Rob Elliot believes Newcastle United’s young squad will learn from the 4-1 humbling at Old Trafford - and take the “positives” from the game.
Dwight Gayle gave the Magpies a shock early lead in the North West, before goals from Anthony Martial, Chris Smalling, Paul Pogba and Romelu Lukaku saw Manchester United eventually ease to victory.
But this was the first time Rafa Benitez’s side have visited one of the so-called ‘Big Six’ teams in the Premier League this season, and Elliot insists they will be better for the experience, despite suffering a chastening second half.
“We’ve played 4-4-2 at Old Trafford, so we wanted to get on the front foot and control things as best we could be getting after them,” the 31-year-old goalkeeper said.
“If you come here and don’t look to win the game, then you’re just waiting to get beat. But on the flipside, they do have immense quality and they can take half-chances, or with the quality they have really put your box under pressure.
“The effort was there though, this was a big learning curve for us, and we have to go to a couple of big grounds in the next few weeks.
“We’ve shown we can take it to these teams, and hopefully we’ll be able to see it through next time.
“We made an excellent start for the first 30 minutes or so, but then obviously they got the first goal and then that swung the momentum to them.
“During the second half their quality really shone through, so it was a bit disappointing.
“This was a tough game for us because it was the first time we’ve really gone to one of the big four teams away from home this season, and it’s another new experience for this young squad.”
Benitez has stressed all season that Newcastle players and fans must remain calm throughout the campaign, never getting too high after victories or too low after defeats.
And Elliot has echoed the importance of that message, highlighting the youthful nature of the Magpies squad.
“He always keeps that consistent message. He keeps reiterating how we’re in a completely different league and level now to the Championship of last season,” Elliot added.
“We still maintain that survival is first and foremost, then we can hopefully build as a team. We’re still young as a team and there will be games when things don’t go to plan, but we’ve got to stick together and obviously the manager’s experience will help us.
“We just need to keep doing what we’re doing, sticking to the gameplan, and if we do that then I think we’ll have a lot more positives than negatives.”
One positive for Newcastle was Gayle netting his first goal of the season and appearing to rediscover his previous sharpness.
Elliot has also seen promising signs in Gayle’s burgeoning partnership with Joselu up front in the 4-4-2 system Benitez has employed during the last two outings.
“He hasn’t had a lot of opportunities this season, but we know what a great striker and finisher he is,” Elliot said of Gayle.
“It was a great finish and to see him and Joselu working well together is great for the team and gave us a few options out on the pitch.
“We’re not going to have to play Man United away every week thankfully. We’ve got Watford at home next week and hopefully we can take our good moments into the game and know we won’t get punished like we were at times here.”
Elliot collided with team-mate Javier Manquillo when he came to collect the ball during the first half at Old Trafford and received treatment on the pitch.
He insists that it merely a dead leg, however, and that he will be fine to face Watford this weekend.
The Republic of Ireland international continued: “I just got a dead leg. It’s just one of those things where, when you’re playing you feel fine because you’re still warm and can just get on with it.
“Hopefully it’ll be fine for me to come back straightaway. It was just an innocuous knock and hopefully it isn’t too bad and I’ll just carry on in the team because I’ve enjoyed being back after my long recovery from my knee injury.”