Luke Shaw has reflected on a dismal performance from Manchester United this afternoon after they sustained a 2-0 loss to Newcastle United.
The Reds have ended the matchweek in fourth place and they are now winless, as well as goalless, in three consecutive league games.
United’s performance today was nothing short of poor; the squad offered near enough no threat in attack and displayed no creativity across the pitch – an easy shift for Nick Pope between the sticks.
Shaw’s post-match thoughts
Post-match, Shaw took the brunt of heading out to address the media and have his say on the game. Speaking to Sky Sports, he said:
“Not good enough. I feel like every time I speak after games, bad results, I’m always honest. I think us as a team, we have to be honest. While I do think Newcastle are a very good side, I don’t think they won the game on quality today, I think they won it on passion, hunger, desire, [and] attitude. They clearly had that higher motivation than we are [had]. That can’t be possible. I feel like I say the same thing every time we lose, like I said, it’s not acceptable. We know that. It was a massive game today and they wanted it more, at Man United that cannot be possible.
“I think it’s unacceptable, I think we can all admit that. It’s not what we want to set out to be. I think in big games like this, you need that motivation, you need that passion and hunger too because it’s an extremely tough place to come to here [St. James’ Park]. If we don’t have that, we’re going to suffer. It was obvious on the pitch. We didn’t create too much, to be honest. I think maybe you can say it’s been coming, before the international break we had dropped levels and it was clear to see today those levels were not there. We have three days to pick it back up because Brentford’s going to be a very tough game.
“The players had a chat in the changing room after [the game] with no staff around because ultimately, it’s down to us players on that pitch and like I said, it was nowhere near good enough. We had to speak out in front of each other and own up to it.”
🗣️ "It's not acceptable."
Luke Shaw is not happy with Manchester United's performance against Newcastle 🔴 pic.twitter.com/IGTCuLeAGK
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 2, 2023
Footage courtesy of Sky Sports.
