LUKE SHAW has apologised to fans for Manchester United’s performance at West Ham, insisting the players were not fit to wear the famous shirt on Saturday.
Question marks have been raised over the future of manager Jose Mourinho following a tepid 3-1 defeat on the back of damning images from the training ground which appeared to show a complete breakdown in relations between Paul Pogba and the Portuguese.
But Shaw is adamant the players have to take their share of the responsibility after Manchester United’s worst start to a season for 29 years.
“If you want the truth I think it was honestly horrendous,” said Shaw.
“We didn’t look like a team today that was going to beat West Ham. I think individually and as a team we were awful. That’s not good enough.
“It’s hard to take and we’re sorry to the fans for what they saw. It was not good enough from a Manchester United team with all the talent we have. It’s disappointing and a very, very bad day for us.
“We have to look at ourselves as players. We’re the ones who go on the pitch. The manager isn’t on the pitch, is he? He’s there to put a team out and put a team out that he thinks can win the game.
“You look at our team against West Ham and we had a very strong team. No excuses. As players we weren’t good enough.”
West Ham took a two-goal lead into the break and although Shaw revealed that Mourinho had stern words to say in the dressing room at half-time, it was to little avail.
“From the first minute you could see we weren’t winning the second balls and our duels,” he said.
“It’s hard to take. It just wasn’t good enough from us. That shouldn’t be happening. Games like this we should be dominating, creating chances, showing people why we deserve to play for Manchester United. It was very poor from us. Very, very poor.
“We didn’t speak too much but obviously at half-time there were a few words and I think it was needed.
“It was, ‘Wake up!’ and words that he’s said before – we need to be moving, we need to concentrate more, we need to want the ball, we need to be playing. But that didn’t happen.”
The focus will again be on Mourinho on Monday when he holds his press conference at Old Trafford ahead of the Champions League clash against Valencia.
And veteran defender Ashley Young says there is no time for anybody at the club to start licking their wounds.
“You’ve got to put it behind you quickly and when you have these types of results you want a game as quickly as possible,” he said.
“We’ve got that in a couple of days’ time, so we’ve got to dust ourselves off quickly and get rid of the disappointment.”
Source:www.express.co.uk