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Mourinho criticises Shaw again during Manchester United's win against Chelsea

The ex-United boss used his new forum as a pundit to aim a sly dig at the Red Devils defender

Manchester United left-back Luke Shaw has failed to escape criticism from Jose Mourinho, with the Portuguese coach questioning the England international’s positioning in the 4-0 win against Chelsea.

Mourinho regularly chastised Shaw during his reign as Manchester United manager from 2016 to 2018 and often left him out of the first XI – particularly during his first season in charge.

In a new role as a pundit for Sky Sports, Mourinho explained that Red Devils’ new signing Harry Maguire would have to learn to ‘cover’ Shaw as the former Leicester City man settles into the United team.

“When Maguire has to cover Luke Shaw, and he will need to realise that he will need to do that a lot of times this season, they are not closing down the space in the box,” Mourinho said.

Shaw, who won United’s player of the year award and also the equivalent award voted on by the players, was singled out by Mourinho on a number of occasions during the Portuguese’s time at Old Trafford.

A month prior to his dismissal from the Theatre of Dreams last year, Mourinho accused Shaw of not being able to ‘compete’ and lacking ‘courage’ – along with teammates Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard.

“They’re lacking maturity. For example, Luke Shaw. When I got here two years ago, the boy didn’t even know how to compete. Great potential, yes, but he doesn’t know how to compete,” Mourinho said to Univision in November.

“And when we talk about Luke Shaw, about Martial, about Lingard, about Marcus Rashford, we’re talking about boys with great potential but who still are lacking – a word I can’t say but you like to say a lot – having that [courage]. They’re lacking a bit of this.”

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The Sky Sports role was Mourinho’s first trip back to Old Trafford since his December sacking and he used the forum to make a number of strong statements.

He suggested Manchester City’s ‘B team’ was better than both Manchester United and Chelsea, while also backing two-goal hero Marcus Rashford to replace departed striker Romelu Lukaku.

Mourinho was also full of praise for Maguire’s debut United performance, claiming the England centre-half’s defending was ‘solid as a rock’.

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