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da pinnacle： Manchester United held Liverpool to a 0-0 draw at Old Trafford on Sunday, with the Reds’ front three unable to find a way through a rejuvenated United backline and Alisson kept far busier than his Red Devils counterpart.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s reign has yielded plenty of high-scoring wins, including 5-1 and 4-1 victories over Cardiff and Bournemouth, but the weekend’s stalemate may be one of the most impressive yet, even with the likes of Marcus Rashford and Paul Pogba failing to produce the calibre of performances that they have put in regularly since Jose Mourinho’s departure.
While the aforementioned duo have become United’s two key men since Solskjaer took the helm, they were both treated very differently while Mourinho was in charge.
World Cup winner Pogba’s strained relationship with the Portuguese was subject to plenty of media attention, while England star Rashford rarely featured ahead of Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez – the 21-year-old made just nine starts before Mourinho was sacked, however he hasn’t been benched in the league since the ‘baby-faced assassin’ took over.
Both clearly benefitted from an arm around the shoulder and a smiley demeanour, both of which Solskjaer offers at Old Trafford, rather than Mourinho’s tough love – if you can call it that.
They weren’t the only players to suffer under the former Chelsea boss’ reign, though; Luke Shaw was regularly criticised by the 56-year-old, even after putting in a brilliant performance.
Following United’s 1-1 draw with Everton in April 2017, Mourinho declined to take the opportunity to praise the player for a quality showing, instead saying of Shaw:
Ironically, the case turned out to be that Manchester United could not wait for Mourinho and now Shaw looks set to become a fixture in the first team, particularly if he continues to produce the kind of performance he did on Sunday.
Tasked with nullifying Mohamed Salah, the 6 foot 1 defender completely took the Egyptian international out of the match, completing 3 tackles and 5 clearances, with the only thing perhaps missing from his game being a willingness to get forward and help the attack more often. This, though, may just be the 8-cap international struggling to shake habits he picked up under Mourinho.
Despite his former manager’s perceived bullying, the £27m man was one of very few United players to offer their gratitude for Mourinho’s services to the club in his two-and-a-half year tenure, saying:
“People might be quick to forget what Jose did for United – the three trophies he won – he did a lot. One of the trophies [Europa League] was one we had not won before, and he took us to three trophies in one season.
“So those people need to respect him and remember what he did, not only us as a team to win those trophies but the fans as well.”
Pogba, meanwhile, did the complete opposite and reportedly celebrated the Portuguese’s December dismissal at the club’s Carrington training ground, while saying that Mourinho had messed with the wrong player (paraphrased).
The Frenchman’s celebrations have not stopped there though, it would seem – he has been in sensational form under Solskjaer, chalking up nine goals and six assists in all competitions. Make of that what you will, but the fact remains that Shaw is much more the type of player United should be looking to sign, rather than Pogba.
While Pogba used that frustration in a negative way, allowing it to affect the amount of effort he put into games, Shaw seems to have bottled it up and it has turned him into the fighter he showed himself to be versus bitter rivals Liverpool.
Check out the video below for fan reaction to Man Utd 0-0 Liverpool…
Perhaps this is the one claim to success in player management that Mourinho has at Old Trafford, even if the thinking behind his actions seemed totally convoluted. He’s turned Shaw into a far more physically and mentally resilient player than the one he inherited from Louis van Gaal, and it really showed against Liverpool.
Still on the youthful side, though, Shaw has an extremely high ceiling and, if he can remain fit, will surely fight his way back into England considerations while becoming a vital cog in the United machine.
Mourinho has helped instil the mindset of a seasoned professional and a maturity way beyond his years – hopefully this means he can only get better.