Thursday, 28 August 2014

Roy Hodgson shares Louis van Gaal's fears over Luke Shaw's fitness

Roy Hodgson has admitted talking with Manchester United and England left back Luke Shaw at the World Cup amid increasing concerns about his fitness.
Shaw, 19, the world's costliest teenager when he left Southampton for Old Trafford in a £28million deal, was heavily criticised by United manager Louis van Gaal over his training regime.
And Hodgson, who named Wayne Rooney as England's new captain in his first squad since Brazil 2014, seems to have similar concerns.
He said: 'He might have had it mentioned to him a couple of times during the World Cup when we were together by people like myself and Gary Lewin (England's head physio).
'When Van Gaal talks to Mauricio Pochettino then Pochettino will say to him, "What you were saying to Luke Shaw is what I've been saying to him".
'I think a lot of Luke's situation is purely down to the fact that he is still young, his body is changing but I think he's aware that the work-rate which is required does mean he's got to work very, very hard on that aspect of his game.
'I must say, watching him play in the matches for Southampton — which caused me to select him — and watching him in the game against Costa Rica when he played, he didn't seem to have too many problems coping with the physical side of the game.
'That doesn't mean to say he can't be fitter and if Louis thinks that he can get him fitter then I'm sure he will certainly have our approval.
'Luke's been aware of it and he will get fitter and stronger, not least of all because he's still a very young man and his body has not yet reached its proper proportions for the level he wants to play at.'
Shaw is currently sidelined with a hamstring injury and has not been named in Hodgson's England squad for Wednesday's friendly with Norway at Wembley and the Euro 2016 qualifier in Switzerland five days later.

Source: dailymail

0 comments:

Post a Comment