Luke Shaw has admitted Manchester United’s performance in their 7-0 defeat to Liverpool on Sunday was ‘a disgrace’ as he shared his embarrassment at the thrashing and apologised to Red Devils fans.
The England international completed the full 90 minutes at Anfield as braces from Cody Gakpo, Darwin Nunez, and Mohamed Salah as well as a late strike from substitute Roberto Firmino clinched the most emphatic of victories for Jurgen Klopp’s side.
Just a week before their trip to Anfield, United had beaten Newcastle United in the League Cup final and there was talk of them challenging for a quadruple this season in the build-up to Sunday’s game. However, the heavy loss leaves them 14 points behind league-leaders Arsenal and nine points off second-placed Man City, while Liverpool are seven points behind the Red Devils after closing the gap on the top four.
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The entire Manchester United squad reported to training before 9am on Monday morning, though the MEN report that United sources insist the players were always scheduled to report for 9am for recovery sessions and a morning training session.
But Shaw admitted that a big debrief would take place on Monday as United weighed up what went wrong against Klopp’s men.
"Out there on the pitch, I felt embarrassed for us players, for the fans who were supporting us and who were watching at home," the left-back told MUTV after the final whistle. "To watch that second half... I can only apologise for that, us, as players, have to own it, we have to stand up and accept that it was nowhere near good enough.
"It was completely unacceptable. Our standards have clearly dropped since we won that trophy [Carabao Cup] and, in the last couple of games, we haven't been our normal selves.
“We need to find the good things we were doing before and bring them back, because this hurts a lot and it's really unacceptable what we did in that second half. We showed no personality and no mentality. For a big team to come here, we need to do better.”
“We need to realise that [it won't define our campaign]. That's what we're having, a big debrief tomorrow [Monday] about the game, about what went wrong. We need to keep the belief, keep the character and bring back the personality and mentality, that we know we have, but we lost today.
"We can't let one result derail our whole season because I think we're in a really good place and I think this is another hurdle that we need to go over and us, as a team. We'll climb over that and I think we'll bounce back positively on Thursday night [against Real Betis]. I'm sure of that.”
He continued: "Coming into this game, we spoke about how much it means to them and how much it means to us. I can only apologise on behalf of myself and the team for the way we performed in that second half, the mistakes we made.
"The performance was a disgrace. I was on the pitch and I felt that. I felt embarrassed for the fans that were in the stands to be witnessing that.
"Starting now, we need to make amends, starting with the game on Thursday. Hopefully, they will be there to support us and we'll give everything in that game."
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