Rio Ferdinand has taken aim at Luke Shaw for his poor performance during Manchester United's defeat at Arsenal on Sunday.
Shaw started at left-back for the Red Devils, following a run of games in which he had featured in central defence. The Englishman was up against international team-mate Bukayo Saka, who started on the right-wing for the Gunners.
The United star proceeded to endure a difficult evening at Emirates Stadium, winning just three of his defensive duels. He was also unable to prevent Saka scoring Arsenal's second goal in their win over Erik ten Hag's side, who were left 11 points adrift of the Premier League leaders.
Shaw was booked and struggled to create anything of note in an attacking sense as United saw their title hopes take a serious blow. And Ferdinand pinpointed his failure to keep Saka quiet as one of the key causes of United's defeat.
"I think Saka, my young player of the year, had Shaw scared. That’s the first time I’ve seen Shaw look like, 'Oh, this guy has got my number'," Ferdinand told his FIVE YouTube show.
"He gave him far too much space a lot of the time, allowed him to run and get into the box before engaging with him because he didn’t want to get beat. He thought if he tried to face him up he’d just shift it round him. But Shaw’s been magnificent for United up to this point.
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"I will say, if I was being picky with United, I thought maybe they should have brought on someone like (Alejandro) Garnacho with 15 or 20 minutes to go just to give Arsenal something to think about.
"They were so on us. They were all over us because they knew there was nothing threatening in behind late on. When it went 2-2, they were the team that said, 'No! We want to win this! We want to take all three points!'.
"We were sitting there and suffering. But at the same time, we have to say Manchester United have come a long way. Arsenal are further along in their development under this manager, they’ve had him for longer."
Ferdinand's blast comes after Shaw himself admitted that United deserved to be on the losing side in their huge clash at the Emirates. He insisted that his side were too passive during the second half, in which the hosts scored twice.
"I think you have to give them credit for what they have done this season, you know we are only half way but they deserve to be at the top from the way they are playing and how they play," Shaw told Sky Sports of Arsenal. "I think the quality of these games now are getting much more, it was a very tough game to be involved in, but you know these are the games that every player wants to play in to test themselves against the best.
"In the second half, we deserved that, we were a bit passive and let them control the game completely. To concede right at the end is gutting. We were fighting to the last second but we have to concentrate for the full game and one lapse in concentration could cost you a goal."
