Man United star issues rallying cry after ‘nowhere near good enough’ performance in loss at Newcastle | OneFootball

Manchester United goalkeeper Senne Lammens has sharply criticised his side’s 2-1 defeat to Newcastle, branding it a "collective off day" where they were "nowhere near good enough in every aspect".

The loss at St James’ Park marked the first setback for Michael Carrick since taking the helm seven weeks ago, ending his impressive unbeaten start.

Carrick had overseen a remarkable upturn in fortunes, guiding United to third in the Premier League standings with an unbeaten run of seven games, including six victories, putting them firmly on course for Champions League qualification.

However, that momentum faltered dramatically on Wednesday. Despite Jacob Ramsey’s sending-off for Newcastle and Casemiro’s equaliser after Anthony Gordon’s penalty in a chaotic end to the first half, United failed to capitalise.

open image in gallery

Michael Carrick suffered his first loss as Man United manager on Wednesday

The visitors struggled after the break and substitute Will Osula’s stunning late strike sealed a 2-1 win for the Magpies, handing United their first Premier League loss since 21 December.

Reflecting on the disappointing result, Lammens stated: "It’s a really big disappointment. We knew it was going to be a difficult one, especially away here. The manager warned us."

Despite a "pretty good feeling" at half-time after scoring against ten men, Lammens admitted the team failed to heed Carrick's warnings.

"But he warned us that it was not going to be easy and we had to attack them and try to break them quickly because the longer you wait for that and the longer it stays 1-1, you know one opportunity and one opportunity it can be changed. That’s today what happened."

Asked what went wrong, Lammens pointed to a lack of fundamental qualities.

"I mean, yeah, just like physicality, the effort," he explained. "It felt like we didn’t bring enough or the same as they did and then it’s always going to be a tough one, especially here with their fans behind them."

He stressed the unacceptability of the team’s collective failure: "I mean, you can have off days of course, but it’s a collective off day which is not really possible. Not in this league, not against those teams so we need to learn from it."

open image in gallery

Will Osula broke Man United hearts in the 90th minute

United now face a significant break, with no further fixtures until 15 March at home to Aston Villa, due to their FA Cup exit and lack of European commitments. This provides ample time for reflection.

Lammens acknowledged the difficult period ahead but called for a strong response.

"Today is a real disappointment and the feeling is really bad, but we have a couple of days and I think weeks where we need to get together and we need to think about how to react," he concluded.

"Starting from tomorrow, it’s going to be like this and in training keep the intensity going that we can deliver in the games and then react in the next game."