Jamie Carragher standing up for comments from Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho.
It felt strange even typing that.
The former Liverpool defender has a couple of bones to pick with Luke Shaw in his latest column in The Daily Mail.
Carragher is not happy that Mourinho is the one taking stick for vocalising his displeasure with Shaw’s performance against Watford. After his side’s 3-1 loss, last Sunday, Mourinho mentioned that United’s ‘left back is 25 metres distance from [goalscorer] Nordin Amrabat instead of five metres’.
Carragher has two issues with the 21-year-old defender here:
- That Shaw did not come out in the press and accept he had been at fault and needs to improve
- That someone close to Shaw leaked details about how the players were “shocked” at Mourinho’s strong words
Having just got back into the first team and done well only to slip up against the Hornets, United fans would probably prefer if Shaw kept his head down and proved Mourinho wrong by upping his performance levels on the pitch.
Carragher recalls a conversation he had with Mourinho at July’s Soccer-Aid game in Old Trafford.
‘Jose said you cannot criticise individuals in a meeting any more.’
Having had a pop at the English football teams culture of privilege without hard work during the summer, Carragher appears to have had enough of players not taking criticism on the chin.
Catch up with episode one of JOE’s Football Friday Live
