David Moyes praised the performance of his Manchester United side after their 3-0 victory over Aston Villa on Sunday but reacted angrily to the perceived targeting of Adnan Januzaj, saying that officials in recent matches have allowed opposition players "terrible" freedom to kick the young attacker.

Januzaj, who played 69 minutes as United bounced back from successive Premier League defeats – both at home – has emerged as an important member of Moyes's side this season but was on the receiving end of a number of challenges during the Villa game.

The Villa right-back Matthew Lowton was reprimanded for a particularly robust tackle on the 18-year-old Belgian who Moyes believes needs more protection from referees, saying that opponents are "queuing up to kick him".

"I think in every game recently, I don't know how many tackles have been on Januzaj," said Moyes. "That's why I'm annoyed with the fourth officials and the referees – before you know it the boy will get a sore one because he is definitely not getting protected by the officials.

"It's terrible what they are allowing to go on at the moment. This boy is an incredible talent, it's not necessarily the same player but I think they are queuing up and taking turns about who is going to kick him next. There were that many tackles on him from different players and I think it's something that referees are going to have to think about. They are queuing up to kick him."

Moyes continued: "Last week was exactly the same. I think it's [up to] the referees. They're given that job, they're paid, they are professional. You would hope that they would recognise that. Adnan will just get up, walk away and get on with it. He's a great lad and will say, 'Come on, kick me again'."

United, who rose to eighth in the table but are 10 points behind the leaders Arsenal, are without a number of first-team players due to injury but the Villa manager, Paul Lambert, denied he had told his side to target Januzaj. "If you look at my own team we're not a physical side. We're a young, young side and sometimes maybe overexuberance gets the better of them. But I never set anybody out to go and kick. I don't think anybody could ever say we are the most physical side in the world. I don't think it was a malicious game."

The result for United followed a difficult period for Moyes, with those back-to-back league defeats without scoring followed by an unconvincing victory over Shakhtar Donetsk at Old Trafford in the Champions League.

The manager praised the goalscorers Danny Welbeck and Tom Cleverley for their performances and said the team's display was "much more like us".

"We could have scored more goals. I think generally the all-round performance was much more like us and I'm pleased with that," Moyes said. "At Manchester United we're expected to win. I'll try and win the next game, that's always the case, and I'll see where we can end up."