Luke Shaw's display and other positives Man United can take from Tottenham defeat

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  • Luke Shaw has come on leaps and bounds this season.

    Unless you’ve been living under a rock since Monday night, the copious amounts of criticism towards Manchester United and the Jose Mourinho bashing has not escaped you.

    Following a 3-0 defeat at home to Tottenham, torches were lit and pitchforks were sharpened as the angry mob took to social media, television and every other platform available to admonish the Red Devils with their manager bearing the brunt of it.

    While much of the criticism is warranted, like anything in relation to United, it has spread like wildfire and been blown out of proportion.

    It hasn’t been easy to put together, but for perhaps a welcome change of tune – certainly for United fans – here’s a look at the few positives from the defeat.

    LUKE SHAW

    As soon as the final whistle was sounded, Mourinho marched onto the pitch and made a beeline for Luke Shaw. Last season he may have been tempted to do so to reprimand the young full-back, but this time it was to congratulate him for a game well played.

    Shaw has begun the season well and was outstanding against Spurs. He was United’s best attacker, defender and everything in between. His attitude right up until the end was credit to his character and he didn’t deserve to end up on the losing side.

    The left-back has worked hard over the summer to prepare himself for this campaign and has refused to commit to a new contract, claiming he wants to ‘earn’ one rather than sign just so his current deal doesn’t run out.

    For all of the criticism Mourinho has faced for his man-management, perhaps Shaw’s transformation this season is evidence that tough love can still work wonders for players of strong character. The problem is, the carrot is usually more efficient than the stick for most modern-day players.

    A CLEAR GAME PLAN

    Even though United’s defeat to Brighton was away from home and the margin was just one goal, it was far more disappointing than the loss to Spurs in many ways.

    One of them was the complete lack of direction. That wasn’t the case on Monday night. There was a carefully laid plan in place that – for the first-half at least – Tottenham struggled to contend with. Even Mauricio Pochettino openly admitted that United ‘dominated’ his side in the first 45 minutes.

    At the end of the day, the hosts were made to pay for some glaring individual errors. Mourinho’s tactics weren’t perfect but made United threatening. In the aftermath though, they were dismissed – perhaps harshly – in light of the scoreline.

    Had Romelu Lukaku tucked away his early chance, buried a header later on or if the defenders didn’t make a few basic errors, the result may have been different.

    CHANCES CREATED

    Another disappointing aspect of the 3-2 defeat to Brighton was the sheer lack of chances created. The scoreline flattered United on that occasion.

    The football against Spurs was by no means fluid and creativity didn’t exactly go through the roof, but Mourinho’s tactics coupled with the energy from a few players, put them in dangerous positions from where they were able to threaten the away side’s goal.

    Over the course of the game, United made 17 key passes to Tottenham’s seven and had 23 shots to their nine. How they failed to get on the score sheet is remarkable.

    United squandered chances against Spurs.

    United squandered chances against Spurs.

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