“What he says now is nothing compared to how it used to be.”
It’s little secret now that Luke Shaw and Jose Mourinho weren’t the best of pals during their time together at Manchester United.
Shaw struggled to hold down a regular starting berth in Mourinho’s United team but, since his dismissal, has become a mainstay in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team, resurrecting his England career in the process.
While Mourinho has since moved on to Tottenham, been sacked again, and taken charge at Roma since leaving Old Trafford, his criticism of Shaw has never completely disappeared.
Working as a radio pundit for the Euros, he had another go last week, describing Shaw’s set pieces against the Czech Republic as “dramatically bad”.
Speaking on Sunday, Shaw has responded by saying he was confused by his old boss’ fixation.
“I don’t understand it,” he said. “I don’t know why he is still going on and wanting to point at me.
“I don’t feel like the set-pieces were as bad as he was saying. I might have done one in the second half, a corner, that didn’t get over the first man. But that was one out of three. The other two or three, I don’t think, were as “dramatically bad” as he says.
“Look, he has got to do his job. I’m used to him saying negative stuff about me, so I just pass it by.
“His voice is obviously very big. He likes to talk a lot about me, as everyone has seen recently. But his voice is his own. He can say what he wants, I will focus on myself. I take set-pieces at United, so it wasn’t as if it was something I wasn’t ready for.”
Shaw continued: “He likes some players, he doesn’t like others. I fell into the category where he didn’t like me. I tried as hard as I could to get back into his side but it never worked out, no matter what I did. There is no hiding that we didn’t get on.
“I think he was a brilliant manager but, you know, the past is the past. It’s time to move on. I’m trying to move on but obviously he can’t. He continuously talks about me, which I find quite strange. Even some of the lads (in the England squad) have said “what’s his problem?” and “why does he keep talking?”
“Hopefully, he can find his peace with that and stop worrying about me. Clearly, I’m in his head a lot and he thinks about me a lot. I don’t think any of you realise the two or three years I had with him and how bad (the criticism) was then.
“What he says now is nothing compared to how it used to be.”
