10 Stats That Show Why Newcastle United Lost To Manchester United

8. The Visitors Were More Disciplined... Although They Did Get Away With A Stonewall Penalty Shout

Louis van Gaal demands the utmost discipline from his players, and so it proved at St James' Park - the visitors gave away just six fouls to Newcastle's 14. Fouls give cheap and easy possession to the opposition, and Newcastle were guilty of doing that on far too many occasions - with Gabriel Obertan and Mehdi Abeid each penalised on three separate occasions. No Man United player was pinged more than once on the other hand. On saying all of that, referee Mr Anthony Taylor had a large part to play in Man United's close to squeaky-clean disciplinary record - failing to award Newcastle a stonewall penalty after 15 minutes when Chris Smalling blatantly tripped Emmanuel Riviere in the box. Taylor appeared to have a clear view of the incident but simply waved play on - and decisions as important as that change the course of matches.