Paul Pogba’s cracking cameo at Tottenham may have played him back into Man Utd side, says Luke Shaw
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LUKE SHAW believes Paul Pogba may have played himself back into Manchester United starting line-up with his cracking cameo at Tottenham on Friday.
The French midfielder, 27, made his first appearance since Boxing Day as a second-half sub.
And he earned the 81st-minute penalty which Bruno Fernandes scored to salvage a 1-1 draw for the Red Devils ahead of Sheffield United’s visit to Old Trafford on Wednesday.
On Pogba's performance, Shaw said: “I told him afterwards how much of a difference he made.
“He didn’t play for that long but obviously it’s great to have him and Marcus Rashford back in the side.
“They are very important players and maybe we can see Paul from the start on Wednesday.”
The draw at Spurs kept United four points ahead of the North Londoners in the chase for European places.
Former Red Devils skipper Roy Keane - who was working at the game as a TV pundit - slammed Shaw, Harry Maguire and David De Gea’s first-half displays in a half-time roasting.
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But Shaw hit back, saying: “We never give up and we kept going.
“We felt fit, we felt stronger than them and we felt like they were struggling at times. We kept going and got the penalty.
“I feel great. The lockdown came at a difficult time as we were flying, but everyone’s worked really hard and kept in great shape over the period we had off. We've come back flying.
“We need to push on from here. The unbeaten run keeps going but we need to take away the draws and get the wins instead because that’s the most important thing.”
Shaw admitted it was strange playing behind-closed-doors, but says it is something United will have to get used to while the nation battles to get back on its feet after the Covid-19 crisis.
It was United’s first visit to Tottenham’s magnificent £1billion new home and Shaw said: “It’s one of the best stadiums I’ve played at but it’s hard with no fans.
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“Rashy [Marcus Rashford] said it the other day that when you’re tired, the fans are there to give you an extra boost.
“It’s something we’re all learning from and I think it’s something we’ll need to get used to because we’ll be doing it for a while.
"We need to put that behind us and focus solely on football and see what happens.”