Eamon Dunphy believes that Jose Mourinho is stepping over the line in his criticism of Luke Shaw and verging into bullying the young fullback.
Mourinho has been constant in his criticism of Shaw over the last month and has questioned his commitment and ambition at Old Trafford.
Shaw has struggled to make the match-day squad under Mourinho, and even when he has played and impressed, as he did against Everton last week, the United boss claimed that he was playing with “his body with my brain”.
The fullback played at the weekend in United’s 3-0 victory over Sunderland and drew a grudging compliment from Mourinho who said he put in “a good solid performance and no mistakes,” but Dunphy remains baffled as to the manager’s treatment of Shaw.
Speaking to 2FM’s Game On, Dunphy said: “It’s a bit of a mystery why Mourinho is so savage with him and repeatedly digs him out.
“Maybe it’s something that’s not happening on the training ground - he’s been criticised for being overweight.
“He actually played him last week and he played quiet well but a young lad like that, he was an England left-back when he was a teenager.
“A lot of Mourinho’s games are to do at avoiding responsibility himself. He’s not the only player he’s dug out.
“He’s not that well off for left-backs; nobody is. This kid was a very good player before his injury, he had a terrible injury, something like what happened to Seamus Coleman and we all saw that.
“I don’t understand the bullying of him and you could describe it as bullying.”
