Gary Neville felt Erik ten Hag was partly responsible for Sunday’s 2-0 defeat at St. James’ Park.
Newcastle jumped into third place as Manchester United pushed down to fourth in the Premier League as a result, but the players were first to face the blame after another poor performance on the road.
The Magpies scored two goals in the second half thanks to Joe Willock and substitution Callum Wilson. United were second best in every department.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the match, Neville said Eddie Howe’s changes handed Newcastle the initiative to grab the win.
“Once those changes were made this was the most predictable outcome,” Neville said after Wilson scored, as quoted by the Manchester Evening News.
“Manchester United just had no height in there.
“You are better off having two with them both being centre-backs rather than three with two full-backs, you end up being really exposed.
“Since the two centre backs went off it has been a mess, I didn’t like it. I thought it might be like this. I never see one centre back working, it very rarely does. Shaw is playing as a second centre-back anyway, you might as well have a proper one in there.”
Ten Hag made a number of changes but it didn’t have the desired effect. Both of our starting centre-backs Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez were replaced by Victor Lindelof and Facundo Pellistri towards the end.
By leaving one centre-back on the pitch for the final few minutes, Ten Hag was trying to throw the kitchen sink at Newcastle.
It wasn’t a good day at the office but hopefully the team can bounce back.
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