Manchester United undroppable needs to respond to Erik ten Hag demand

When Newcastle United last rocked up at Old Trafford to face Manchester United they were under the ownership of Mike Ashley, managed by Steve Bruce and only being kept off the bottom of the Premier League table by Norwich City.

They also arrived with the challenge of trying to keep Cristiano Ronaldo quiet on his second United debut. The Portuguese star had returned to Old Trafford a couple of weeks before Newcastle were scheduled to try and derail United's unbeaten start to the season.

Ronaldo, in traditional style, stole the headlines, scoring twice to inspire United to a 4-1 win. A lot, though, has changed since then for both clubs, with both now under new management and chasing different goals.

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Another element that has considerably changed is Bruno Fernandes' reliability in front of goal. After scoring a hat-trick in the 5-1 opening day win over arch rivals Leeds United to make the perfect start to the 2021/22 campaign, the Portuguese star scored again against the Magpies, netting the Reds' third goal to make sure of the points.

It was a blistering strike that almost took the Stretford End net off, taking his tally of goals for the season to four within the same amount of games. Working in tandem with countryman Ronaldo, it seemed like being the perfect match, particularly when the attacking-midfielder had become such a reliable source of goals in 2020/21, scoring 28 times.

However, Fernandes, despite remaining an ever-present figure since Ronaldo's homecoming a little over a year ago, has seen the goals dry up. He has scored just three times at Old Trafford since Newcastle's last visit 13 months ago, and has only found the net once so far this season,