Erik ten Hag mocks full-time debate with referee and hails cramp-free Man Utd

Erik ten Hag kept his advice on refereeing after Manchester United failed to 'kill' Newcastle in a frustrating goalless draw.

A packed Old Trafford witnessed a tense Premier League clash between these six top teams on Sunday afternoon, which began with Callum Wilson seeing a penalty appeal ignored.

Joelinton twice hit the woodwork in an impressive first half for Newcastle, but the hosts bounced back after the break and Cristiano Ronaldo quickly saw two goals disallowed.

There was no argument over the first decision, but the Portuguese was enraged by the second when he claimed Fabian Schar had taken the free kick, meaning he was free to score before Nick Pope could react.

Howe disagreed with this view and said it would have been "very hard to swallow" if it hadn't been turned down, which was presented to Ten Hag during the post-match press conference.

"I have no comment," said the United boss. "Everyone saw it."

In addition to Ronaldo's decision, Jadon Sancho was among those who saw second-half penalty appeals ignored and Ten Hag spoke animatedly to referee Craig Pawson after the final whistle.

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The Dutchman laughed when asked if it was because he was unhappy with several decisions, replying: "As I said, I share this with them. You can try ( to ask me).

"Everyone saw the game. It's your job to judge the performance of the teams and referees, not me, so I won't."

Despite feeling beaten down, Ten Hag's side came close to earning a victory in the death as substitute Marcus Rashford crossed for Fred before heading just wide in stoppage time .

"I'm disappointed with the result but I'm happy with the performance," said Ten Hag.

"A lot of elements of the team, the way of playing, we transferred to the field. We saw that.

"The pressing throughout the game was good. The possession in the second half was better. We improved after the half.

"Then you saw that we were dominating this game from afar in the second half and also at the end the physique, again the mentality, how we carried on.

"You saw the issues they had and they're one of the best physical teams in the league. They all had cramps and we didn't because we let them run because we were good with the ball and that our pressing was good.

“In the end, we broke them, but we didn't kill them by not scoring. We had chances with Rashford - the assist for Fred and the header from a very good cross from Casemiro.

"OK, it happens, in football, so happy with the performance but disappointed with the result."

Ronaldo looked disappointed to be knocked out as United chased a winner - shaking his head and mumbling to himself as he walked away - and that was the only change Ten Hag made on Sunday.

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"We have to cover four games in 10 days - and especially for the forwards, I want them to stay fresh," he said.

"I want them all to stay fresh so we have to rotate there. We have some issues. (Anthony) Martial is not available at the moment so we have one less player.

“Then Rashy was under bad weather so he had no energy for the whole game so we have to plan to cover all four games because we want to win all four games or at least get a result in the four games."

READ MORE: Ronaldo's circus could distract from Man Utd's frustrating but fair sidestep

Newcastle boss Eddie Howe was pleased with his side's performance at Old Trafford and felt they had a "very strong" penalty for Raphael Varane's first challenge on Wilson.

The Magpies now host Everton ahead of a trip to Tottenham – big-money summer signing Alexander Isak will miss games with a troublesome thigh injury.

To complicate matters, fan favorite Allan Saint-Maximin missed Sunday's trip to Old Trafford after complaining of a hamstring problem after returning last weekend.< /p>

"It's a huge blow to us," Howe said. "These are two very different cases.

"Maxi has a very mild hamstring irritation. The issue we have is in itself, it would probably be in a few days, but as it's the third time he's had it now, we're going to have to do very careful about his return to the game.

"It's a blow and Alex has just injured his thigh again. It's a very similar injury to the first one he suffered with Sweden.

"He's going to be out for a while. We probably won't see him again until after the World Cup break."