Manchester United defender Luke Shaw brutally honest about the embarrassing 3-1 loss to Aston Villa

Manchester United’s chances to close the deficit with the top four rivals came to a halt after an embarrassing defeat against Aston Villa at Villa Park.

Villa were quick off their blocks once the game started and attacked our defence right from the beginning and were deservedly rewarded for their tenacity with two early goals, the first one with Leon Bailey running past Lisandro Martinez and scoring a wonderful goal in the process.

After the Jamaican star’s breakthrough, Villa extended their lead in the eleventh minute with an amazing free-kick goal by French defender Lucas Digne, who tends to usually show up whenever he plays against the Red Devils.

It was a game where we were second best in all departments and while speaking to BBC (h/t Manchester Evening News) post the loss, Luke Shaw shared a similar opinion and admits that his side did not deserve to win.

“We lost the game in the first 20 minutes of each half, we knew they were going to come out, new manager and the crowd would be behind them. In games like this, if you start slowly then we will lose the game. We weren’t good enough.”

“We spoke about starting well in the second half but conceded again, then it’s a mountain to climb and the game is done. We started sloppy, gave the ball away too easily. That is not good enough. We suffered today, we did not deserve to win.”

Shaw is brutally honest about the result and the team’s performance and he is correct in his assessment that the game was lost in the first 20 minutes of each half.

Villa took the initiative to attack from the start and were deservedly rewarded for their perseverance. The new manager’s bounce and the backing of their fans were also huge factors in allowing the opposition to perform in the manner in which it did.

The players look tired and not fully recovered which is reasonable considering the team has been playing almost every third day, giving very little time for recovery which can allow us to start the game with clear intent.

We all are aware that the rebuilding process under Ten Hag will have its ups and downs and we would have to be patient with the manager and the team to learn from days such as today and show progress in the coming years.

It would be wise to think that even for a highly reputed manager like Ten Hag, it is a learning experience being his first year in English football and he would have definitely understood that every game in the league can go against us if we are not at our best.

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With fixtures against the ‘Big Six’ yielding good results, many expected the game against Villa to be a rather easier task than previous matches. This result would definitely bring everyone back to the senses as we all are aware that the team is still way behind the desired level, and patience is required for us to go through this transitory period.