Luke Shaw comments prove just how far Manchester United have fallen

As football supporters, we often crave for a player to tell it how it is when things are not going well.

The platitudes that get aired out every time a team is struggling can at best be repetitive and at worst patronising.

"We are playing for the shirt" and "we will keep fighting" or words to that effect have been trotted out by plenty of the Manchester United squad over the course of this season.

It has come to the point where you begin to question if they are saying it because they believe it or if it is what they think the fans want to hear.

Luke Shaw broke the mould though and came out with an interview that would have surprised many of red persuasion.

"The season so far, in general, is, of course, not good enough," Shaw told talkSPORT. "I think where we want to be and where we are now is two completely different places.

"Obviously we are very devastated about getting knocked out of the FA Cup; it was a competition that we felt we could win.

"We are not in the position in the league that we want to be and, of course, we don't deserve to be with the results that we have had and how things are going with the ups and downs. It is not good enough for a team that wants to win the title.

"If you look at the top teams and their consistency, they are at a high level of that and are winning matches on a consistent basis.

"We haven't been doing that. But it is something that we have looked at and it is something we need to improve on."

It was honest. It was brutal. It was refreshing.

Shaw's comments, however, were also a sad reflection on how far United have fallen.

The full-back refers to the 'top teams' as if he was playing for a lower half Premier League side, there seemed to be no belief that this United team could push