Throughout his nine tumultuous years at Manchester United, Luke Shaw has become accustomed to hearing home truths - and handing them out.
Aside from his own individual displays coming into question under multiple managers, the Red Devils left-back - signed from Southampton in 2014 as the most expensive teenager in football history at £27million - has also been part of numerous United sides on the wrong end of seriously poor results thanks to a woeful performance.
Sunday's dire 2-0 defeat away to Newcastle can now be added to that list, with Shaw - who's set to sign a new four-year deal at Old Trafford - giving the most damning verdict that fans could ever hear: 'the other team wanted it more'. "Not good enough," the England international began to Sky Sports. "I feel like every time I speak I'm honest.
"As a team we have to be honest. I don't think Newcastle won on quality today, they won on desire, passion, hunger, attitude. They had a higher motivation than we did. That can't be possible. I feel like I say the same things every time we lose. They wanted it more. At Manchester United that shouldn't be possible."
Yet it is possible, evidenced by the fact it definitely isn't the first time that Shaw, 27, has ruthlessly taken aim at his below-par United pals in the hope they'll respond in the right manner.
Here are six times he's has called out his team-mates - and what happened next.
1. West Ham 3-1 Man Utd
It's September 2018, and fortunately for Luke Shaw, Jose Mourinho is nearing the end of his tenure after a torrid start to the new campaign. With Shaw still not a nailed-on starter in his fifth season at the club and struggling under the Portuguese, he got the nod for a trip to face Manuel Pellegrini's West Ham and produced a performance which did little to convince Mourinho of his talents.
After the one-sided affair, Shaw admitted: "Obviously, at half-time, there were a few words [from Mourinho] and I think it was needed. It was 'wake up' and words that he's said before - 'we need to be moving, we need to concentrate more, we need to want the ball, we need to be playing'. That didn't happen. It's disappointing and a very, very bad day for us.''
It only got more brutal, as the Red Devils defender added: ''You want the truth? I honestly think it was horrendous. We didn't look like a team that was going to beat West Ham. I think individually and as a team we were awful. That's not good enough. It's hard to take and we're sorry to the fans for what they saw. It was not good enough from a Man Utd team with all the talent we have."
Up next for United was a home game against Newcastle one week later, with Shaw picked to start again as the visitors took an early two-goal lead before Juan Mata, Anthony Martial and Alexis Sanchez inspired a dramatic comeback. Mourinho would soon be gone, though, and Shaw would go on to win Player of the Year after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took over.
2. February 2020
Remember the first Premier League winter break? Well, before Covid-19 sent the football calendar into disarray in early 2020, Manchester United were enduring a difficult first season with Solskjaer as permanent boss.
After slumping to a 0-0 draw with Wolves on February 1, the Red Devils had 16 days off and headed to Marbella for some warm-weather training and team bonding. Upon their return to chilly Manchester, with United sat in ninth place, Shaw blasted his team-mates and insisted they'd let Solskjaer down.
"Ole can only do so much to prepare us but once the whistle goes then it's up to us to prove we deserve to be Manchester United players," he affirmed in a lengthy admission of responsibility. "We're all here because the manager believes in us and it is disappointing there have been times this season when we've let down him, ourselves and the United fans.
"We know we're much better than our results suggest. The good thing is we've still got a lot to play for, with top four and two cup competitions, so there is time to put it right. Playing Chelsea is a good place to start."
Indeed it was. Goals from Martial and newly-appointed captain Harry Maguire gave the Red Devils a deserved 2-0 victory at Stamford Bridge and sparked a superb run of form until the end of the season which saw United sneak into the top four.
3. Man Utd 0-5 Liverpool
On the darkest day of Solskjaer's tenure, Shaw was the man to front up after the Red Devils received a spanking from their archenemies at a shell-shocked Old Trafford in October 2021. His scathing comments told the story.
"This result was coming," the former Southampton star glumly told Stadium Astro. "In past games where we've won, we haven't been at our best. We felt that inside the dressing room and today we have to reflect and we have to move on from this because it hurts.
"I think we all know when we're at our best we're capable of playing well. It's not just a team, it's individuals who are not at their best. Me, myself, I'm not. I need to look at myself, see what I'm doing wrong and focus on that.
"At times in the game, we're far too easy to play through against, not just today but it's been a number of games now where it's been happening bit by bit and we can feel that in each game. It happened today and, against a great team like Liverpool, they're going to punish us and they did."
United - as they so often did until Solskjaer was given the chop less a month later - responded with a good result, winning 3-0 at Tottenham thanks to goals from Cristiano Ronaldo, Edinson Cavani and Marcus Rashford. That'd prove to be the last time Shaw and Solskjaer enjoyed a winning feeling together.
4. Man Utd 0-1 Wolves
With Solskjaer no longer at the wheel and interim manager Ralf Rangnick attempting to steady the ship, Shaw maintained his candid nature in post-match interviews to tear United apart following a limp display at Old Trafford in their first game of 2022. "I didn't think we were all there together," he told Sky.
"You look at the players we have, we have unbelievable quality, but sometimes quality is not enough. We need to bring the intensity and more motivation. It looked like an easy game for them. It was a disappointing performance and result. We didn't have many options on the ball and we weren't on the front foot."
United legend Rio Ferdinand labelled Shaw's words a "damning reflection" of the team and it was impossible to disagree. 12 days later and without Shaw, the Red Devils travelled to Aston Villa and bottled a 2-0 lead to come away with just a point, although it was the first of an eight-game unbeaten run.
5. Aston Villa 3-1 Man Utd
Speaking of Villa Park, it's not been a happy hunting ground in recent times for United. Having lost only one of their previous 10 games earlier this season following back-to-back defeats in their first two outings, Erik ten Hag's resurgent side were looking to take all three points from Birmingham but came away bruised.
Unai Emery's men romped to a worthy win after a lightning-fast start, prompting more ruthless comments from Shaw. "We lost the game in the first 20 minutes of each half," he told the BBC. "We knew they were going to come out, new manager and the crowd would be behind them. In games like this, if you start slowly then we will lose the game. We weren't good enough.
"We always going to believe we can win the game, even at 2-0 down. We spoke about starting well in the second half but conceded again, then it's a mountain to climb and the game is done. We started sloppy, gave the ball away too easily. That is not good enough. We suffered today, we did not deserve to win."
They did deserve to when the teams next met, though, as just four days later Villa came up to Old Trafford in the Carabao Cup - which the Red Devils would go on to win - and were beaten 4-2. That was the first of nine successive victories for United either side of the World Cup.
6. Liverpool 7-0 Man Utd
Does it get any worse than this? A scoreline which needs no introduction - or recollection given it was less than a month ago - Shaw once again fronted up to the media, alongside Bruno Fernandes, and made his feelings clear.
"Unacceptable, embarrassing, to be honest," the 27-year-old bemoaned. "I think out there on the pitch I felt embarrassed for us players, for the fans that were there supporting us, that were watching at home, to watch that second half. I can only apologise for that and us as players have to own it, we have to stand up and accept that it was nowhere near good enough.
"It was completely unacceptable and I'm sure they're hurting but us as players are hurting a lot. I think our standards have clearly dropped since we've won that trophy [the Carabao Cup] and in the last couple of games we haven't been our normal selves. We need to find the good things we were doing before and bring them back because this hurts a lot.
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"It's really unacceptable what we did in that second half with mistakes. We showed no personality, no mentality and for a big team to come here we need to be better."
Their reaction a few days later was to thrash Real Betis 4-1 in the Europa League. With United in a familiar but not quite as drastic predicament this week, Brentford will come to Old Trafford on Wednesday hoping not to be victims of another emphatic response.
