Shaw questions Man Utd togetherness after Wolves defeat

Luke Shaw felt Manchester United were not “all together” in their defeat to Wolves, while he suggested his side having quality is not always enough to succeed.

United saw their undefeated start under interim manager Ralf Rangnick abruptly end on Monday as Joao Moutinho, aged 35 and 117 days, became the oldest player to score a winning Premier League goal at Old Trafford in a 1-0 victory for Wolves.

The defeat leaves United four points adrift of Arsenal in the final Champions League spot after failing to score in a fourth different home league game this season, already more than they did in the whole 2020-21 campaign (three).

And Shaw bemoaned his side’s performance as he questioned the team’s togetherness, explaining that the quality within the camp will only get Rangnick’s side so far.

36% – Of the 31 teams to have scored 10+ Premier League goals against Manchester United, Wolves have netted the highest share from outside the box (36% – 4/11). Delight. #MUNWOL pic.twitter.com/ZGPWQhordp

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) January 3, 2022

He told Sky Sports after the game: “It was not good enough, we really struggled, we couldn’t get hold of the ball and when we didn’t have the ball we weren’t aggressive enough. We didn’t put them under any pressure.

“It maybe looked like an easy game for them. A disappointing performance and result. We didn’t have many options on the ball and we weren’t on the front foot.

“We have to put more pressure on them, we have to have intensity. Us players, we have been here a long time, maybe tonight we struggled, I didn’t think we were all there together. 

“You look at the players we have, we have unbelievable quality but sometimes quality is not enough.

“We need to bring the intensity and more motivation. Inside the dressing room, we know what we want but out on the pitch we need to give 100 per cent. To win these types of games we all need to be 100% committed. It is tough and disappointing.”

United will look to right some of their wrongs and get their campaign back on track when they face Aston Villa on January 15 in their next league game – five days after facing them in the FA Cup.