Shaw has no doubts United will be ready
Fit-again Luke Shaw insists Manchester United are targeting trophies and not merely a top-four finish despite a disjointed pre-season.
The Reds have had little break since reaching the Europa League semi-finals last term and, instead of starting the Premier League campaign at Burnley, were instead facing Aston Villa in a friendly on Saturday.
Although there may be an over-reaction in some quarters to a 1-0 loss in a game where the result was far down the list of priorities, Shaw is looking forward to welcoming many of the regulars back into the fold in time for next weekend's Old Trafford opener against Crystal Palace.
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Shaw was a positive outlet down the left flank in the Midlands and his return is one of the clear positives from the Villa Park friendly. However, he stressed manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will continue his determination to get the Reds to finish off our chances, with that the only thing lacking from the performance in the first half.
“Obviously it's a friendly but I'm disappointed we didn't win," he told us. "And we lost. I'm really disappointed, to be honest.
“We create opportunities but struggle at times to find the back of the net. As someone with the [playing] experience he has, in that sort of position, the manager is really on to the players about that in training, trying to improve that.
“But the main focus today was obviously getting minutes in the tank. It has been a very disjointed pre-season really. At the start of pre-season, there were only four of us training, with what's going on at the moment, the quarantines and the internationals, so it was very difficult for us.”
On the subject of his own fitness, Luke reported: “I feel really good. I worked really hard over the short time everyone had off and I'm ready to go.
“We've trained hard and this game was really about minutes and getting ready for next week. We had a lot of players out and a lot of young players, who hadn't been training with us. They just came with us today and played well when they got the chance.
“Hopefully, the [absent players] will all get back for [training on] Monday. We're working hard. We will be ready next week.”
As for the unusually short close season, Shaw admitted: “It's a very weird feeling, especially for me. I don't feel I've had much time off. I haven't,to be honest!
“But this is life sometimes. You need to be ready, whatever happens, and it's one of those scenarios where we have a lot of world-class players we're looking forward to getting back [in training] on Monday.
“We're ready for the season. We need to be strong and focused on winning trophies, not getting into the top four. A club like us should be winning trophies.”