Jose Mourinho put his differences with Luke Shaw aside when he complimented the Manchester United left-back last night.
Speaking on talkSPORT after England’s seismic European Championship victory over Germany yesterday, Mourinho saved some shock approval for Shaw’s performance.
The United defender had a hand in both goals, providing the assist for Raheem Sterling’s opener, then setting up Jack Grealish, who in turn passed to Harry Kane.
He played a slightly unfamiliar wing-back role, which took a while to accustom himself with.
But when the 25-year-old got into his groove, the results were excellent.
Everything okay, Jose?
Shaw earned his plaudits from across the board, but perhaps the most startling were those coming from Mourinho’s mouth.
“They worked really hard and the team was very, very solid,” said the former Red Devils manager.
“We have (Kieran) Trippier closing down the space on the inside, the wing-backs won their duels, Shaw controlled (Joshua) Kimmich and Tripper did the same, the two midfielders were giants, everybody worked really hard for the team.
“The geometry made the players feel very comfortable, made Shaw and Trippier perform in a very solid way.”
Mourinho and Shaw have been at logger heads recently, the pair trading blows in a war of words.
It stems from the sour relationship they developed during their time together at Old Trafford.
Unfortunately, the player and coach could not see eye-to-eye, a disparity that’s continued despite both of them having gone their separate ways.
“I have to admit that I push players to the limit and sometimes players are not ready to follow me in that mentality,” Mourinho recently said on talkSPORT about Shaw.
However, it seems the England international finally got the last laugh following his contribution against Germany.
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