Alan Shearer believes there are “too many bad eggs” in the Manchester United dressing room following their drab 1-0 defeat against Newcastle on Saturday.
The Red Devils produced disappointing performance at St James’ Park, as Anthony Gordon’s second-half strike condemned Erik ten Hag’s side to their first Premier League defeat in four matches. United had gone on a three-match winning run in the top flight prior to the trip to Tyneside.
It’s a result that has dropped United down to seventh, having won eight and lost six of their 14 Premier League matches so far this season. Although the Red Devils was the division’s most in-form side heading into this weekend’s fixtures, performances have not been convincing and Shearer was far from impressed from what he saw against Newcastle.
“They [Newcastle] absolutely battered Man United in wide areas,” Shearer said on Match of the Day. “[Kieran] Trippier and [Tino] Livramento were sensational against [Aaron] Wan-Bissaka and [Diogo] Dalot.
“In their defence, they got no help whatsoever from [Alejandro] Garnacho and [Marcus] Rashford. Rashford didn’t look at it at all – didn’t look interested. It happened so many times. Newcastle created so many chances and they should have had many goals.
“For me, there are too many bad eggs in that Man United team. Too many bad attitudes. It’s alright when things are going well for you, you can get your feet on the ball, play and pick your head up when things are nice and rosy.
“When it’s not going for you, when you’re a bit tired and you’ve got to roll your sleeves up, there’s not enough characters in that team.”
Ten Hag reflected on his side’s display and admitted Newcastle deserved to claim all three points. The Red Devils have now lost their last three matches against Eddie Howe’s side in all competitions.
“We had a tough first half and we said at half-time, we were pleased to be at 0-0 and we had to stay in the game, but we didn’t,” Ten Hag told TNT Sport. “We had a good comeback in the last part of the game. That is the fight we have to show. In the end we stayed in the game and we had some good chances from Reguilon.
“There was a clearance off the line and we thought we scored a goal, but offside. We could have drawn and overall you have to say Newcastle deserve to win.”
