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Jose Mourinho has appeared to once again call Luke Shaw’s fitness and application into question, by claiming the defender must have suffered a “big injury” to leave the field of play after only eight minutes in Manchester United’s 1-1 draw with Swansea.
Shaw suffered a knock to the ankle early on against Swansea and signalled to the touchline that he would be unable to continue the match. He was replaced by Antonio Valencia.
Mourinho has repeatedly questioned Shaw’s attitude in the press and has claimed the player does not always give his best efforts in training, and the manager appeared to criticise his full-back again in his post-match interview.
“I don't know about the injuries. I think Luke Shaw's must be a big injury, because to leave the pitch after 10 minutes I am expecting a very big injury,” Mourinho said afterwards.
“At the moment, we can walk from the bed to the toilet and break a leg.”
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A frustrated Mourinho also described United’s tenth home draw this league season as a “bad day”.
Appearing to be on course for a victory thanks to Wayne Rooney’s first-half penalty, Gylfi Sigurdsson scored a superb late-free kick to earn Swansea their share of the points.
The draw leaves Manchester United in fifth position, a point behind Liverpool and potentially three behind Manchester City, if Pep Guardiola’s team win their game in hand.
Mourinho added: “We lost players and we lost points, so yes today was a bad day. We did not look tired and exhausted, we are tired and exhausted.
“You cannot isolate the performance out of the context. This is the ninth match of April, it is not human. We have a squad of 22 that is reduced to 13 or 14 players. The players are very tired.”
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