such a professional with one of the biggest injuries in football.

"I think him coming back was a joy for everyone, but for us close to him, it was more than that - it was big emotion to see the big guy coming back.
 

Following a quartet of Sunday afternoons and one Monday night shift, the latest date in our 19 game perambulation of the nations saw us parading for the cameras on a Saturday teatime.

The home "support" within Old Trafford may have given a passable impression of slumbering on the settee, but 3,100 black and whiters found their voices to support their local team and were soon rewarded by what is a rare beast indeed round these parts - an away goal.

Starting brightly and moving the ball around well, the Magpies struck through Dwight Gayle in the 14th minute - his joyful dash away from a Stretford End net containing the match ball bringing to mind efforts from his predecessors Andy Cole and Obafemi Martins. 

And it could have got even better; a side shorn of injured trio Jamaal Lascelles, Mikel Morino and Christian Atsu coming mighty close to making it 2-0 five minutes later, when Jacob Murphy's low shot flashed across the face of goal before just clearing the far post. 

A formation that was either 4-4-1-1 or 4-4-2 depending on your perspective caused Manchester United problems and threatened to expose them in the centre of the park on occasion, a pleasing willingness to shift the ball quickly evident in contrast to the "wait and see" ploy of previous away games. Shy bairns get nowt, as was painfully proven when we timidly left Turf Moor pointless.

Sadly though, reality intervened and Jose Mourinho's side extended their unbeaten run on this ground to 39 games in all competitions as their big guns belatedly began to fire.

The quality of deliveries into the Newcastle area from either side ensured that the Red Devils went in at the interval ahead through a pair of simple headers from Anthony Martial and Chris Smalling.

The absence of Lascelles was a factor in conceding both; the equaliser having its origins in some sharp practice from Valencia when play resumed after a stoppage - the home player deliberately sending the ball out for a throw-in rather than recycling the ball for Rob Elliot to restart play - Elliot was in possession and had thrown the ball out.

The home side's second meanwhile came during time added on after an accidental collision between Elliot and his colleague Javier Manquillo that left the 'keeper needing attention and may have restricted his movement. 

A thoroughly entertaining half though could still have ended level, had Isaac Hayden been able to end his run into the box by placing his shot wide of De Gea - and Gayle's contact on Matt Ritchie's follow-up effort diverted the ball inside the post rather than narrowly wide of the target.

And that was sadly as good as it got for Rafa & Co: that encouraging first half performance never matched in the second as the Salford Galacticos came to life. A devastating counter-attack saw Pogba cap his return from injury with a goal before Romelu Lukaku ended his own scoring drought. 

Newcastle's lack of Premier League experience told as they were considerably outplayed, the arrival of Mo Diame and Aleksandar Mitrovic never likely to make a dent in a 1-4 deficit - Diame in particular wasting chances to mount some late counter-attacks.

By then though the emphasis had firmly switched to future games, Joselu and Gayle withdrawn ahead of vital contests against Watford and West Bromwich Albion - Ritchie's earlier replacement by Rolando Aarons more to do with saving the former than reintegrating the latter.

That there was little for the away contingent to cheer mattered not; their rousing rendition of the "we still follow United" chant for the final ten minutes spine-tingling and rightly acknowledged by the team after full time. That defiance was a product of what the team had at least tried to achieve - effort appreciated and reciprocated even if the end result was unwanted. 

The defeat and other results saw Newcastle remain in 11th spot, looking to end a run of three successive defeats by beating Watford at Gallowgate on Saturday. 

Despite today's eventual outcome and the loss of Hayden through suspension (seeing yellow for the fifth time this season) when the Hornets come visiting, positives could still be taken - not least the confidence boost Gayle should get from finding the net once again. 

Less visibly, a decent shift from Murphy will hopefully benefit his morale after what has been a slow start to life as a Magpie.  
 

Biffa/Niall