Robin van Persie slammed Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for his reaction to his side's shock 1-0 defeat at Newcastle on Sunday.

United's loss at St James' Park, courtesy of a debut goal by Matty Longstaff, consigned them to five games without a win in all competitions, and the Red Devils are yet to win away from home this season.

Following the defeat, former United striker Van Persie stated he wasn't certain Solskjaer has the capabilities to turn the dire situation at Old Trafford around, and questioned his man-management skills after he said in his post-match interview his players 'needed to sort their heads out.'

Man United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is struggling to produce results at the moment

'He's searching for words, maybe he chose a few wrong ones there,' Van Persie told Optus Sport.

'Because as a player, what does that mean? "Sorting the players' heads out", what does that mean?

Robin van Persie was top scorer the last time United won the Premier League in 2012-13

'As a manager, when your team is low in confidence, get them up. When your team is too high in confidence, when they are becoming a little bit too much, you have to get them back to the middle again.

'You can see he's struggling there, if I'm really honest, during that interview. And I get it if you're manager of Manchester United during this period of time.

'At the moment, based on this interview, and based on what I've seen in the game, I'm not sure if he really knows how to find the buttons there.'