The left-back said United are ‘too easy to play against’
Manchester United defender Luke Shaw has admitted that his side’s heavy defeat against Liverpool is no surprise and that it had ‘been coming.’
The Athletic reported that the left-back made the comments to Malaysian TV channel Stadium Astro after United were hammered easily by their rivals 5-0 and admitted that opponents are finding it ‘too easy to play against’ them.
He said: “I think it’s ourselves that we need to look at, first and foremost, in the mirror.
“Are we doing everything right and preparing right for the games in ourselves?
“Of course we have the tactics and how the manager wants us to play, but I think at times we’re way too easy to play against.
“I think, for example, you look at the first goal, it can’t be possible that they can have sort of three running through in the first five minutes. We need to be more compact, we need to be better and we know that.
“I think also maybe we can say this result was coming.
“I think in past games where we’ve won, we haven’t been at our best and we know that.
“We felt that inside the dressing room and today we need to reflect and we have to move on from this because it hurts.”
Shaw’s comments mirror the same problems Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville identified following the embarrassing defeat, describing it as a thrashing that has ‘been building for weeks.’
The former United full-back also criticised the defensive performance of the Red Devils in a scathing assessment post-match.
🗣 "They don't run as hard as the other teams and they are easy to play against." @GNev2 criticises the shape of the Manchester United team and doesn't understand their structure pic.twitter.com/bb6MzYHasx
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) October 24, 2021
Neville said: “They’re one of the lowest running teams, we know that from the stats. There’s nothing worse than being told you’re one of the lowest running teams in the league and that you’re easy to play against.
“In the first half [against Liverpool], they were a mixture of sitting back in their shape and looking like they were trying to be behind the ball, but in the next breath you’d see a mad little jog – not a sprint by the way – from Greenwood towards Van Dijk, then you’d see Wan-Bissaka ambling towards Robertson. He gets passed behind to Jota, and Lindelof’s trying to get across.
“It’s all too late.”
Related links:
- Man Utd’s defensive stats are the worst in the Premier League
- Gary Neville identifies key tactical flaw in Man United’s humiliation against Liverpool
- Manchester United will never get better under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
