Manchester United will spend New Year's Day just seven points above the relegation zone after a fourth consecutive defeat in all competitions.

The 2-0 loss to Newcastle United was their third successive in the Premier League, with meetings against Liverpool, Arsenal and Southampton to come in the next few weeks. Relegation-battlers Ipswich Town also picked up their first home win over Chelsea and are just one point from safety.

It's fair to say their final game of the year failed to give fans any hope heading into 2025. With that said, MEN Sport has taken a look at how the national media reported on events at Old Trafford.

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The Telegraph's Jason Burt wrote: "Ruben Amorim declared pre-match that it was the “end of any coach” if he changes his “idea”. Post-match and that idea – with this squad of strawmen Manchester United players – was left burning on a bonfire of vanities. It is harsh to describe Amorim’s persistence with a 3-4-2-1 system as vain when he is clearly a manager of undoubted ability who needs to be given time and has accepted an extremely difficult job.

"United have been crying out for an identity and Amorim is trying to give them that. Fair enough. But, for now, there needs to be a middle ground. Otherwise, that identity is losing. United are persevering with a shape that they do not have the players to execute – although goodness knows what formation works with this bunch. Unsurprisingly, they were beaten again.

"Amorim’s system has brought success and brought him to United, but any rational analysis has to question how he felt it could work against Newcastle. Simply look at this: he paired 32-year-old Casemiro and Christian Eriksen, never known for their athleticism, against an awesome, powerful midfield trio of Bruno Guimaraes, Joelinton and Sandro Tonali. So guess what? United were overrun. Who would have thought that?"

Oliver Holt of the Daily Mail added: "The bad news for Manchester United was not so much that they were outclassed by Newcastle United and fell to a third successive home defeat in the league for the first time since 1979. The bad news for Ruben Amorim and his team was not so much that they embarrassed themselves in a first half where Newcastle made the game look like men against boys and should have put the contest out of reach.

"The bad news was not even that United looked clueless, hopeless and witless in that opening 45 minutes and that they fell, deservedly, to their fifth league defeat in the last six games with a 2-0 scoreline that flattered them. No, the bad news for Amorim and United was that Ipswich Town won on Monday night. The bad news was that Ipswich shocked the league by beating Chelsea at Portman Road and, in the process, moved to within seven points of United.

"That is United’s reality now. Any hopes of Champions League qualification are long, long gone. They are in 14th place and falling fast. They play Liverpool away on Sunday and, on this evidence, they haven’t got a prayer of getting anything out of that. They are in a relegation fight. That’s the truth. The results they need to look out for now are Ipswich and Wolves and Crystal Palace and Everton. Because that is their level now. That is the company they are keeping."

Paul Hirst for The Times stated: "This is the darkest period of ­Manchester United’s Premier League history so far. The last two words of that sentence are crucial, because as bad as this performance was — and it was truly awful — there is little sign that things will get better any time soon. The margin of Newcastle United’s second league win at Old Trafford since 1972 was only two goals, but make no mistake, Rúben Amorim’s team took a real battering here.

The first-half performance was as weak, pitiful and clueless as any witnessed here since Sir Alex Ferguson hung up his hairdryer 11 years ago. Amorim, the first United manager to lose six games in December, cannot ­afford too many repeat performances otherwise his team will end up in a relegation fight. Joshua Zirkzee’s Premier League career is in its infancy, but the fact that he cost £9 million less than Anthony Gordon, who gleefully ripped United’s right side to shreds, says a lot about the club’s recent record in the transfer market.

"Amorim, who kept Marcus Rashford on the bench throughout, watched on in despair as Alexander Isak and ­Joelinton took advantage of some ­sloppy defending. He had tried to quell the displeasure of the United support before kick-off, assuring fans: “This period will not last for ever." It was a fair enough statement, but the United meltdown that followed in the opening 45 minutes had nothing to do with systems or tactics. It was down to a lack of hard work, skill and confidence."

The Guardian's Jamie Jackson continued: "Manchester United are dipping towards the drop zone under Ruben Amorim, a head coach who took over on 11 November and forgot to pack the “bounce” often gifted to an employer after sacking the last guy. Once more the 3-4-3 formation failed, and Joshua Zirkzee being yanked off after half an hour is a glaring emblem of United’s ­disarray. Another was the reinstatement of Marcus Rashford to the squad after the forward said he wanted a “new challenge”; make sense of the head coach’s thinking on that one, if you can.

"Amorim keeps on saying he has to follow his “idea” to the end but it will prove pure folly if the side ­repeatedly lose and players become more disenchanted. Amorim was to blame for the gaping holes as, with Manuel Ugarte and Bruno Fernandes unavailable, he eschewed the 19-year-old legs of Kobbie Mainoo to send Casemiro and Christian Eriksen – at a combined age of 64– into combat against Newcastle’s muscular trio of Joelinton, ­Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes.

"After 11 games, the Portuguese coach’s record reads six defeats, four wins and one draw. Peer at the table and United are 14th on 22 points. No ­wonder, afterwards, Amorim admitted rele­gation is a threat and “our club needs a shock.”