Luke Shaw: We felt stronger than Spurs
Luke Shaw believes Manchester United’s superior fitness helped us recover from going a goal down to draw 1-1 on our Premier League return against Tottenham Hotspur.
In what was our first competitive match in 99 days, left-back Luke completed the full 90 minutes and later revealed he thought the Reds had the edge on the hosts in terms of conditioning.
Shaw felt that as especially true during a second half which saw us dominate the play and eventually gain a deserved equaliser through Bruno Fernandes’s late penalty.
“We never give up and we kept going,” he told us on the pitch after the final whistle.
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“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 break 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 was also pleased with the performance of Paul Pogba, who came off the bench in the 63rd minute and made a significant impact, which included being felled for the spot-kick.
Our no.23 believes Paul, who was making his first appearance since Boxing Day, is now pushing for a starting berth when we face Sheffield United at Old Trafford in four days’ time.
“I told him afterwards how much of a difference he made,” Luke added. “He didn’t play for that long but obviously it’s great to have him and Rashy [Marcus Rashford] back in the side.
“They are very important players and maybe we can see Paul from the start on Wednesday.”
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Overall, United’s first-ever trip to the brand-new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium wasn’t too bad an experience, although Shaw admitted the Reds will have to get used to not having the usual vociferous travelling support.
“It’s one of the best stadiums I’ve played at but it’s hard with no fans,” he commented.
“Rashy [Marcus Rashford] said it the other day: 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.”
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