Newcastle United winger Jacob Murphy has admitted that the home side gained confidence from David de Gea's dawdling at goal kicks during the opening exchanges of Sunday's 2-0 win over Manchester United at St James' Park.
The Magpies moved above United in the Premier League table on goal difference, climbing to third, courtesy of second-half goals from Joe Willock and substitute Callum Wilson.
Newcastle created a plethora of chances during the first half and had it not been for De Gea they would have gone into the half-time interval with their noses in front. The Spaniard produced a brilliant double save in the blink of an eye to thwart Alexander Isak and then Willock on the follow-up.
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Despite making those saves, it was his dithering at goal-kicks that frustrated the home crowd. At certain junctures during the contest, the shot-stopper took an age to restart the game, debating whether to send the ball long or play it short.
And Murphy, who has netted one goal in the Premier League this season, has revealed that he immediately sensed that Newcastle were going to be given the upper hand because of the United goalkeeper's decision-making.
"I started my press off from their goal kick or whatever," Murphy told the Vibe with Five podcast. "At their first goal kick, De Gea was taking a while and I thought this was a bit unusual as I thought that they would start playing it out quick.
"He was taking his time with it and he ended up asking everyone to go up field and kicked it long, so I was thinking, 'OK, let's see how the next goal kick goes'. They were just taking a while and there was lots of people pointing, saying, 'You go here, you go there'. I could sense from there that we were going to have a good game from there."
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