Alan Shearer appeared to launch a blistering attack on Jadon Sancho as he slammed the winger for his conduct during Manchester United's draw with Newcastle.
Sancho was recalled to the Red Devils' starting line-up for the visit of the Magpies to Old Trafford. He repaid Erik ten Hag 's faith with a lively performance, though was unable to help his side secure a sixth Premier League win of the season.
One of his biggest contributions came 13 minutes into the second-half when he saw a claim for a penalty turned down by referee Craig Pawson. Sancho had picked up the ball in the box when Sean Longstaff appeared to swipe his legs from under him.
Pawson though saw nothing wrong with the challenge and allowed play to continue. Video Assistant Referee Jarred Gillet also saw nothing wrong and declined to overturn Pawson's decision.
Shearer, meanwhile, was left furious with Sancho's actions, and accused the England international of simulation on social media. He wrote on Twitter : "Keep on f****** diving you might get one eventually!!!" in what appeared to be a blast at Sancho following the incident.
United boss Ten Hag declined to comment on Pawson's decisions following the draw. Instead, the Dutchman expressed his disappointment that the Red Devils had not been able to break down their visitors.
HAVE YOUR SAY! Should Jadon Sancho have been awarded a penalty against Newcastle? Comment below.
"I don't have a comment, everyone has seen it. You can try [asking] but everyone has seen the game. Everyone has seen the game and it is your job to judge the performance from the team and from the referees. Not me, I will not do it," he said.
"We are disappointed we didn't win as the performance was good. A clean sheet, we pressed well from the front to the back and we controlled it, I think. I thought we were good on the ball in stages, especially the second half.
"We were a little bit erratic in the first half. You see a physical team as Newcastle, we matched them, at least. In the end, we could have won and we deserved to win. It's a big compliment to the team that we could deserve this with a physical performance against maybe the best physical team in the league.
"We beat them in the midfield and we created chances. They gave everything they had, individually and team-wise and deserved winning because we created the chances. We missed two huge chances - we could, and should, have scored the winning goal."
Former Sunderland star Micky Gray did insist that United could feel aggrieved though. He insisted that despite Sancho's theatrical reaction, there was enough contact from Longstaff for a penalty to be awarded.
"I'm really shocked this has not gone to VAR, there's contact. There's no contact with the ball, it's in the area. It doesn't matter what Sancho does afterwards, the contact was there. He's inside the 18-yard box, he chopped back onto his right foot. It should have been a penalty. But it looks again like they've got away with it Newcastle," he told talkSPORT.
