Luke Shaw has revealed the Manchester United dressing room reaction to their opening weekend defeat against Arsenal last Sunday.
Manchester United fell to a 1-0 defeat against Arsenal in their Premier League opener, despite being the stronger side at Old Trafford.
The decisive moment came from a controversial goal, with William Saliba colliding with Altay Bayındır during a corner, preventing the Turkish goalkeeper from making a solid save.
Despite the result, several United players stood out with strong performances, and Ruben Amorim will be eager to see his side maintain those levels against Fulham this weekend; while ensuring the outcome is very different.
Marco Silva’s side will provide a stern test and United will not be able to go into the game expecting three points just because they performed well against Arsenal.
Shaw reveals United dressing room reaction to Arsenal defeat
Luke Shaw started the opening weekend clash for United against the Gunners and had a strong display as the left-sided centre-back.
The English defender had a torrid season last time out, with injuries defining his campaign, but he is aiming to have a greater consistency this term.
Speaking to club media, Shaw has spoken about the dressing room reaction following the defeat to Arsenal at Old Trafford even though United were the better team.
“Devastated I think, we were really gutted,” revealed Shaw. “It’s hard really because the most important thing is of course three points and we were gutted to not take the points.
“But when you can’t take the points and you look back at the game, you have to take out positives from the game and I think the team played really well, a really high intensity.
“The points are what matters but I think us as a team, we’re happy with how we played and it looks good for the direction we’re going in.
“If we keep putting out performances like that then we’re in a really good place. We’re going to keep getting better and better, I think there’s really positive signs.”
United squad have healthy balance
On social media, you won’t often find someone who isn’t overreacting one way or the other.
After that Arsenal game, it was either the end of the world that the result did not go United’s way, or incredible since they were the better team against Arsenal.
It is good that Shaw has explained that the squad were ‘devastated’ while also pointing out that it was a good performance.
Read More: “He improves…” Rúben Amorim explains two reasons why Matheus Cunha can “change” Manchester United
There needs to be a healthy balance when assessing these games for the squad and it seems like there is at Old Trafford right now.
Of course, things will get more difficult if the results don’t improve soon, but it is starting to feel like this is a squad confident in themselves, without the complacency of previous years, and that is a good thing.
Make sure to follow UtdDistrict on X, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok to never miss out on any of our Manchester United content. Our podcast, What the Devil?, is streamed live every Thursday at 12:30 pm (BST) on the United View YouTube channel.