What did the legends say?
While on ITV, [player 6971111] said, “Obviously Mourinho was really hard on him, but in fairness to Mourinho, he’s probably just trying to motivate him.”
“Okay, it probably didn’t work, but Shaw wasn’t playing well, he probably wasn’t fit enough.
“What’s happened to him over the last year or two is he’s played regularly, he’s played consistently.
“We all know how good he is going forward, that’s never been in question. The question mark has been with his fitness and how he does defensively.
“He’s improved, but it’s about time for him. He’s 25, sometimes the penny drops, he’s a lot fitter now.
“I’m sure if you spoke to Mourinho now he might say: ‘maybe I could have done something different’, but the guy is in top form now and deserves credit.
“Every player has his ups and downs, he’s now playing with great confidence.”
[player 585] further added, “I think Jose was harsh on him and he was never going to respond to that, Luke Shaw, because of the type of character he is.
“But, if Luke was honest with himself, which I know he would be, there were things he wasn’t doing right at the time which were contributing towards his lack of performance and injuries.
“Now you can say he’s matured, he’s doing the right things, but you do need to look after Luke Shaw, there’s no doubt about it.
“He responds to [coach 474589], and he responds to [coach 455358].
“Shaw’s not going to respond to Mourinho, fact, but he still had some things he had to sort out himself.”
“I guarantee he still took some pointers off Mourinho,” Keane finished.
“Managers have to be tough with players sometimes, they don’t like it, but I bet the penny dropped with some of the things he said to him.”
Shaw’s time at Man United so far
[player 955] was one of the brightest young players while he was breaking through at [team 65]. He had lightning pace and had a good sense of positioning. The famous Southampton academy has also nurtured some of the best talents like [player 251], [player 53], [player 850], [player 283] and many more top players.
Shaw was on the radar of the biggest in Europe, especially in the [league 8]. Mourinho was the manager of [team 18] during that time which was his second spell at the London club. Mourinho was keen to bring Shaw to Chelsea, and Shaw himself admitted that he is a boyhood Chelsea fan.
It was likely to happen, and Chelsea fans were excited to see Shaw at Stamford Bridge soon. However, a dramatic change in fortunes as Shaw signed for [team 14].
A few years later, [coach 455375] signed for Man United as Van Gaal was sacked despite winning the [league 24]. Shaw’s first few seasons at United were exceptional as he also became England’s first-choice left-back. However, when Jose arrived, Shaw’s career was on a slight decline due to multiple injuries. Jose played different players at left-back at various points, kept Shaw on the bench, and publicly criticised his fitness.
In the season when Jose got sacked, Shaw began to gain fitness. He consistently started for Jose as well until he got sacked. Former player, [coach 524307] came in as the manager and is still the club’s head coach.
Shaw has dramatically improved under Solskjær, but the player has admitted that Jose’s strictness helped him make a brilliant comeback to the top level. [player 1601], [player 1350] and other young full-backs were overtaking Shaw. His return to the international level seemed unlikely.
However, he made it and once again, he is [team 18645]’s first-choice left-back. The 26-year-old also scored an early goal against Italy in the final of the [league 1326]. Italy came back and eventually won on penalties. Regardless of the result, Shaw was one of England’s best performers at the tournament.
Author: Devashish Akolekar
