Luke Shaw apologises for ‘embarrassing, disgraceful’ Manchester United defeat

Luke Shaw apologised for a “completely unacceptable”, “embarrassing” and “disgraceful” 7-0 loss at Liverpool that he says cannot be allowed to derail Manchester United’s season.

A week on from winning the Carabao Cup, United headed to Anfield with confidence and background talk of a potential quadruple. But faint Premier League title hopes went up in smoke when United unravelled in a loss that matched their heaviest defeat.

“Unacceptable, embarrassing, to be honest,” Shaw said. “I think out there on the pitch I felt embarrassed for us players, for the fans that were there supporting us, that were watching at home, to watch that second half.

“I can only apologise for that and 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 and I’m sure they’re hurting but us as players are hurting a lot.

“I think our standards have clearly dropped since we’ve won that trophy and in the last couple of games we haven’t been our normal selves … We showed no personality, no mentality and for a big team to come here we need to be better.”

United had the better chances in the first half, only to be caught cold by Cody Gakpo just before half-time.

“It showed in the first half that if you switch off for one moment then you get punished,” Shaw told MUTV. “I think in the second half we switched off for the whole half and not just moments. Like I said, it was embarrassing, disgraceful and it’s not acceptable what that second half was.”

United play at home to Real Betis on Thursday in the first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie.

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