David de Gea did not hold back in a scathing assessment of Manchester United’s poor performance in their 1-0 loss to Newcastle on Sunday, saying he has not experienced a worse time at the club.
A debut goal from teenage star Matty Longstaff was enough to seal a win for Newcastle in a drab Premier League match at St James’ Park, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team barely threatening throughout.
An Andreas Pereira shot from range and an header from Harry Maguire were as close as they got to troubling Martin Dubravka as the result stretched their Premier League winless run to eight away matches, and ten in all competitions – their last victory on the road coming in the Champions League at Paris Saint-Germain.
“We didn’t create any proper chances,” De Gea fumed on Sky Sports. “We defended well. The team needs to step up.
“We have some big injuries but that’s no excuse. We are Manchester United, we need to keep training hard, fighting and winning games.”
The only goal of the match came from a Manchester United corner, with the home team breaking through Allan Saint-Maximin who teed up Longstaff to score from the edge of the area.
The international break may well come as a relief for some United supporters, but it presents Solskjaer with a difficult couple of weeks – unless a decision is made on his fate before then.
After the break, United’s first game sees them take on Liverpool. Jurgen Klopp’s side have a perfect record in the league after eight matches, are on a 17-match winning run in the Premier League.
The Red devils therefore have plenty to work on before then, and when asked what they had to improve on, De Gea replied: “Everything. A lot of things to improve. I don’t know what to say.
“Keep trying, fighting, improving every day. It’s a hard moment for us.
“[This is] the most difficult time since I’ve been here. I don’t know why, what is happening. Sorry to the fans. We will keep fighting.
“Come on, we conceded a goal from a corner. That cannot happen. It’s unacceptable.”
