Cavani rescues Man United at Newcastle

NEWCASTLE, England (AP):

Edinson Cavani came off the bench to salvage a point for Manchester United from a sloppy display in a 1-1 draw at Newcastle in the English Premier League yesterday.

Playing its first game in 16 days after COVID-19 cases in the squad led to two games being postponed, United were outplayed in the first half and Allan Saint-Maximin gave Newcastle the lead in the seventh minute following a swift break after Raphael Varane was dispossessed.

Cavani entered as a half-time substitute, injected some urgency and pressing into United's attacking play, and scored an equaliser in the 71st minute by poking home a rebound after his initial shot was blocked.

Newcastle, who hit the post in the final minutes through substitute Dwight Gayle, were denied just a second win of the campaign and stayed in next-to-last place, while seventh-place United missed a chance to jump to fifth with a display that showed the team still has much work to do under recently hired coach Ralf Rangnick.

His team was so off the pace in the first half -- perhaps due to the extended COVID-19-enforced break -- that Rangnick opted to make two substitutions at half time, with Fred and Mason Greenwood coming off.

Any of the outfield players could easily have been replaced.

"I didn't like it all," Rangnick said of United's performance. "We are trying to get better at controlling the game. Today we didn't control the game."

Bruno Fernandes was often seen waving his hands in the air, complaining at the referee and his teammates. Marcus Rashford looked lost out on the right wing. Varane and Harry Maguire were being hounded in possession at centre back.

United, back playing after having games against Brighton and Brentford called off, were lucky to go to the break only 1-0 down. That goal came after Sean Longstaff pressurised Varane, picked him off and played in Saint-Maximin, who cut inside Maguire and poked a finish into the corner.

Saint-Maximin then squandered a brilliant chance from point-blank range to make it 2-0 in the 47th minute, mishitting a finish from Emil Krafth's cross to allow David De Gea to claw away the ball when he should have been well beaten.

"Hopefully, we've seen the beginning of a team and how we want to play," said Howe, who was brought in as manager in November following the takeover of the club by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund.

Fernandes collected a fifth yellow card of the season and will miss United's next game, against Burnley on Thursday when Cavani might expect to start after his game-changing performance as a substitute.