Luke Shaw has attributed Manchester United’s habit of surrendering leads to psychological issues in the second half of matches.
Che Adams’ 48th-minute equaliser for Southampton on Saturday meant United lost further ground in the race for the top four, following the draw with Burnley in midweek.
At Turf Moor, it was Jay Rodriguez who struck for the Clarets, again right after half-time. The Friday before that, Matt Crooks’ 64th-minute leveller led to a memorable FA Cup win for Championship side Middlesbrough at Old Trafford.
Top four is now a ‘pipe dream’ for ‘toxic’ Man Utd under Rangnick
Shaw feels United lack “confidence” and “composure” after taking the lead in matches, as though an air of inevitability engulfs the team. He told MUTV (via MailOnline): “I think history is sort of repeating itself, really.
“The first 30 minutes we were good. We created chances, we felt on top, we got the crowd behind us.
“We were aggressive, everything was good and we score…and then the same scenario again.
“We go into half-time. We speak about it, we say we need to start bright, we know we need to with what has been happening and they score early and it’s just an uphill task from then.
“I think because we’ve been in that situation so many times, maybe the confidence drops and the composure goes and we struggle.”
He continued: “We can keep saying it all the time but it’s not good enough.
“We need to improve fast. We need to get results. The most important thing is results and points.
“Where we want to be, what we want to achieve for the rest of the season, if we keep dropping points, we’re not going to get into the Champions League.
“We need to be in the Champions League and in the top competitions, so we need to get better quick.”
On Tuesday’s home clash with Brighton, he added: “It’s obviously a massive game on Tuesday against Brighton, so full focus needs to be on that.
“We know we will have the fans behind us and of course it’s up to us to do it on the pitch.
“The training’s going well. We know what we need to do when we get on the pitch, so it’s down to us as players when we’re on that pitch to give everything that we can and win that game because, like I said, we need to win.”
The post Shaw bemoans mental block as ‘history repeats itself’ for Man Utd appeared first on Football365.