- Man United travel to St James’ Park to face Newcastle on Wednesday
- United have won 11 of their 20 Premier League matches at Newcastle
- St James’ Park is an unhappy hunting ground for Louis van Gaal
- Barcelona and AZ lost at Newcastle during Van Gaal’s time in charge
And things are about to get an awful lot harder for Van Gaal. The visit to Newcastle kicks off a nightmare run of fixtures lasting nearly two months which will define United’s first season under the Dutchman.
An FA Cup battle against the Gunners follows on March 9, but then it’s time for United to grit their teeth and face up to a run that sees them face Tottenham, Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea and Everton before the end of April. Two of those five teams are chasing the title, two are direct rivals for a top-four finish, and a trip to Goodison Park will never be relished by anyone (in the post-Fergie era at least).
Aston Villa’s visit to Old Trafford on April 4 appears to offer some respite in the midst of that daunting run, but Tim Sherwood’s side will be fighting desperately for survival. The visits to Anfield on March 22 and Stamford Bridge on April 18 loom especially large on United’s radar.
All of which makes the St James’ showdown so vital. Lose there and United will start the most demanding stretch of their season on the back foot, and probably out of the top four, should Liverpool as expected beat Burnley at Anfield.
But now, some good news for Van Gaal. When Newcastle goalkeeper Tim Krul said of United’s visit ‘we are confident because they don’t like coming here’, he was talking, frankly, nonsense. In United’s last 11 visits to Newcastle, they have won eight, lost just once, and scored 29 goals.
The Red Devils have won more Premier League games there than any other ground other than Villa Park, Goodison and White Hart Lane. It’s hard to imagine Wayne Rooney, who helped his side claim a 3-1 win against Newcastle on Boxing Day, quaking in his boots as he waits to leave the tunnel at St James’ later.
Even David Moyes thumped the Magpies on their own turf, with his final victory in charge of United coming in a 4-0 win, 17 days before his inevitable sacking.
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | AvPts | W% | L% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home | 21 | 13 | 7 | 1 | 45 | 15 | 2.1905 | 61.9 | 4.76 |
| Away | 20 | 11 | 5 | 4 | 39 | 27 | 1.9 | 55 | 20 |
| Overall | 41 | 24 | 12 | 5 | 84 | 42 | 2.0488 | 58.54 | 12.2 |
| Date | GF | GA | R | Man United Scorers | Newcastle Scorers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11/12/1993 | 1 | 1 | D | Ince (59′) | Cole (71′) |
| 15/01/1995 | 1 | 1 | D | Hughes (13′) | Kitson (67′) |
| 04/03/1996 | 1 | 0 | W | Cantona (51′) | |
| 20/10/1996 | 0 | 5 | L | Peacock (12′), Ginola (30′), Ferdinand (63′), Shearer (75′), Albert (83′) | |
| 21/12/1997 | 1 | 0 | W | Cole (56′) | |
| 13/03/1999 | 2 | 1 | W | Cole (25′), Cole (51′) | Solano (16′) |
| 12/02/2000 | 0 | 3 | L | Ferguson (26′), Shearer (76′), Shearer (86′) | |
| 30/12/2000 | 1 | 1 | D | Beckham (pen 25′) | Glass (81′) |
| 15/09/2001 | 3 | 4 | L | van Nistelrooy (29′), Giggs (62′), Verón (64′) | Robert (5′), Lee (34′), Dabizas (52′), Brown (og 82′) |
| 12/04/2003 | 6 | 2 | W | Solskjaer (32′), Scholes (34′), Scholes (37′), Giggs (44′), Scholes (52′), van Nistelrooy (pen 58′) | Jenas (20′), Shola Ameobi (89′) |
| 23/08/2003 | 2 | 1 | W | van Nistelrooy (51′), Scholes (58′) | Shearer (26′) |
| 14/11/2004 | 3 | 1 | W | Rooney (7′), van Nistelrooy (pen 74′), Rooney (90′) | Shearer (71′) |
| 28/08/2005 | 2 | 0 | W | Rooney (66′), van Nistelrooy (90′) | |
| 01/01/2007 | 2 | 2 | D | Scholes (40′), Scholes (46′) | Milner (33′), Edgar (73′) |
| 23/02/2008 | 5 | 1 | W | Rooney (25′), Ronaldo (45′), Ronaldo (56′), Rooney (80′), Saha (90′) | Faye (79′) |
| 04/03/2009 | 2 | 1 | W | Rooney (20′), Berbatov (56′) | Peter Løvenkrands (9′) |
| 19/04/2011 | 0 | 0 | D | ||
| 04/01/2012 | 0 | 3 | L | Ba (33′), Cabaye (47′), Jones (og 90′) | |
| 07/10/2012 | 3 | 0 | W | Evans (8′), Evra (15′), Cleverley (71′) | |
| 05/04/2014 | 4 | 0 | W | Mata (39′), Mata (50′), Hernández (64′), Januzaj (90′) |
Manchester United captain Rooney fired a double against Newcastle on Boxing Day
Robin van Persie added a third to help his side claim all three points against Newcastle in December 2014
Juan Mata scored a brace against Newcastle on Manchester United’s last visit to St James’ Park
The match between Manchester United and Newcastle was David Moyes’ last win in charge of the Red Devils
| Team | G | W |
| Aston Villa | 23 | 14 |
| Everton | 22 | 14 |
| Tottenham Hotspur | 23 | 12 |
| Newcastle United | 20 | 11 |
| Liverpool | 22 | 10 |
| Manchester City | 18 | 9 |
| Middlesbrough | 14 | 9 |
| Southampton | 16 | 9 |
| Sunderland | 14 | 9 |
Yet victory, like David Brent without Reggie Mental and the rest of his band, is no foregone conclusion. While the likes of Rooney, Michael Carrick and Ashley Young will be able to recall happy memories of victories on Newcastle’s own turf, many of United’s overhauled squad will not.
Which brings us back to Van Gaal. Despite all his feats at Ajax, Barcelona, AZ Alkmaar and Bayern Munich, despite his Champions League, La Liga, Eredivisie and Bundelsiga winners’ medals, Van Gaal has never won a game at St James’ Park.
The 63-year-old boss has taken his teams to Tyneside on just two occasions, but those will live long in the memory of Newcastle fans.
On a September night in 1997, nobody gave Kevin Keegan’s Newcastle a prayer against a Barcelona side including the likes of Luis Figo, Rivaldo, Luis Enrique and the Beast, Miguel Angel Nadal. The hosts were missing the talismanic Alan Shearer due to a broken leg. But what happened next went down in English football folklore.
Faustino Asprilla, gangly, tricksy, magical but entirely unreliable, had the night of his life in scoring a 22-minute first-half hat-trick to stun the mighty Catalans.
The Dutchman also saw his Barcelona side fall to a 3-2 defeat by Barcelona back in September 1997
Newcastle’s Faustino Asprilla scored a hat-trick against Barcelona to pile misery on Van Gaal
The first goal was a penalty he won and then converted, while the next two came from headers after blistering Keith Gillespie runs and crosses from the right wing. Enrique and Figo nearly pulled off the comeback in the second period but, make no mistake about it, this was humiliation for Van Gaal and the aristocrats of European football.
That game will be remembered as a Champions League classic for years to come. But the other time Van Gaal took charge of a team at Newcastle, a decade after the first, will not be remembered as fondly, at least by anyone not living on Tyneside. Kieron Dyer, an Obafemi Martins double and a Gretar Steinsson own goal inspired a 4-2 victory over AZ Alkmaar in the UEFA Cup in March 2007. Glenn Roeder’s side were, however, eliminated from the competition after a 2-0 second leg defeat in Holland.
Van Gaal will need similar fortitude to earn his first ever win at St James’ Park, and then deal with the fixture onslaught that follows. If he fails to steel his side, United can kiss the Champions League goodbye for another season.
Obafemi Martins scored a brace to help Newcastle claim a 4-2 win against Van Gaal’s AZ Alkmaar
Van Gaal, pictured at St James’ Park in March 2007, looked extremely glum during the match at Newcastle
