MY ACCOUNT
Luke Shaw had no grievances about being dropped by Manchester United in August, even agreeing that Erik ten Hag needed to change something.
Shaw started United’s first two Premier League games of the season, defeats to Brighton and Hove Albion and then Brentford.
The 4-0 loss to Brentford meant United finished a day bottom of the Premier League table for the first time in 30 years – 1992 was also the last time United had begun a league season with back-to-back defeats.
Shaw and Harry Maguire were the ones to pay the heaviest price. Neither has started any of the four league games since, all of which United won, while the left-back has not played a single minute in those games.
Despite a lack of action, both players featured for England during their two Nations League games in the past week and Shaw is hopeful of playing more regularly for United ahead of the World Cup, even if he accepts being dropped for Tyrell Malacia was not hugely surprising.
Asked by talkSPORT about playing more before Qatar 2022, Shaw said: “That’s what everyone wants.
“I think Ten Hag, the boss, he knows my qualities, he knows what I’m capable of and we’ve had chats.
“It’s understandable that – and I even agree – the start of the season wasn’t good enough and he had to make changes. And I fully accept that, I accepted it.
“The only thing I can do is train hard and wait for my opportunities, whether that’s in the cup games or the Premier League.
“Whatever I play in, I just have to be ready and play at the standard I should be at.”
Shaw scored in England’s 3-3 draw with Germany on Monday, a result that did little to ease the pressure on manager Gareth Southgate.
England’s loss to Italy three days earlier confirmed their relegation from the top tier of the Nations League, but Shaw thinks the criticism of Southgate is unfair given what he has achieved in the job until now.
“You look at the results of the last two major tournaments and it’s bizarre how people can attack him and say it’s not good enough,” Shaw added.
“At the moment we haven’t won, we have to win a major tournament to be extremely successful, but we’re heading in the right direction and he’s guiding us in the right direction.
“From when he first came in, you’ve seen the difference in the England team to where we are now but of course the results recently haven’t been good enough. We’ll be ready in the World Cup.”
