Shaw again bears brunt of Jose’s criticism
– Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has told Luke Shaw (right) to improve his understanding of the game if he wants to win a regular place in the side.
Shaw made his first appearance in a month against Everton on Tuesday and won the stoppage-time penalty that allowed Zlatan Ibrahimovic to earn United a 1-1 draw.
But having strongly criticised Shaw after leaving him out of the squad for Saturday’s 0-0 draw with West Bromwich Albion, Mourinho again took the 21-yearold leftback to task.
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“He had a good performance, but it was his body with my brain,” Mourinho told reporters.
“He was in front of me and I was making every decision for him.
“We need at this level the fantastic body to play football, but he cannot play by relying on my understanding of the game.
“He must understand, he must think, he must accelerate the process. He is 21, he is old enough to have a better understanding of the game. But today he had a positive feeling.”
Phil Jagielka’s 22nd-minute opener looked poised to condemn United to a first defeat in 20 league games.
But deep into stoppage time Shaw’s shot was handled by Ashley Williams, who was sent off, and Ibrahimovic converted from the spot on his return from a three-match suspension.
Mourinho’s side have scored just once from 36 efforts at goal in their last two matches and the manager is demanding a better conversion rate.
He admitted that striker Marcus Rashford, without a league goal since September, is short on confidence.
Mourinho said: “He is desperate. He tries. It’s not a surprise for me. The second year after the first one is difficult.
“The kid (Rashford) is phenomenal, an amazing professional.”
Everton manager Ronald Koeman was left to rue his side’s failure to score a second goal with a couple of promising second-half counter-attacks.
Koeman had no complaints about referee Neil Swarbrick’s decision to give United a late penalty and send off Williams, but he did feel his team should have secured all three points.
“We lost two points because we did a good job tonight. We controlled the game,” he said. –