Manchester United star Luke Shaw ‘playing through injury’ when he made the blunder that paved way for Watford winner
Left-back was blasted by Jose Mourinho after the defeat for not closing down Nordin Amrabat before being hauled off for Memphis Depay
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LUKE SHAW was struggling with injury when he made the blunder that led to Watford's winner, according to reports.
The left-back was blasted by Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho for not closing down Nordin Amrabat before Juan Zuniga’s 83rd-minute strike.
But claims Shaw, 21, was playing through the pain at the time after suffering a recurrence of a groin injury.
He was replaced by Memphis Depay two minutes later but the damage had already been done as United slumped to a 2-1 defeat.
Mourinho, who had words with Shaw after subbing him a minute later, said: “At 1-1 everyone thinks we are going to win the game because we were showing complete control, intensity and creativity.
"The game was there to win and never to lose.
“But their second goal is a mistake that goes against our plan and against our training, because our intention was for their wing-backs to be pressed and not let them progress.
“And what happened was the guy gets the ball 20 to 25 metres away from our box and instead of being pressed, we give him the space to progress.
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“And when he was inside the box we were not confident enough to tackle.
“For the second goal, Amrabat receives the ball and our left-back is 25 metres from him instead of five.
"But even at 25 you have to jump and go and press. But no, we wait.
“This is a tactical but also a mental attitude. It’s something that doesn’t become perfect in a couple of weeks. So we have to improve, no doubt.”
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