Gary Neville singled out Luke Shaw and slammed him after Manchester United’s disastrous 1-0 home defeat to Everton, but bosses should have sacked him long ago.
Gary Neville accused Luke Shaw of being “wobbled” during Manchester United’s heavy home defeat to Everton. But what he should have said is that Shaw has spent most of his United career wandering around. If there is one great survivor at Old Trafford, it has to be Shaw.
Especially since the defender has spent almost 12 seasons with United since joining from Southampton in 2014. However, during that time, he only appeared in 210 league games. This begs the question, what did the show actually do to justify its welcome in the red half of Manchester?
“Behind the ball you’ve got Shaw,[Lenny]Yolo and[Matthejs]de Ligt. Shaw is more forward, but he’s wandering forward, let’s be clear,” Neville fumed.
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“For the past 20 minutes, he’s been bothering me. He’s wandering. He can’t do that. He should be running forward every time, I don’t care. Yoro, I sympathize a little more.”
“But, Shaw? It’s a waste of time. I don’t care. It’s a waste of time. I’m not fooling anyone. I’m not like that.”
In the midst of Monday night’s frenzy, Neville could have targeted any United team for criticism. Joshua Zirkzee, Yoro, Patrick Dorg, or Casemiro would have been at the top of my list. The worst of a very bad bunch.
But the fact that Neville targeted Shaw makes sense. Because the left-back encapsulates the era of mediocrity that United have been mired in for the past decade.
Ruben Amorim becomes Shaw’s ninth different manager at United. And he has fallen into the same trap that most of his predecessors have fallen into. He thinks Shaw can contribute something important to the team.
Shaw also has problems at United. He has suffered serious injuries, has been out of form and has received serious criticism from various managers. However, all of the above did not prevent him from getting a new contract along the way. Erik ten Hag gave him his last one in 2023. For one thing, Shaw will continue to play at Old Trafford until his 32nd birthday in June 2027.
United managers have been guilty of this countless times with many of their star players.
Give them a deal that catapults them into their comfort zone where they can earn a huge paycheck in exchange for making it to the end of their career.
There should be more shows, of course. But if Neville wants someone to blame for the slump that has engulfed United for so many years, he should look to his former club.
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