Manchester United star must choose his words more carefully
Manchester United would prefer Luke Shaw stay silent
It’s highly unlikely that Luke Shaw is going to really impact the matchup on the pitch between Tottenham and Manchester United. Unfortunately for the English left back, he’s made himself a real talking point in advance of the match anyhow.
Shaw created major waves with the revelation that he’d like to work with Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino again in the future. The Argentine gaffer formerly referred to Shaw as a “son” during their time together at Southampton.
It’s fair to say that Shaw has been a major disappointment to Jose Mourinho while at United. The club thought they’d purchased their left back of the present and future, but fitness issues have plagued him during his time at Old Trafford. He just hasn’t looked like the same player since his horrible leg break during his first year with the club.
His inability to get, and stay fit, has clearly irked his United boss. Mourinho hasn’t been shy about criticizing the young left back since his arrival. Fortunately for Shaw, it doesn’t appear The Special One took any offence at his comments about Pochettino.
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Still, a professional footballer of Shaw’s age and intelligence should know better than to make such foolish comments publicly. Even if he’s desperate to work with Pochettino again, it is a serious mistake to reveal that sort of thing to the press. He’s quite fortunate that Mourinho didn’t react poorly to the news. It’s the sort of thing that could have gotten Shaw exiled from the squad altogether.
That would have been an overreaction, but this is Mourinho we’re talking about. He’s reacted in more dramatic fashion to smaller things in the past. Shaw knows this about his gaffer. Giving him anything to negatively react to is a poor career choice by the former Saints star.
In the future, Shaw would be well served to keep his head down, his mouth shut and focus on his performance on the pitch. Mourinho isn’t keeping him out of the starting XI due to spite. He’s keeping Shaw on the fringes of the squad because that’s what his play merits.
Next: Tottenham's projected XI v Manchester United
If Shaw wants to resurrect his once promising career, he needs to find a way to get into Mourinho’s good graces. Staying quiet in the media about other managers he’d like to play for in the future would be an excellent place to start.