Luke Shaw has asked Manchester United fans to respect what Jose Mourinho achieved at the club.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer started his reign with an impressive 5-1 win at Cardiff City on Saturday but Shaw said supporters should not forget that Mourinho won the EFL Cup, the Europa League and the Community Shield in his two-and-a-half years at Old Trafford.
“It’s not very nice when something as big as that happens at the club but I think we as players and as a team show respect in what happened,” Shaw said. “People might be quick to forget what Jose did for United — the three trophies he won — he did a lot.
“One of the trophies was one we had not won before. He took us to three trophies in one season so those people need to respect him and remember what he did for not only us as a team to win those trophies but the fans as well.”
Solskjaer has been given until the end of the season to stake his claim for the top job, although sources have told ESPN FC that Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino is the club’s preferred choice.
Shaw knows the Argentine well from their time together at Southampton but the 23-year-old is not yet thinking about a reunion.
“I’m not too focused on what’s going to happen in the summer,” he said. “I think the most important thing is now the position we’re in, it’s to focus on the team and what Ole wants from us as players and we will do all we can to maximise everything that he can get out of us and focus on the season before anything happens in the summer.”
The 5-1 win at the Cardiff City Stadium was the first time United have scored five in a Premier League match since Sir Alex Ferguson’s last game in charge more than five years ago.
After five months of stuttering performances under Mourinho this season, the team looked rejuvenated under Solskjaer but Nemanja Matic was at a loss to explain the sudden turnaround.
“I don’t know,” said Matic, who played under Mourinho at Chelsea and Old Trafford. “This is the question that probably no one can answer but we are sure to continue, to fight, and we try to do it.”
Mourinho paid the price for a poor start to the season that left United out of the title race and adrift of the top four but Matic said the players must take share some of the blame.
“In football, this happens,” he said. “We know, also, it’s not only the manager’s fault that results are not good but this is football and we have to carry on and to fight for the club.
“I said after the Liverpool game we also needed to take responsibility and to do our best to play better and to win games.”
Source: Kwese.espn.com