Manchester United defender Jonny Evans has blamed his team's dismal form on a rash of injuries after their troubled season hit a new low with Sunday's derby disaster against Manchester City.
City swept to a 3-0 victory at Old Trafford in a one-sided clash that could have been an even bigger defeat for Erik ten Hag's outclassed side.
After winning their previous three matches, United were back to the sloppy, lethargic form that condemned them to six losses in their first 10 games in all competitions.
United boss Ten Hag has had to deal with a significant injury list including Casemiro, Lisandro Martinez, Luke Shaw, Tyrell Malacia, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Amad Diallo.
And Evans believes the absence of so many players has destabilised the squad.
"I think we've been disrupted with a lot of injuries this season in terms of key personnel," Evans told MUTV.
"Probably a lot of our starting players would be, you know, they're missing.
"I think the manager's found out difficulties having to sort of work on team, on tactics and having to change the personnel quite a lot with only two days in between games.
"So that's been difficult. Hopefully we can get more players back and get a real sort of opportunity to create freshness within the playing squad."
Four of United's walking wounded played key roles in February's League Cup final victory against Newcastle, who head to Old Trafford in the fourth round of this season's competition on Wednesday.
Sunday's defeat means United have lost five of their opening 10 Premier League games, leaving them in eighth place, 11 points behind leaders Tottenham.
Evans urged his teammates to put the City flop behind them as soon as possible as they chase a much-needed win against Newcastle.
"It's never easy, everyone's disappointed," he said. "You wish you could turn back the clock, but you know we've got to move on now.
"We put a lot into the second half to get back and you know 2-0, maybe the chance with Rashy (Marcus Rashford) we sort of get back in it.
"But you know it's probably disappointing that we didn't create too much in the second half."