Luke Shaw criticised by Jose Mourinho again despite making Manchester United return against Everton

The United manager wants Shaw to start thinking for himself and has urged him to 'accelerate the process' of maturing if he is to have a future at Old Trafford

Chief Sports Writer

Wednesday 05 April 2017 07:18 BST

✕

Jose Mourinho: I was making every decision for Luke Shaw

Jose Mourinho was again critical of Luke Shaw despite the left-back returning to the Manchester United side for the first time in a month after receiving public criticism from his manager last weekend.

Despite giving Shaw a 25-minute substitute’s cameo in United’s 1-1 draw with Everton that he said he was pleased with, Mourinho accused the full back of not doing enough of his own thinking.

“It was his body with my brain,” Mourinho said. “He was in front of me and I was making every decision for him. The communication was possible because we were very close. He cannot play with my brain.

“He must accelerate the process: 21 years old is old enough to have a better understanding but his contribution was good to improve the team. After 30 seconds he was almost in an assist position. He goes today in a positive feeling because his performance was positive.”

With United claiming that Wayne Rooney was missing against his old club because of two ankle injuries, Mourinho cast doubt over whether the striker would be fit to face Sunderland on Sunday. “Two ankles so I don’t know,” he said.

Mourinho said a top four finish was becoming a more remote possibility. "More difficult, very difficult,” he told the BBC.

The players Mourinho has fallen out with

Show all 14

1/14The players Mourinho has fallen out with

The players Mourinho has fallen out with

The players Jose Mourinho has fallen out with

Mourinho's treatment of the young full-back Luke Shaw has made headlines, with the manager angrily accusing the 21-year-old of not applying himself in training, before hinting he could farm the player out on loan. But Shaw is far from the first player Mourinho has spectacularly fallen out with...

Getty

The players Mourinho has fallen out with

Vitor Baia

The former Portugal goalkeeper started and ended a glittering career at Porto, having also spent two years at Barcelona. But Baia did not have it all his own way during his second spell, losing his first-team place and suspended for disciplinary reasons in Mourinho's maiden season as boss following a reported training ground row with his compatriot. Baia remained at the club until he retired in 2007, three years after Mourinho left for his first stint at Chelsea.

AFP/Getty

The players Mourinho has fallen out with

Ricardo Quaresma

Quaresma was meant to be Inter's star player under Mourinho, but the manager grew impatient with his ill-discipline and resorted to critiquing him in the press, which didn't go down well with the player. “My biggest regret was joining Inter," Quaresma later said. "I felt on the margins of the squad and woke up crying when I had to attend training sessions."

Getty

The players Mourinho has fallen out with

David Suazo

Mourinho failed to give David Suazo much of a chance when he took over at Inter in 2008 and criticised him in the press before farming him out on loan to Benfica. “Mourinho is arrogant and selfish, and likes to assert his dominance,” Suazo later told the Honduran publication, Diez.

AFP/Getty

The players Mourinho has fallen out with

Romelu Lukaku

"The thinking behind the move was the fact that Romelu was always very clear with us, in his mentality, in his approach, he was not highly motivated to come to a competitive situation at Chelsea," Mourinho said after allowing Lukaku to leave Chelsea for Everton in 2014, for £28m. The striker has recently been linked with a summer move to Mourinho's United, for £65m.

Getty

The players Mourinho has fallen out with

Kevin de Bruyne

The Belgian infamously revealed that he gave up on his Chelsea career after Mourinho had embarrassed him in front of his team-mates. “He called in all the attacking midfielders,” said De Bruyne of his final weeks in west London. “He showed us the stats of his six players - assists, goals, passing percentage, key passes, dribbles. He wanted to prove I didn't perform on the level of the others. I simply answered him: ‘Sorry, that's not logical. I've played less games than the others. How can you compare me to the others?’ That was just not fair in my eyes.”

AFP/Getty

The players Mourinho has fallen out with

Juan Mata

Mata became a fans' favourite at Stamford Bridge after arriving at Chelsea from Valencia in 2011. However, the Spaniard struggled to adapt to Mourinho's style of play during his second spell in charge of the Blues and was sold to Manchester United in 2014. Mata and Mourinho were later reunited at Old Trafford and the former has now become an important player for his manager in Manchester.

Getty

The players Mourinho has fallen out with

Iker Casillas

The Madrid legend was one of the first players Mourinho fell out with after joining the club in 2010. Mourinho was disgusted that Casillas regularly spoke to Barcelona players and was said to be suspicious of his girlfriend, who worked as a journalist. “Mourinho saw him as a grass, a mole, a traitor and an egoist,” Diego Torres wrote in his biography, 'The Special One'.

Getty

The players Mourinho has fallen out with

Sergio Ramos

Current Real captain Ramos was a key player during Mourinho's three year stay in Madrid, although the pair were far from friends. Ramos went public with his dismay at Mourinho's treatment of Mesut Özil and insisted in a 2014 interview that he had forgotten who Mourinho was.

AFP/Getty

The players Mourinho has fallen out with

Pepe

The pair frequently bickered during Mourinho's time at Real, although like Ramos, Pepe remained a key part of Madrid's starting XI. Pepe accused Mourinho's treatment of his friend Casillas as being "not adequate". Mourinho replied: "It is easy to analyse the Pepe thing. His problem has a name, and it is Raphael Varane," suggesting that Pepe wasan inferior player to the emerging 20 year old.

AFP/Getty

The players Mourinho has fallen out with

Pedro Leon

Similar to Luke Shaw, Pedro Leon was a young player inherited by Mourinho whom he almost immediately dismissed. The Guardian's Sid Lowe reported that "Mourinho told Leon that even if the team plane crashed without him on it and he was the only man available, he still would not play the following week." Leon accused Mourinho of workplace bullying before being sold to Getafe.

AFP/Getty

The players Mourinho has fallen out with

David Luiz

Mourinho sold Luiz upon his return to Chelsea and insisted that the defender "would not be missed". The pair have regularly traded jibes since and Luiz perhaps got the last laugh when Chelsea resigned him in 2016, under Antonio Conte.

AFP/Getty

The players Mourinho has fallen out with

Bastian Schweinsteiger

Frustrated with Schweinsteiger's habit of flying back to Germany when injured, Mourinho banished the veteran midfielder to training with the reserves. However, in a possible sign that he had mellowed, Mourinho later admitted to feeling regret over his handling of the player. "After knowing him as a person and a professional and the way he was respecting my decisions as a manager, yes I regret [it] and there is no problem for me to admit it, because I have told him," he said after selling the midfielder to the Chicago Fire.

Getty

The players Mourinho has fallen out with

Luke Shaw

Mourinho's rant on Shaw's lack of effort in recent months was one of his most explosive yet. “It is difficult for him to be on the bench,” Mourinho said. “I cannot compare him with Ashley Young, with Matteo Darmian, with Daley Blind. I cannot compare the way he trains, the way he commits, the focus, the ambition. I cannot compare. He is a long way behind.”

Getty

“It is mathematically possible but depends on our opponents. It is an amazing run of 20 matches unbeaten but too many draws at home. Because of that we are in the position we are. We build well but we don't score enough goals, we don't kill off enough opponents and at the end of this season I think we will be punished by that.”

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies