Football
Kevin Palmer 9y

Luke Shaw thankful for Louis van Gaal's guidance

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal questioned the fitness levels of summer signing Luke Shaw shortly after his arrival at Old Trafford, but now the teenage full-back has hailed the veteran Dutch tactician as "a great inspiration" after he made a belated debut for the club on Saturday.

Shaw was forced to wait for his first United appearance following his 27 million pound move from Southampton as injury ruled him out of the start of the season, but it seems as if Van Gaal's initial negative comments about his physical condition were well received.

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The veteran Dutch coach has since offered some positive sentiments about Shaw's prospects at United and it seems the young England international is eager to please his new boss.

"He's been a great inspiration to me and hopefully I can carry that on," Shaw told the Manchester United website when asked about Van Gaal.

"For him to say I'm an example at a massive club like this is something to be really happy about. Like I've said, the aim is to win the next three games and carry on producing good performances and getting the points."

Shaw admitted he feared West Ham had snatched a draw when Kevin Nolan fired the ball into the United net in the closing stages of his Old Trafford debut on Saturday, but relief was the overriding emotion after the 2-1 win was secured.

"My heart sank," he said of the Nolan strike, that was ruled out by an off-side decision by the assistant referee. "It was close. We haven't had much luck either with decisions.

"It was a tough debut. Obviously, we went down to 10 men and it's never easy but we all fought hard and showed how much we wanted these three points. It means a lot to us. Overall, I'm really pleased with how my debut went, but the main thing, for me, was to get the win.

"We have actually had a lot of bad luck, even with Wazza's [Wayne Rooney] red card as I would say there was a handball before that but the referee didn't stop play. Earlier in the game, Diafra Sakho did the same to me, but I just focus on winning games and I'll keep doing that."

"I felt really good, especially in the first half, but it was going to be tough as we went down to 10 men. I felt a little bit of cramp but it's normal as I've not played 90 minutes for four or five weeks. I was glad to get through it."

Sakho may face an FA disrepute charge for the challenge Shaw referred to, with officials reported to be studying video of the incident that was missed by the match referees.

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