Jose Mourinho was already pretty thin in defence before Manchester United’s match against Liverpool kicked off on Sunday.Luke Shaw missed out after aggravating an injury in the win over Fulham last weekend while Marcos Rojo, who was hooked at half-time in the 2-1 defeat to Valencia, was also absent.Then, minutes before the game was set to get underway, Chris Smalling suffered an injury in the warm up.It meant that Eric Bailly came in to play in defence.Hardly ideal preparation when coming up against such a potent attack as Liverpool’s, then.It was in midfield where Mourinho had to make his biggest call though.He decided to leave Paul Pogba on the bench, which caused a stir among the club’s supporters on social media.
Shaw's Twitter activity caught the eye
The Frenchman was joined on the bench by another player who could cause Liverpool problems in Anthony Martial.
It was a huge call and one that Shaw doesn’t seem to have been overly happy with.
Man United fans spotted that the left-back liked a tweet questioning the decision to leave Pogba, Martial Juan Mata and Bailly - before he had to be brought in - out.
“Bailly, Mata, Pogba, Martial all on the bench against Liverpool,” the message, sent by @TheManUtdWay, reads.
“The biggest game for a United fan and we’ve left out key players. Madness.”
Shaw has since unliked the tweet, but there's evidence that he did like it.
Interesting stuff. It won’t do Shaw’s chances of proving to Mourinho that he is maturing any favours.
Check out the reaction.
Mourinho was asked by Sky Sports why he decided to leave Pogba out.
“I made many decisions, I made many decisions,” he said, per the Manchester Evening News. “Starting with eleven players and leaving some on the bench. I always try to choose what I think is the best for the team.
"I think the team lately with Herrera, Matic and Lingard, the team lost some qualities but at the same time we became more aggressive, more simple and more intense without the ball and that is what I think we need to play a fast team like Liverpool is."