Erik ten Hag explains why he was pleased with Manchester United playing out from the back vs Newcastle

Erik ten Hag was pleased with how Manchester United played out from the back in their defeat at Newcastle even though Joe Willock's winning goal came from a United goal kick.

Lisandro Martinez played the ball short to David de Gea, who passed it wide to Raphael Varane on the right side of the defence, only he was quickly boxed in by Alexander Isak and Newcastle won a throw-in.

Although United regained possession twice, they failed to clear their lines and the best part of a minute had elapsed before Willock nodded in from Allan Saint-Maximin's header across goal.

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Newcastle forward Jacob Murphy revealed the hosts targeted De Gea at goal kicks as he "was taking his time with it, he was asking everyone to go up field, then hit long".

Many United supporters have been surprised that Martinez is taking goal kicks when he is renowned for his distribution, whereas De Gea is regarded as a liability with the ball at his feet.

United host Brentford on Wednesday night in the reverse fixture of their 4-0 hammering at the Community Stadium, where they conceded the second goal from a De Gea goal kick.

"We work all day on that," Ten Hag explained. "I think we played that part of the game very well against Newcastle; the first stage of the game and the second stage of the game.

"We were really poor in the final third of the game, but we get the balls with our wingers, we get the ball with our 10s, but from that moment on, we were very poor on Sunday.

"The first stage of the game we were very good, we played many times under pressure of Newcastle but and we got the ball with our 10s."

United have dropped to fifth since the loss to Newcastle as Tottenham drew