Newcastle United midfielder Dan Gosling believes that his side played better against Manchester United than the 4-0 scoreline would suggest.

The Magpies conceded four goals for the second week in a row following their drubbing at the hands of Southampton seven days ago.

Juan Mata scored a brace at St James' Park to go with strikes from Javier Hernandez and Adnan Januzaj to hand the Red Devils a comfortable victory.

Gosling told the club's official website: "At 1-0 the game is still very much alive, we came out for the second half with a game plan but conceded a very sloppy goal.

"Against a good team like Manchester United, it's very tough to come back from that. It's not nice to concede four goals two weeks running but at Southampton we deserved it.

"Today, I don't think 4-0 did the game justice. The first half was very tight and if we had got the first goal, or gone in goalless at half time, then it could have been a very different game."

The Magpies are ninth in the Premier League on 46 points after 33 games.