MX23RW : Monday, September 30 12:19:38| >> :120:9802:9802:

Luke Shaw: 'Manchester United need more players before window closes'

United lost their Premier League opener 3-1 to Crystal Palace.

Luke Shaw has called on Manchester United to bring in more players before the transfer window closes.

Donny Van De Beek, who scored United's goal in their 3-1 loss to Crystal Palace on Saturday, remains the club's only summer signing.

United started their Premier League season a week late following their Europa League involvement and were caught cold in a disappointing display.

Manchester United's Donny Van De Beek (centre) celebrates scoring his side's first goal with his team-mates
Manchester United's Donny Van De Beek (centre) celebrates scoring his side's first goal with his team-mates (Martin Rickett/PA)

Shaw told TV2 in comments reported by the Manchester Evening News: "We have a very good group but, personally, I think we need more players to strengthen the squad.

"It can give us a boost. When you look around at how other teams are strengthening their teams, then we must also do it to keep up with the others."

United's positive end to last season, securing Champions League football, boosted optimism of a possible title challenge this time around but they will need to perform a lot better than they did against Palace.

Shaw cited a truncated pre-season as one factor behind the slow start.

The left-back said: "Personally, from my point of view, the pre-season that we've had altogether is not the correct way it should have been. We've had a week all together.

"My first day back training, I could have probably counted on one hand the number of people who were training. Look at teams who have been together a while, training, playing games. I think Palace have played quite a few more games than us and it showed. We lacked that fitness and confidence.

"We haven't been able to prepare in the way that we wanted and that's not an excuse, because we have the quality of players to be able to win games like this, but we weren't up to it and we've been punished. It's the start of a new season, we should have been fresh."

United face Luton in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday before resuming their Premier League campaign with a trip to Brighton next Saturday.

ID:415143: cacheID:415143:1false2false3false:QQ:: from db desktop :LenBod:restore:5360:
Restore Data
Share this article now:
Donny van de Beek celebrates scoring for Manchester United against Crystal Palace on September 19, 2020
Read Next:
Donny van de Beek bemoans Man Utd's ponderous play in "really bad" defeat
>
rhs 2.0
Today's games header
FT
Bills
10-35
Ravens
Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Liverpool65011221015
2Manchester CityMan City6420146814
3Arsenal6420125714
4Chelsea6411157813
5Aston Villa6411129313
6Fulham632185311
7Newcastle UnitedNewcastle632187111
8Tottenham HotspurSpurs6312125710
9Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton623110829
10Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest62316519
11Brentford6213810-27
12Manchester UnitedMan Utd621358-37
13Bournemouth512258-35
14West Ham UnitedWest Ham6123610-45
15Ipswich TownIpswich6042510-54
16Everton6114715-84
17Leicester CityLeicester6033812-43
18Crystal Palace603359-43
19Southampton501429-71
20Wolverhampton WanderersWolves6015616-101


Sports Mole provides in-depth previews and predictions for every match from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football.
Argentina's Lionel Messi kisses the World Cup trophy after collecting the Golden Ball award on December 18, 2022Sign up for our FREE daily preview newsletter direct to your inbox!