Jose Mourinho praises Luke Shaw after defender impresses in Manchester United's win over Sunderland
Shaw has been repeatedly berated by his manager, but the 21-year-old impressed in the routine 3-0 win against Sunderland and earned some hard-fought praise from Mourinho
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has praised his full-back Luke Shaw, despite withdrawing the 21-year-old in the 61st minute of the club’s comfortable 3-0 away win over struggling Sunderland.
Mourinho has repeatedly criticised the defender in recent weeks and recently faulted Shaw's “focus and ambition”, claiming he was a “long way behind” United’s other defenders.
He also commented after the recent 1-1 draw with Everton that he felt like he was forced to “control” Shaw’s brain from the sidelines.
It was therefore a surprise to see Shaw’s name in United’s starting XI for the match against Sunderland, and even more of a surprise to hear Mourinho praising the defender after the game, especially considering he replaced Shaw with Daley Blind mid-way through the second-half.
“It was good for him to play one hour with a good solid performance and no mistakes, so I'm really pleased for him,” Mourinho commented after the easy win.
“I took Shaw off because of the yellow card and the pressure from the crowd,” he added. “It was good to protect him.”
Predictably, Mourinho was even more effusive when it came to discussing the performance of Zlatan Ibrahimović.
The Swede scored a sublime opening goal, curling home from 20-yards to hand United the initiative.
“It was open at 0-0,” said Mourinho immediately after the final whistle. “We were in control without danger. We were playing quite compact and solid. You need these players to break it.
“Every team has a couple of them. Zlatan did that. We felt the game was in our pocket. In this beautiful weather the game was played at a more slow intensity.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments