Newcastle United inflicted pain on Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United with the race for the top four now in the hands of Eddie Howe’s team.
The Magpies, who won twice before the international break, picked up where they left off with a superb St James’ Park display to leapfrog United into third-place.
While there was jubilation for Newcastle at full-time, United’s poor display prompted an angry player inquest inside the away dressing room, with Erik Ten Hag’s flops sharing harsh words with each other before coaching staff arrived at full-time.
“The players had a chat in the changing room after with no staff around because ultimately it’s down to us as players on the pitch,” Luke Shaw told Sky Sports at full-time.
“It was nowhere near good enough. We had to speak, we had to speak out in front of each other and own up to it.”
The Red Devils have now lost 2-0 to Newcastle, 7-0 to Liverpool and drawn 0-0 with Southampton in their three Premier League matches since the Carabao Cup final and the cracks have begun to show after a fine season up until this point.
Meanwhile, United are still fighting on three fronts after progressing to the semi-final of the FA Cup and the quarter-final of the UEFA Europa League.
But Newcastle now have the advantage domestically as the battle for a place in Europe’s premier competition heats up.
“The race for the top four is going to be a fight, and you can only win that when you match the desire and passion of the opponent,” Ten Hag said at full-time.
“Setbacks always you have to deal with, we have to leave this behind and only take the lessons from the determination, about the passion and desire.”
