Manchester United fans understand 'the bigger picture' says David Moyes following defeat to Newcastle Saturday's home defeat to Newcastle was United's fifth of the season. It represented the first time they had lost back-to-back Premier League games at Old Trafford since 2002 and leaves them nearer the relegation zone than the top of the table, with even a seven-point gap to make up on the Champions League places. Few envisaged such a disastrous start to Moyes' reign when he took charge of a squad that won the championship by 11 points after replacing Sir Alex Ferguson in the summer. Various theories have been put forward for the alarming slump in fortunes, most significantly a lack of quality in midfield, which lacks the drive and fight of recent seasons. Some fans have also started to question Moyes himself, although now the decision to appoint the Scot has been made, it is accepted he must be given time to make the decisions he feels are necessary to improve the Red Devils fortunes. "They all understand it (the bigger picture)," said Moyes. Most of them know exactly. Of course no-one expects Manchester United to lose games, no more so than me, but it is a fact and my job is to make it better. It is clear Ferguson's exit has had a seismic effect, not only on the United players, who do not seem capable of lifting their game to the level their former boss managed, but also the opposition, for whom the fear factor of visiting Old Trafford has been removed. Moyes cannot be blamed for this. He is just working hard to try and ensure he is getting the most from his squad that he possibly can. "We've got roughly the same squad that was champions last year," he said. What was also clearly noticeable on Saturday was that United failed to respond to Yohan Cabaye's opener in the manner most would have imagined. Instead of hitting their opponents with an avalanche of attacks, the hosts meekly surrendered, despite Moyes' efforts to galvanise his team. "I tried to chuck the kitchen sink at it," said Moyes. I tried to put Antonio (Valencia) on to go without a right-back and get Adnan (Januzaj) to come inside. We looked to try to find openings to give us a chance and we nearly put on as many attacking options as we could to try and get them.