Jose Mourinho has praised the efforts of Luke Shaw at Euro 2020 after his excellent performance in England’s win over Ukraine. The Manchester United left-back was awarded the Three Lions’ man of the match in a fan poll after producing two assists in the 4-0 quarter-final triumph in Rome. The new Roma coach Mourinho also believes England should stick with a back four in their Euro 2020 semi-final because of Kyle Walker and Luke Shaw’s form.
“The question is, do England need to play with a back three as they did against Germany? My view is no,” he told talkSPORT. “The back four is really, really solid. Luke Shaw is playing better and better and better. Kyle Walker is having an amazing tournament.”
“The two centre-backs are very solid and the back four with the amazing Euros that both central midfielders are doing is more than enough to control Denmark offensively. Then, you have four players to decide the creativity of the game. It is there that Gareth may have some doubts.”
“Walker, [Harry] Maguire, [John] Stones and Shaw is clear. [Kalvin] Phillips and [Declan] Rice is clear. [Raheem] Sterling and [Harry] Kane is clear and there are two places that in my opinion are open and two positions where the options are different.”
Mourinho appeared far more impressed with Shaw’s display in the Italian capital on Saturday, saying the form of England’s defenders means Southgate should resist any temptation to revert to a back three for the semi-final against Denmark.
“[Jadon] Sancho played well, [Phil] Foden started the tournament, the same with [Mason] Mount, while [Jack] Grealish looks like he’s not the favourite player of Gareth but, every minute he’s on the pitch, he does well. There are lots of options for these two places.”
“I believe playing at Wembley, England will be solid as always but you have to try and win the match as soon as they can and I don’t believe that they need to play with a back three like they did against Germany.”
