Luke Shaw has admitted that although this season has not worked out as planned, there are still goals and targets that need to be met between now and the end of the campaign.
United endured a highly turbulent first half of the season, with Erik ten Hag’s men finishing last in their Champions League group, spiraling down the Premier League table and going out of the Carabao Cup early as holders.
Additionally, there was the neverending takeover saga and off-field controversies involving Jadon Sancho and Antony in separate cases.
Fortunately, most of that has settled down now and United are putting a bit of a run together. That has coincided with Ten Hag being able to welcome several first-team players back to action, having been without the majority of his first-choice team for most of the season so far.
Speaking ahead of this Sunday’s game at Aston Villa, Shaw has provided a level-headed assessment of where United stand right now and explained what they would like to achieve this season.
The England international has admitted that the goals United set out ahead of the season are now out of reach but that new targets have been set.
“It’s one of the biggest clubs in the world, if not the biggest,” Shaw told Sky Sports, via the Manchester Evening News. “It’s obviously a real honour to be here for so long and it’s kind of my home now because I’ve been here so long.
“Of course, there’s been a lot lot of ups and downs but, you know, I’m incredibly happy of the times I’ve had here, the good times. For me, I’m very ambitious, and there’s a lot more that I want to achieve here.
“The most important thing is to focus on what’s ahead. Every manager [I’ve worked with at United] has been different, they have their different tactics and ways of doing things, so it has changed over my time here and players come and go as well. I’ve been in a team with a lot of different players.
“We have a really good group here and a good manager, so we need to focus on what our ambitions are and what we want to achieve, which is winning the FA Cup and qualifying for the Champions League.
“Obviously, at the start of the season, that wasn’t our ambition, we wanted to win everything, but at this point right now, we’ve got to be realistic about where we’re at.
“For us now, a club like this must be in the Champions League and we’re still in the FA Cup. These two should be our aim. We lost in the final of the FA Cup last season and that’s even more inspiration.”
United could secure their third straight win in the Premier League on Sunday when they face Aston Villa but there is a sizeable gap between the Reds and the top five.
That gap could easily be closed between now and the end of the season but United do not have a big margin for error if they want to qualify for the Champions League.
Villa 2-3 Utd