Luke Shaw didn’t have the best Manchester derby last week as his United side were thrashed 3-0 by rivals City.
That led to some harsh words from former United skipper turned TV pundit Roy Keane. Six days on, Shaw helped United earn a vital win against Chelsea, with the hosts emerging 2-1 victors in a game at Old Trafford where both sides were reduced to 10 men.
Afterwards, The National spoke to Shaw about the win – and Keane's criticism.
Q: How do you feel after beating Chelsea. Is it relief?
A: Yeah, I think relief. It just shows how much in the second half we were just thinking about surviving and not losing the game, and trying to do everything we can to win the game. I think that’s where we sat off more.
We weren’t proactive, weren’t aggressive. But I think that’s where we’re at at the moment. I think we know how important it was to win the game today, extremely important. That’s the mentality, where we’re at right now. It was about defending for our lives and making sure that we won this game.
Of course, there’s things we can improve on, we know that. But we have to be very happy today with three points, because for us, that was the most important thing.
Was Casemiro very disappointed [at being sent off]? Because the game changed on that red card …
I’m sure he is. He’s an extremely experienced player. He’ll be disappointed, but it’s not individuals, it’s a team. It’s a team effort all the time.
Is this the level you need to reach every week?
It has to be the level. It was really important to start well today, start fast, bring the crowd with us, especially after a disappointing result last week. It was vital to start quickly today and we did that.
We obviously forced them into the mistake. It’s about being more and more clinical in front of the goal. There’s lots of things we have been doing well, not just today, but I think this whole season. We just have to keep on pushing, keep on working hard in training. Things will evolve.
Do the results help get the margins working in your favour at both ends? Is it a bit about confidence, trying to get those goals and not concede those easy goals?
Yes, I think results are the most important thing. I think results bring happiness, brings confidence, especially around the dressing room and around the training ground. It always helps. But yes, like I said, today that was the most important thing, winning the game.
We spoke about it a lot this week, winning this game, winning three points and moving on to the next. I think the standards we have to set is how we [played] in that first half. A very good first half, but for us it's about being consistent and maintaining the levels, not just for 30 minutes, 45 minutes. It’s where we need to get to if we want to be a top, top team at the top of the league. We need to keep it consistent the whole game.
What is the team doing well? Where do you improve?
We spoke about that a lot this week. I think the two main areas that we do need to improve on is defending our own box and being more clinical in the other box. And that’s the things we’re working on in training. It’s things we need to do as players. We’re the ones that are out on the pitch and [we need] to communicate to each other, to defend for our lives.
The only thing that matters is keeping that ball out of your net. And I think we need to keep on working at that. That’s the two main areas at the moment where, as a team, we can definitely improve on. That’s defending our own box as a team and then being a bit more clinical in the opposition box.
The manager talked about the team being better than last season. The stats suggest that as well, but that hasn’t translated into results. How difficult is it for you as players to keep faith in what you're being asked to do and being told to do in the face of those results not going your way?
Yes, it is tricky. I think we always stay positive, but of course, we know it's tough. I've been here a long time now. I’ve seen it all and I feel like results are the most important thing. Winning games is the most important thing. That’s, of course, what we want to do week in, week out. But I think for us it’s about how we react to not winning games.
I think sometimes in the past, that’s really been the hard bit, is how we react and return to the next game. I think in the past, we’ve maintained that low energy in games after that. But whereas I think, for me, and I'm sure the manager can speak on his part, I felt like today we were going to win.
I think that’s how we have to feel every game. We have to feel like we’re going to go into the game today and win. And that doesn’t matter who we play, home or away, we have to have that mentality every game that we're going to win. We’ve got to go into that game with that mindset.
There was criticism from Roy Keane last weekend. Does that matter to you?
Of course, but I think people have opinions. I think sometimes you just have to take it on the chin. He’s got a lot of experience. He was one of the best captains ever for Man United. Of course it hurts.
But for me, I think criticism is part of being a football player. I listen to it. I think he was right. I think that last week, I wasn’t at my level at all.
I don’t need Roy Keane to tell me. I think after the game, I knew that. I knew that, but of course it hurts. The most important thing is knowing how good I can be. The manager knows that. I think the managers who I played with in the past know that. I'm always in the team and I’m always playing, so there must be something that the managers believe in.
I’m not getting any younger now and I need to be consistent. I’ve had a lot of ups and downs, but for me now, it’s about keeping that consistency at a high level. Because I know I can do that. I think that’s why last week hurt me a lot, because that’s not my level. And I think the criticism is what people understand. But like I said, I take it on the chin and listen to it and move on.
