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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Rich Jones

Erik ten Hag in stinging criticism of Man Utd attitude as Luke Shaw hits out

Erik ten Hag joined Luke Shaw in blasting Manchester United for a lack of "passion" and "desire" in their defeat to Newcastle United.

The Red Devils were leapfrogged in the Premier League table by their top four rivals after being well beaten at St James' Park. Ten Hag's side were second best throughout the game and were undone by goals by Joe Willock and Callum Wilson.

After the game, Shaw tore into his teammates, claiming they lost because Newcastle had more desire - and Ten Hag echoed those comments in his own post-match interview on Sky Sports.

Ten Hag said: "I hate to say it but they were better today – especially their determination, passion and desire. They wanted to win more so they won.

“We had our opportunities but then you have to go for goal with the determination they did. It wasn’t good enough. We allowed them too many chances. You have to be hungry and give everything every game.

“Our attacking game wasn’t good enough. I don’t want to focus on one person. It was a team performance."

Shaw's comments were equally damning as he hit out at his own team's performance. Speaking to Sky Sports after the final whistle, the left-back said: " Not good enough. I feel like every time I speak after games, bad results, I’m always honest.

What went wrong for Man Utd vs Newcastle? Share your thoughts in the comments below

Erik ten Hag questioned the hunger of his Man Utd side after being beaten by Newcastle (Sky Sports)

"Us as a team, we have to be honest, I do feel Newcastle are a very good side but I don’t think they won the game on quality today, they won it on passion and hunger, desire, attitude and they clearly had that higher motivation than we had. That can’t be possible.

"I feel like we say the same things every time we lose, like I say it’s not acceptable and we know that. It was a massive game today and they wanted it more. At Man Utd that cannot be possible."

Asked if the squad needed to be told a few home truths, Shaw then revealed that talks between the squad had taken place to find a reason for the woeful performance.

Luke Shaw offered an equally damning assessment of Man Utd's performance (Sky Sports)

"I’m not gonna go too much into that but definitely, the players had a bit of a chat in the changing room after with no staff around because it’s down to us players on the pitch and like I said, it was nowhere near good enough. We had to speak out in front of each other.

"I think it’s important, we’re a team and when we go out on that pitch we all need to fight for each other and I think sometimes this season it’s maybe not shown like that. We’ve had a good chat in the changing room after, I’m sure we’ll go over it again and all speak again because I think it’s important.

"We need to realise them problems and realise them quick, change them around because we can still have a very good season but with results like this and performances like this then we can’t."

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