Senne Lammens says Manchester United must learn from their “collective off day” at Newcastle having been “nowhere near good enough in every aspect” of their first defeat under Michael Carrick.
The former Red Devils midfielder, captain and coach has overseen a remarkable upturn during the seven weeks since he was named Ruben Amorim’s successor for the remainder of the campaign.
Carrick has taken United up to third in the Premier League standings during a remarkable run of six wins in an unbeaten seven-game start that has them on course for Champions League qualification.
But things went awry for the first time on Wednesday, when the visitors failed to capitalise on Jacob Ramsey’s sending-off after Casemiro had cancelled out Anthony Gordon’s penalty in a hectic end to the first half.
Carrick’s men stumbled after the break at St James’ Park and substitute Will Osula’s stunner sealed Newcastle a late 2-1 win as United fell to a first Premier League loss since December 21.
United goalkeeper Lammens said: “It’s a really big disappointment. We knew it was going to be a difficult one, especially away here. The manager warned us.
“I think the first half wasn’t the best but then again we were heading into half-time with a pretty good feeling scoring that goal in the last minute against 10 men, so we had a pretty good feeling.
“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.
“Yeah, it was nowhere near good enough today in every aspect and we need to learn from that.”
Asked what exactly went wrong and he believes United need to fix, straight-talking Lammens told MUTV: “I mean, yeah, just like physicality, the effort.
“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.
A long trip north on a Wednesday night, and we heard you throughout.
Thank you to the Reds that travelled to Newcastle tonight 👏❤️ pic.twitter.com/4jOyfsjj13
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) March 4, 2026
“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.”
United have plenty of time to mull over Wednesday’s meek performance in the north east as third round FA Cup exit and lack of European football means they do not return to action until March 15 at home to Aston Villa.
“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,” Lammens added.
“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.”
