Luke Shaw: Manchester United lacked passion, desire, hunger and attitude at Newcastle
Luke Shaw has admitted Manchester United were beaten by “passion, desire, hunger and attitude” in their 2-0 defeat at Newcastle – describing the nature of their defeat as “unacceptable”.
In a one-sided encounter, second-half goals by Joe Willock and Callum Wilson saw Newcastle surge to an impressive 2-0 win and leapfrog Erik ten Hag’s side into third in the Premier League.
“I don’t think they won the game on quality today, they won it on passion, desire, hunger, attitude, and they had higher motivation than us and that can’t be possible,” Shaw told Sky Sports. “I feel I say the same things every time we lose. It’s not acceptable. At Manchester United that can’t be possible.”
While the scoreline was sufficiently damaging for Manchester United’s top-four hopes, the devil was in the detail as Newcastle registered an XG of 3.54 compared to Man Utd’s 0.54 and the hosts made 134 sprints compared to the visitors’ 93.
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Man Utd boss Ten Hag was equally unimpressed with his team’s limp display.
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“Luke Shaw was right, I agree with him, Newcastle wanted it more,” he said. “They were more determined, passionate and had more desire.”
Speaking to Sky Sports, the United manager added: “I hate to say it, they were better today. Especially in determination, passion and desire. They wanted to win more this week. So they won.
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“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. In the past we were better. You have to be hungry, give everything, every game.
“Our attacking game was not good enough.”
Since winning the Carabao Cup final by beating Newcastle on February 26, United have failed to score a goal in their three subsequent Premier League matches, losing 7-0 at Liverpool, drawing 0-0 at home to Southampton before suffering this Sunday’s setback.
“They have been well beaten today, let us be clear,” summarised Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville.
“They play Brentford and Everton in the next week. If they get six points, they look like they are in a great position again.
“But they are not fooling anyone in terms of the bigger picture of where they need to go. Erik ten Hag will know that they need to make sure they continue to improve but there are worrying signs in these big matches away from home.
“They just do not turn up. They were never in that game today. You are thinking they are going to improve in the second half but they did not. They were really poor in the second half as well as the first half. They deserved to get beaten.
“Newcastle did want it more. When you look at Manchester United’s season, I am happy overall. But you have got to turn up in the big games away from home. You have to know you can play well in the biggest games.
“Barcelona away was an outlier. They played really well in Barcelona [in the Europa League]. But other than that, against the top teams, they have not shown up. There is too much evidence now. If you cannot play in the big games for Manchester United you have no chance.
“Erik ten Hag needs to work out which ones he can take forward and which ones he can’t.”
Read all about it – What Shaw & Ten Hag told Sky Sports after Man Utd’s defeat
Luke Shaw: “Not good enough. Every time I speak after games and bad results, I’m always honest, and we have to be honest as a team. I do think Newcastle are a very good side, but I don’t think they won the game on quality today. They won it on passion, hunger, desire, attitude and clearly had higher motivation than we did. That can’t be possible. I feel as though I say the same things every time we lose. It’s not acceptable, we know that. It was a massive game today and they wanted it more. At Manchester United that cannot be possible.
“It’s painful to say. That why I say it’s unacceptable. We can all admit that. It’s not what we want to set out to be. In big games like this you need that passion, motivation, hunger and attitude because this is an extremely tough place to come to. If we don’t have that we are going to suffer, and that was obvious on the pitch. We didn’t create too much and you can say [this result] has been coming even before the international break. We have dropped levels, it was clear to see today the levels were not there. We have three days to pick it back up because Brentford is going to be a very tough game.
“The players had a chat in the changing room after with no staff around because ultimately its down to us players on the pitch. It was nowhere near good enough and we had to speak and own up to it. When we go out on that pitch we all need to fight for each other and sometimes this season it hasn’t been like that. We need to realise the problems and sort them out quickly because we can still have a very good season, but not with results and performances like this.”
Erik ten Hag: “I hate to say it, they were better today. Especially in determination, passion and desire. They wanted to win more this week. 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. In the past we were better. You have to be hungry, give everything, every game.
“Our attacking game was not good enough. I don’t want to be focused on one person. It’s about a team performance. We didn’t break them. That is the conclusion, we didn’t create good chances.
“We didn’t create, in the first phase we did quite good. We were composed in first and second balls. But in an attacking sense, we created nothing.
“I saw with them a desire, they wanted revenge and they got it. We have to leave it behind, it’s a setback and [we need to] learn from this lesson about passion and desire.
“It is normal. In the season you get setbacks. We’ve done it so many times. After Liverpool, we came back. I don’t have concern – I believe in my team. I believe they will bounce back.”
Man Utd’s remaining Premier League fixtures
Image: Substitute Anthony Martial rues a missed chance against Newcastle
April 5: Brentford (H) – Premier League, kick-off 8pm
April 8: Everton (H) – Premier League, kick-off 12.30pm
April 16: Nottingham Forest (A) – Premier League, kick-off 4.30pm, live on Sky Sports
April 27: Tottenham (A) – Premier League, kick-off 8:15pm
April 30: Aston Villa (H) – Premier League, kick-off 2pm
May 4: Brighton (A) – Premier League, kick-off 8pm, live on Sky Sports
May 7: West Ham (A) – Premier League, kick-off 7pm
May 13: Wolves (H) – Premier League, kick-off 3pm
May 20: Bournemouth (A) – Premier League, kick-off 3pm
May 28: Fulham (H) – Premier League, kick-off 4.30pm
TBA: Chelsea (H) – Premier League
Newcastle’s remaining fixtures
Image: Callum Wilson celebrates after doubling Newcastle's lead against Manchester United
April 2: Manchester United (H) – Premier League, kick-off 4.30pm, live on Sky Sports
April 5: West Ham (A) – Premier League, kick-off 8pm, live on Sky Sports
April 8: Brentford (A) – Premier League, kick-off 3pm
April 15: Aston Villa (A) – Premier League, kick-off 12.30pm
April 23: Tottenham (H) – Premier League, kick-off 2pm, live on Sky Sports
April 27: Everton (A) – Premier League, kick-off 7.45pm
April 30: Southampton (H) – Premier League, kick-off 2pm
May 7: Arsenal (H) – Premier League, kick-off 4.30pm, live on Sky Sports
May 13: Leeds (A) – Premier League, kick-off 3pm
May 20: Leicester (H) – Premier League, kick-off 3pm
May 28: Chelsea (A) – Premier League, kick-off 4.30pm
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