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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.

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Donny van de Beek celebrates scoring for Manchester United against Crystal Palace on September 19, 2020
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TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Liverpool18143145172845
2Arsenal19116238172139
3Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest1911442619737
4Chelsea19105438231535
5Newcastle UnitedNewcastle1995532211132
6Manchester CityMan City199463226631
7Bournemouth198652923630
8Fulham197842825329
9Aston Villa198562831-329
10Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton196942928127
11Tottenham HotspurSpurs1973941281324
12Brentford197393335-224
13West Ham UnitedWest Ham196582335-1223
14Manchester UnitedMan Utd196492126-522
15Crystal Palace194872027-720
16Everton183871524-917
17Wolverhampton WanderersWolves1944113142-1116
18Ipswich TownIpswich1936101833-1515
19Leicester CityLeicester1935112242-2014
20Southampton1913151239-276


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