Luke Shaw, Anthony Martial, and Paul Pogba: Has Mourinho's criticism worked?
Manchester United have struggled so far this season. The Red Devils are 10th in the Premier League table after nine games. One of the reasons given for the failures of the great English club is that head coach Jose Mourinho is too critical of his players. Mourinho's public and sometimes too honest assessment of particular players has been frowned upon by fans and the media alike.
However, it is arguable that Manchester United's three best players this season are the ones Mourinho has been accused of criticizing the most. Have his words actually spurred on these players rather than halt their performances? Let's take a look at some of the early season performances of the players most frequently on the end of the Portuguese's verbal attacks.
Luke Shaw
Jose Mourinho picked up from his predecessor Van Gaal and negatively judged Shaw's fitness levels. When the fullback did play well Mourinho famously said, 'It was his body with my brain - I made every decision for him." Shaw was even taken off at half-time during an FA Cup game last season with United up 2-0, Jose commented: “Luke in the first half – every time they come in his corridor, the cross was coming and a dangerous situation was coming so I was not happy with his performance.”
This season, in the last year of Shaw's contract many felt this would be the Englishman's final season in the red of Manchester. Shaw took a club trainer on his vacation to alleviate fears of his fitness and the 23-year old has hit the ground running this season. Shaw scored his first ever senior goal on the opening game of the season and has even earned himself a recall to the English national team. Back to back Manchester United Player of the Month awards has seen the player earn a new 5-year deal at the club.
Shaw credits the manager for taking his performances to a whole new level:
"It was a tough few years but it made me stronger mentally.…….I had a chat with the manager before the season and he said he wanted me to stay."- Luke Shaw
Mourinho himself has been extremely pleased with the improvement of the player:
"..the kid (Shaw) has to know that he had three very good matches in the Premier League and today he was very, very good. I am very, very happy with him."-Jose Mourinho