
In the aftermath of a remarkably freakish Manchester United winner at St James' Park on Wednesday night, an unusually animated Louis van Gaal pinched Ryan Giggs hard on the cheek and stared hard in to his eyes as if to say: 'I told you so'.

The only problem was that Giggs wasn't buying it. Giggs has been at United for two decades and didn't even crack a smile. He knows that football like this will not take his football club where it needs to go. Not in the long run, anyway.

Giggs has seen plenty of late winning goals for United over the years. He has been part of teams that have won when they haven't deserved to, who have somehow grabbed something from games that seemingly had nothing to offer.

Ashley Young fires home the winner for Manchester United to earn his side a valuable three points at Newcastle

Young peels away in celebration as United remain on course for a top-four finish despite playing below their best

Young runs over to celebrate in front of the Manchester United fans after his late strike at St James' Park

Wayne Rooney, Michael Carrick and Danny Blind are among the United players to celebrate with Young

Wayne Rooney was involved in the build up as his pressure forced the Newcastle defence to panic before Krul gifted the chance to Young

Krul lies on his back in dejection after his error allowed Young to slam home United's winner against Newcastle

United manager Louis van Gaal reacts to Young's winner by knocking his assistant Ryan Giggs on the cheek... ... But Giggs shows absolutely no emotion after Young's winner gave United a crucial victory in their Champions League push

MATCH FACTS, LINE-UPS, LEAGUE TABLE AND MATCH ZONE Newcastle (4-4-2): Krul 8; Janmaat 6.5, Williamson 6.5, Coloccini 6, R Taylor 5.5 (Gutierrez 64, 6.5); Obertan 6, Abeid 6, Sissoko 6, Ameobi 5.5 (Gouffran 81); Riviere 5.5 (Perez 59), Cisse 5 Subs not used: Anita, Armstrong, Satka, Woodman. Booked: Gutierrez Manager: John Carver Manchester United (4-1-4-1): De Gea 6; Valencia 6, Evans 6, Smalling 5.5, Rojo 6 (Carrick 89); Blind 6; Di Maria 5 (Januzaj 59), Fellaini 6 (Mata 82), Herrera 6, Young 5; Rooney 6 Subs not used: Jones, Falcao, Lindegaard, McNair. Goal: Young 89 Booked: Rojo, Valencia Manager: Louis van Gaal Referee: Anthony Taylor Attendance: 49, 801 Angel di Maria was replaced early in the second half by Louis van Gaal who sent Adnan Junzaj on his place. But the Argentina had one of his better games for Manchester United and covered plenty of ground on the right wing. CLICK HERE for more brilliant stats and heat maps from Old Trafford. Advertisement

His United, though, the one that he knows, used to bully teams late in games.

As his old manager Sir Alex Ferguson has admitted, United teams of yore used to practice scoring late goals in training. They won games like this by sheer force of will, belief and personality.

This United team, on the other hand, the one with Van Gaal's uncertain hand on the tiller, stumbles its way in to opportunities. Somehow it manages to win despite itself. If it continues like this for another two months then it may yet find itself in the Champions League places come the season's end. At the moment, though, it is hard to see it.

This, in many ways, was the modern United at their worst. Facing a home team devoid of purpose, energy and intelligence, United really should have taken hold of this game, won it comfortably and used it as a platform ahead of tougher challenges to come.

Instead, they saw Newcastle miss two golden opportunities and wasted their own with inept work in front of goal. The home team, meanwhile, were somehow denied a clear early penalty by a referee that we can only presume – generously – was unsighted.

And then there was the winning goal. A gift. A shambles. Three points handed to United on a black and white tray.

There was no late cavalry charge by United here. They had settled for a point. The game was drifting towards a conclusion that had seemed inevitable for so long.

But then Wayne Rooney's run in to the penalty area was halted by Mehdi Abeid, the subsequent back pass sold goalkeeper Tim Krul short and when the clearance – born of panic and terror – landed at the feet of Ashley Young, the goal waited – empty – just ten yards away.

Marouane Fellaini came close to scoring for Manchester United but he was denied by a brilliant stop from Tim Krul

Ashley Young had a chance to convert the rebound but took too long and was also denied by Newcastle's Dutch goalkeeper

Angel di Maria was replaced early in the second half by Adnan Januzaj as United struggled to break down a stubborn Newcastle side

SUPER STAT Wayne Rooney has scored more Premier League goals against Newcastle than any other club, although he failed to add to his tally of 12 on Wednesday night. Advertisement

It was an astonishing moment. This great stadium has witnessed plenty of drama over the years and no little pantomime. It hasn't witnessed much like this, though.

In the home dugout, manager John Carver stood aghast. This was some way to lose a football match and it was hard not to feel some sympathy for him. His team had been pretty lousy but they didn't deserve to lose. His thoughts understandably were still with the early penalty shout, somehow denied him when Chris Smalling hacked down Emmanuel Riviere in the eleventh minute.

'That would have set us up nicely,' he said.

Had Newcastle scored first then it’s questionable whether United would have had it in them to respond. As it was, nothing much else happened in the first half, apart from what may have been an unpleasant exchange of saliva between Jonny Evans and Papiss Cisse.

Rooney, playing as a lone centre forward, missed two chances around the half hour mark, clipping one wide when face to face with Krul and then falling over when a slip by Fabricio Coloccini presented him with another sight of goal.

There was not a shot on target from either team, however, until Marouane Fellaini’s header required Krul to parry in the 44th minute. Newcastle were poor enough to allow United the majority of the possession but Van Gaal’s team, not unusually, didn’t have the wit to do much with it.

Emmanuel Riviere ghosted in at the post but could not force the ball beyond United's goalkeeper Dave de Gea

De Gea made himself wide in the United goal to deny Newcastle the opener at St James' Park

Pappis Cisse has words with Jonny Evans after the pair appeared to spit at each other during a heated exchange in the first half

Cisse wipes his eye after he and Evans were later shown to have spat at each other during an unsavoury incident

Evans appears to spit on Cisse (left) before the Newcastle striker returns the favour (right) as tempers flared before half time

EA SPORTS DISTANCE STATS MINS KM MILES Newcastle United Daryl Janmaat 90 11.3 7.0 Gabriel Obertan 90 11.1 6.9 Moussa Sissoko 90 11.0 6.8 Manchester United Ander Herrera 90 11.5 7.2 Daley Blind 90 11.1 6.9 Jonny Evans 90 10.6 6.6

On the right, Angel di Maria was having a decent game, relatively speaking. His night was ended on the hour, though, when Van Gaal replaced him with Adnan Januzaj. It seemed an odd move and Di Maria looked less than chuffed.

At least by then the game was a little more alive. Riviere brought a save from David de Gea after Coloccini headed down a free-kick while at the other end Krul saved brilliantly from a Fellaini half-volley and a Young follow-up that perhaps took a little too long to arrive.

At last there was an atmosphere inside this great stadium and things improved further when Jonas Gutierrez entered as a substitute. His first appearance since recovering from testicular cancer, it was soon marked by a booking but nobody really cared about. It was good to see him.

Soon Newcastle could have had a goal. A break from another substitute Ayoze Perez found him and Cisse two-on-one with Evans but the pass from one team-mate to another was criminally over hit and, as such, the chance disappeared.

Perhaps that summed up the night for both teams. Just not good enough. In sport, though, mistakes often decide contests and so it was here.

Krul won a game all on his own for Van Gaal with his penalty shoot-out heroics against Costa Rica during last summer’s World Cup. Here, he did it again in rather different circumstances.

Jonas Gutierrez made an emotional return for Newcastle after recovering from testicular cancer

Gutierrez is given the captain's armband by Fabricio Coloccini after coming on in the second half at St James' Park

Chris Smalling battles with Riviere for the ball in the first half of United's narrow win over Newcastle