Amorim has no excuses for Man Utd's latest meltdown, 'unusual' errors for Spurs

Ruben Amorim admitted Manchester United's embarrassing 4-1 defeat at Newcastle on Sunday was the latest in a long line of mistake-filled performances from his troubled team.

United slumped to another chastening loss as Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes struck either side of Harvey Barnes' brace for a rampant Newcastle at St James' Park.

United's 14 league defeats this season are their joint highest in a single Premier League campaign.

They last suffered more losses in a top-flight season in 1989-90, when they came 13th.

Without a win in their last four games in all competitions, United are languishing in 14th place as they try to avoid their lowest finish since being relegated in 21st place in 1973-74.

Alejandro Garnacho's first-half equaliser was no consolation for United, who were out-fought and out-classed after the interval in a loss that showed the vast gap between Amorim's men and the Premier League's elite at present.

"Many mistakes. They were stronger in the second balls, they were a better team, but we did a lot of mistakes which makes it harder to win a game," Amorim said.

"It is a little bit of everything, it is hard to point one thing that goes wrong in these moments.

"It is really hard to win against these top teams when you make mistakes which help the opponent to score. But let's focus on Thursday, which is really important for us."

Amorim replaced the sacked Erik ten Hag in November, but has been unable to revitalise United, who are already guaranteed to suffer their lowest points total in the Premier League era.

'NOT BEEN CONSISTENT'

The former Sporting Lisbon boss' last chance to salvage United's wretched campaign rests with the Europa League.

Lyon visit Old Trafford for the quarterfinal second leg on Thursday with the tie level at 2-2.

"I understand it but I don't care," Amorim said of criticism of his turbulent reign.

"Nothing is worse than losing games. People can say whatever they want to say.

"I don't want to defend myself or anything like that, because if you look at our position in the table, it says it all. So let's move on.

"It is really important on Thursday. Losing games is the hardest part by far from this job, so again let's focus on Thursday."

United captain Bruno Fernandes conceded his team are missing the fighting spirit and consistency required to thrive in the Premier League.

"We are in this position because we have not been consistent in the performances we put out," he said.

"We lack being more fearless, being more brave. Today was not the case because we ended up conceding goals by trying to be brave.

"It's easy to criticise because this club has never suffered like this, so it's normal. You have to be aware you play for United and criticism will be there."

Assistant boss Jason Tindall took charge of Newcastle, with manager Eddie Howe recovering from illness after being admitted to hospital on Friday.

"I have just seen a message from him congratulating the performance from everybody and the team," Tindall said.

"He was able to watch it and it lifted his spirits. I think he put his trust in everybody to go out there and deliver a performance he would be proud of and the lads certainly delivered that."

'UNUSUAL' ERRORS AT FAULT FOR LATEST SPURS DEFEAT

Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou defended his side's performance despite falling to a 17th Premier League defeat of the season in a 4-2 loss at Wolves on Sunday.

Spurs were undone by a catalogue of errors at Molineux.

Rayan Ait-Nouri gave Wolves a flying start inside two minutes before Guglielmo Vicario punched the ball off Djed Spence for a calamitous own goal to make it 2-0.

Twice the visitors got themselves back into the game thanks to goals from Matys Tel and Richarlison, only to concede straight away as Jorgen Strand Larsen and Matheus Cunha restored Wolves' two-goal cushion.

"Funny game because for the most part it was decent, considering the changes we made," said Postecoglou.

"I thought we controlled large parts and were a bit of a threat going forward, but then we've conceded some poor goals.

"We made some individual errors, which is unusual for us, but they all happened in one game. It's not like they are doing it on purpose."

Spurs are languishing in 15th in the Premier League, leaving the Europa League as the last chance to save their season and possibly Postecoglou's job.

They travel to Eintracht Frankfurt on Thursday for the second leg of their quarterfinal with the tie finely poised at 1-1.

Wolves secured four successive top-flight wins for the first time since January 1972 with the victory.

Their survival in the Premier League is now close to being sure thanks to a significant upturn since Vitor Pereira's appointment in December.

"If I start to speak about being safe, I don't show my ambition," said the Portuguese as his side climbed to within two points of Tottenham and three behind Manchester United.

"I didn't come to England to work just to avoid relegation, I'm not this kind of coach.

"Mentally we are strong. We feel that we can win and compete with the other teams."

Pereira left top scorer Cunha on the bench on his return from a four-match ban.

The Brazilian was quoted in a recent interview that his future lies away from Wolves next season, but Pereira insisted the 25-year-old is committed to the club.

"I feel that he went to the pitch not to think about him but think about the team," added Pereira.

"He is part of our family."

MARESCA WON'T PLEAD FOR CHELSEA FANS' BACKING

Enzo Maresca refused to plead for the backing of Chelsea's frustrated fans after his spluttering team were booed off during their 2-2 draw against Ipswich on Sunday.

Blues boss Maresca and his players were jeered at halftime with Chelsea trailing 2-0 against third-bottom Ipswich.

Chelsea dominated the opening 20 minutes, but fell behind when Julio Enciso tapped in Ben Johnson's cutback against the run of play.

Johnson headed in Enciso's cross to double Ipswich's lead and turn the atmosphere toxic at Stamford Bridge.

That goal saw Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez ignore Maresca's preferred method of building the play from the back, choosing instead to punt the ball long, which led to Ipswich mounting their attack.

Although Chelsea fought back through an Axel Tuanzebe own goal and a stunning late effort from Jadon Sancho, the point did little to bolster their bid to qualify for the Champions League.

Chelsea sit in sixth place, one point behind fifth-placed Manchester City with six games left in the race to qualify for the Champions League via a top five finish.

Maresca appeared to suggest supporters' frustrations with Chelsea's slow build-up play was what hurried Sanchez into playing a pass that led to his team conceding.

"We are a team that most of the time our goal-kicks we play short," said Maresca, who has previously said he would substitute players that did not carry out his instructions regarding playing out from the back.

"The second goal we decided to play long because of the environment and we conceded the second one.

"We conceded a goal when the players decided to play long ball, but sometimes if you go long it doesn't mean you are going to control things. The second goal we conceded was that."

Not for the first time in a difficult first season in charge for Maresca, boos cascaded down from the stands during an erratic Chelsea performance.

Chelsea are still in the hunt for Champions League qualification and hold a 3-0 lead after the first leg against Legia Warsaw in the Uefa Conference League quarterfinals.

The Italian stopped short of begging Chelsea fans to get behind their team, but admitted it would be a help to their chances.

"We are stronger with our fans, we are a better team. It's up to them to decide the way. When we were 0-1, 0-2, it's normal for them to be the way they were," he said.