Luke Shaw admits Manchester United were 'honestly horrendous' in defeat to West Ham

Shaw said the players, not Jose Mourinho, must take responsibility for their performance

Luke Shaw admitted that Manchester United were “honestly horrendous” in their 3-1 defeat at West Ham on Saturday, though blamed himself and his team-mates for the performance rather than Jose Mourinho.

United recorded their worst start to a league season in 29 years at the London Stadium, four days on being knocked out of the EFL Cup by second-tier Derby County and after a week of mounting tensions between Mourinho and midfielder Paul Pogba.

An early Felipe Anderson strike put West Ham ahead and, shortly before half time, their lead was doubled by a Victor Lindelof own goal.

Marcus Rashford’s second-half reply briefly suggested a comeback was possible, but Marko Arnautovic soon restored the hosts’ two-goal lead to secure a well-deserved win.

A lethargic, cumbersome United playing an unfamiliar three-man defence were second best for long spells, particularly in the first half, and speaking after the final whistle, Shaw admitted that they deserved to take nothing from the game.

“If you want the truth, I think it was honestly horrendous,” he said. “We didn’t look like a team today that was going to beat West Ham. I think individually and as a team we were awful.

“That’s not good enough. It’s hard to take and we’re sorry to the fans for what they saw today. It was not good enough from a Man United team with all the talent we have.”

Shaw added: “From the first minute you could see we weren’t winning the second balls and our duels. It’s hard to take. It just wasn’t good enough from us today. That shouldn’t be happening.

“Games like this we should be dominating, creating chances, showing people why we deserve to play for Man United and that didn’t happen today. It was very poor from us. Very, very poor.”

The defeat is United’s third from their opening seven games of the Premier League season and will only increase pressure on Mourinho, whose Old Trafford future is increasingly uncertain.

Mourinho cut a frustrated figure on the touchline (Getty)

Shaw, however, believes the players must take responsibility for the performance in defeat at West Ham ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League group stage meeting with Valencia at Old Trafford.

“We have to look at ourselves as players. We’re the ones who go on the pitch,” he said. “The manager isn’t on the pitch is he? He’s there to put a team out and put a team out that he thinks can win the game.

“You look at our team today and we had a very strong team. No excuses. As players we weren’t good enough.”