And he did not hold back on his way out of the ground as he stopped to speak to the media on a day when captain Jonjo Shelvey and other senior players stayed silent.
Shelvey has not spoken to the local written Press since he signed for the club in January.
Lascelles told the BBC: “We need bigger characters on the pitch, players who care and who are going to get after each other.
“We have lacked it this season and no matter how good you are, if you don’t have that fight and hunger and desire, it doesn’t matter.
“We had Steve McClaren who is a great manager and now we’ve got Rafa Benitez, who is a great manager, so it’s clearly not that.
“It’s the players and we have to take full responsibility.
“It’s ourselves who need to change it and not the manager.
“We need to play with more heart. We’ve got flair players, tricky players, players with loads of talent, but we need more heart, we need more desire.”
Newcastle opted not to comment about the incident in the dressing room.