Erik ten Hag tore into his Manchester United players, accusing them of a lack of maturity, fight and hunger as Newcastle blew the race for the top four wide open.

Newcastle went up to third, above United on goal difference, as Eddie Howe’s side exacted a modicum of revenge for February’s League Cup final defeat at Wembley.

United managed just one shot on target and have failed to score in their past three Premier League outings, with Ten Hag withering in his criticism of his side’s performance.

“I was surprised that we couldn’t match the determination and passion of the opponent,” the United manager said. “You know before when you travel to St James’ Park and Newcastle what we will be going on, especially after we won the cup. So if you want to win big games you have to be mature and I didn’t see that today (Sunday) on the pitch.

“I hate to say it — they were better, especially in determination, passion and desire. They wanted to win more this week, so they won.”

Luke Shaw said frank words were exchanged among the players in the dressing room after the game as the United defender branded the performance and attitude “unacceptable”.

“The players had a chat with no staff around,” Shaw said. “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.

“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.

“They won it on passion, hunger, desire, attitude and clearly had higher motivation than we did.

“That can’t be possible. It was a massive game and they wanted it more. At Manchester United, that cannot be possible.

“We didn’t create too much and you can say (this result) has been coming even before the international break.

"We have dropped levels, and it was clear to see the levels were not there. We have three days to pick it back up because Brentford (on Wednesday) is going to be a very tough game.”

Ten Hag agreed with Shaw’s verdict. “I totally agree, and that was also my assessment of this game,” the Dutchman said. “They were more determined, more aggressive and had more desire in many occasions on the pitch and then you can’t win games.”

Ten Hag defended his decision to substitute both centre-backs, Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane, in the 83rd minute, after which Newcastle scored their second.

“That was the end of the game, we were 1-0 down and you risk everything, but before (then) we bring on Anthony Martial and Jadon Sancho to get more control in possession,” Ten Hag said.

The Daily Telegraph in London