Shaw: That was unacceptable

The left-back echoed manager Erik ten Hag in his belief that the Reds failed to rise to the occasion on Tyneside, with second-half headers from Joe Willock and Callum Wilson proving key.

“I don’t think [Newcastle] won the game on quality today,” our no.23 told Sky Sports. “I think they won it on passion, hunger, desire, and attitude. 

“They clearly had higher motivation than we did, and that can’t be possible. It’s not acceptable.

“We know it was a massive game today and they wanted it more. At Manchester United, that cannot be possible.” 

The Reds struggled going forward throughout the contest, with Antony's long-range effort early in the second half going down as our only shot on target.  

“It’s an extremely tough place to come and if we don’t have that [passion and hunger] we’re going to suffer, it was obvious on the pitch,” added Luke.

“We didn’t create too much, and I think you can say it’s been coming since before the international break, we dropped levels and it was clear to see today.”

Shaw revealed that he and his team-mates shared words with each other in the dressing room following the full-time whistle and are keen to put things right.

“The players had a chat in the changing room after with no staff around, because ultimately it’s down to us players on the pitch. 

“It was nowhere near good enough and we had to speak. We have to speak out in front of each other.”

In light of his honest assessment from today’s game, our left-back is keen to look forward to what could still be a ‘special’ season for United.

We face Old Trafford outings against Brentford and Everton in the Premier League, before the start of our Europa League quarter-final tie at home against Seville on Thursday 13 April. We do, of course, also have the Emirates FA Cup semi-final with Brighton to look forward to later in the month.

“We’re a team and when we go out on that pitch, we all need to fight for each other, we need to be there for each other – I think sometimes this season it hasn’t [looked] like that.

“It’s important that we realise the problems quick and change them around because we can still have a very good season.”