Erik ten Hag admitted he became “aggressive” with Anthony Martial amid first-half Newcastle’s dominance in their defeat of Manchester United.

With Newcastle bombarding United’s goal in the first half, Ten Hag rounded on Martial, who expressed his dismay at the United manager’s complaints.

Rasmus Hojlund was instructed to warm-up and the Dane went through his paces again at half-time but Martial still re-emerged for the second half.

Anthony Gordon scored the only goal of the game in the 55th minute and Martial was replaced by Hojlund six minutes later.

“It’s not about Anthony Martial, it’s about the team,” Ten Hag said. “I try to energise the team and try to get a reaction from the team in this moment.

“As you see, we had a tough period and when you’re coaching you are a little more aggressive, so that’s normal.”

Newcastle was the last of three successive away games for United, who won one, drew one and lost one. In a week where they squandered a two-goal lead against Galatasaray to remain bottom of Group A in the Champions League, they were leapfrogged by Newcastle in the Premier League table.

United, now seventh, host Chelsea on Wednesday night in the first of three consecutive home fixtures. Ten Hag is convinced there will be a response from the players to their 10th defeat of the campaign on Tyneside.

“I will talk with my team about the reasons but we have to do better,” he acknowledged. “And, as I said, I am sure they will pick this up, I am sure they are resilient and they have the character to do this.

“I’m not hoping, I’m sure. We have seen good performances in the week against Everton and Galatasaray and you always want to play the perfect game every game but you have so many games in a short period you can also have a less good performance.

“And now we have to pick this up.”