Manchester United vs Liverpool: Luke Shaw reveals how dressing room went 'crazy' at half-time

United saw three players – Juan Mata, Ander Herrera and Jesse Lingard – all forced off injured inside the opening 45 minutes

Mark Critchley
Northern Football Correspondent
Monday 25 February 2019 13:12 GMT
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Ole Gunnar Solskjaer praises 'fantastic' defending after draw with Liverpool

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Luke Shaw has revealed how Manchester United “went crazy” in the dressing room at half time after their difficult first half in their goalless draw with Liverpool.

United saw three players – Juan Mata, Ander Herrera and Jesse Lingard – all forced off injured inside the opening 45 minutes at Old Trafford on Sunday.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer could not believe United’s misfortune with injuries but he was also unhappy with the performance level of his players.

Liverpool dominated possession in the first half and United created little, apart from a late chance for Lingard towards the end of the half.

“We were all very disappointed with how the first half went,” Shaw later revealed. “We didn’t play well at all.

“We gave too many balls away too cheaply and luckily that didn’t cost us. But we had a change of formation, we had a good chat at half-time. Everyone was going crazy.”

United responded well in the second half, taking the game to Liverpool and applying pressure while keeping Jurgen Klopp’s side at bay.

“We said: ‘Relax and we just need to play our game’. I think second half was better,” Shaw claimed.

“We still weren’t at our best but overall I think we created the best chances and I feel we should have won.”

Solskjaer later claimed that everything that could have gone wrong in the first half went wrong and Shaw admitted that the spate of injuries was difficult to contend with.

“It’s very strange feeling. I don’t know if it has ever happened before in a game,” he said.

“But, look, we’re professional footballers so we need to be able to deal with that and adapt to whatever is thrown at us on the pitch.

“Of course it’s not easy, especially the players we lost. It’s quite hard to take. We had two injuries during the week as well that sort of changed the team.

“But, no, we kept focused, we did our job, everyone played brilliantly I thought, especially defensively as a team.

“To keep Liverpool so quiet overall is a very good job by us but, like I say, we were unlucky not to score.”

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