Is not signing a left back going to cost us the league?

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Blind is an offensive minded LB, what's the issue?
Frankie Boyle is offensively minded but he's still a shit left back.

The fact is he just isn't good enough. He's so slow it looks like he's running through treacle.
 

GM K

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Think Shaw will improve us in the LB position when he returns soon...But the crossing from Valencia worries me.

I think it is here where we want to look at bringing someone in @BringNaniBack ..

Why is everyone talking about Shaw? His injury rate and average performances many of the few times he got to play last season don't exactly raise my expectations about him solving our left back problem. Shaw to me, is the guy who shows promise in two or three games, plays like an average player for two or three games and then gets injured for the rest of the season. How can we bank on such a guy?
 

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Left back and left attacking forward of some kind. The left side does need reinforcing but the business we did was fine.
 

ivaldo

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Frankie Boyle is offensively minded but he's still a shit left back.

The fact is he just isn't good enough. He's so slow it looks like he's running through treacle.
And as we know pace is the most important thing in football, possibly life.

He's a perfectly adequate left back who isn't going to be the defining factor on whether we win the league or not. Could we do with an upgrade? Yes. Is he a glaring weakness? No.
 

ivaldo

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Why is everyone talking about Shaw? His injury rate and average performances many of the few times he got to play last season don't exactly raise my expectations about him solving our left back problem. Shaw to me, is the guy who shows promise in two or three games, plays like an average player for two or three games and then gets injured for the rest of the season. How can we bank on such a guy?
He might also be the guy who was the best left back in the league before his serious injury. Let's not rewrite history. He deserves the opportunity.
 

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And as we know pace is the most important thing in football, possibly life.

He's a perfectly adequate left back who isn't going to be the defining factor on whether we win the league or not. Could we do with an upgrade? Yes. Is he a glaring weakness? No.
I think he becomes a glaring weakness due to the fact we're not a danger from wide areas. This could be fixed by us signing a winger or a left back, preferably both. I think Blind is solid defensively, but he needs to be our entire left side since we don't maintain natural width. For that you need a quick, skilful attacking minded left back with stamina. Basically a left footed Valencia who can actually cross a ball. Or Shaw before his leg break. I definitely think that kind of player could make the difference for us, and turn draws like we saw yesterday into wins.
 

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He might also be the guy who was the best left back in the league before his serious injury. Let's not rewrite history. He deserves the opportunity.
I did not try to re-write history neither did I say he does not deserve a chance. I only worry about relying on him to fix the left back problem for the reasons I stated.
 

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Blind is better than Darmian. Darmian should only play if we have injuries.
When Rojo and Shaw will be back? we need them.
 

breakout67

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I did not try to re-write history neither did I say he does not deserve a chance. I only worry about relying on him to fix the left back problem for the reasons I stated.
'Best left back in the league' after 5-6 games makes no sense. It reminds me of the 10 different arsenal players that are the 'best' in their position despite spending 75% of their time in the treatment room. Luke Shaw hasnt had a good game for us in 2 years. Every time he's been given a chance he's not been able to perform better than Blind or he's gotten injured.

There's no point in hoping Luke Shaw fulfills his potential; his leg break has changed him as a player both in mentality and in injury record. IMO he should be given a squad role, and if he can show that he has improved given a run in the team.

Luke Shaw shouldnt be given the same treatment as Martial and Rashford because he hasnt shown the same mentality or reliability as them.
 

ivaldo

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I think he becomes a glaring weakness due to the fact we're not a danger from wide areas. This could be fixed by us signing a winger or a left back, preferably both. I think Blind is solid defensively, but he needs to be our entire left side since we don't maintain natural width. For that you need a quick, skilful attacking minded left back with stamina. Basically a left footed Valencia who can actually cross a ball. Or Shaw before his leg break. I definitely think that kind of player could make the difference for us, and turn draws like we saw yesterday into wins.
You're expecting something from our left back that you'll never see. Tactically our left back will always player far deeper than our right back, it's how Jose wants us to set up. For Jose being defensively sound is far more important than contributing going forward for one of his two fullbacks. The onus is on the attacking left to provide wide and a threat whereas that is largely provided by Valencia on the other side. Blind is expected to be more involved in the build up side than the end product.
I did not try to re-write history neither did I say he does not deserve a chance. I only worry about relying on him to fix the left back problem for the reasons I stated.
Youve completely relegated his ability to no more then false promise. You asked why people talk about him, that's why.
 

GM K

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'Best left back in the league' after 5-6 games makes no sense. It reminds me of the 10 different arsenal players that are the 'best' in their position despite spending 75% of their time in the treatment room. Luke Shaw hasnt had a good game for us in 2 years. Every time he's been given a chance he's not been able to perform better than Blind or he's gotten injured.

There's no point in hoping Luke Shaw fulfills his potential; his leg break has changed him as a player both in mentality and in injury record. IMO he should be given a squad role, and if he can show that he has improved given a run in the team.

Luke Shaw shouldnt be given the same treatment as Martial and Rashford because he hasnt shown the same mentality or reliability as them.

Totally agree with this.
 

GM K

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You're expecting something from our left back that you'll never see. Tactically our left back will always player far deeper than our right back, it's how Jose wants us to set up. For Jose being defensively sound is far more important than contributing going forward for one of his two fullbacks. The onus is on the attacking left to provide wide and a threat whereas that is largely provided by Valencia on the other side. Blind is expected to be more involved in the build up side than the end product.

Youve completely relegated his ability to no more then false promise. You asked why people talk about him, that's why.
Well, if you put it that way. Do I think he has talent or potential? Yes I do but my point is that it is way too risky to pin our left back fixing hopes on Luke Shaw considering what I have seen him do for United so far.

Let me refer you to what breakout67 posted:

"'Best left back in the league' after 5-6 games makes no sense. It reminds me of the 10 different arsenal players that are the 'best' in their position despite spending 75% of their time in the treatment room. Luke Shaw hasnt had a good game for us in 2 years. Every time he's been given a chance he's not been able to perform better than Blind or he's gotten injured.

There's no point in hoping Luke Shaw fulfills his potential; his leg break has changed him as a player both in mentality and in injury record. IMO he should be given a squad role, and if he can show that he has improved given a run in the team.

Luke Shaw shouldnt be given the same treatment as Martial and Rashford because he hasnt shown the same mentality or reliability as them."
 

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Today's game against Stoke was just another reminder we are severely lacking in the left back position. Darmian is ok defensively the majority of the time but is woeful going forward. We have so much space on the left side for an attacking full back to exploit but the likes of Darmian and to a lesser extend Blind aren't capable of doing it. Blind does a decent job there and I would stick with him for now but we really have missed a trick not signing a better left back.

Let's hope Shaw can get back to full fitness but if not I would actually like to see Young given a run of games there. Pretty sure he would do a better job there than what we have seen from the others so far.
We lost yesterday's game because of the performances of Bailly and Jones.
 

ivaldo

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'Best left back in the league' after 5-6 games makes no sense. It reminds me of the 10 different arsenal players that are the 'best' in their position despite spending 75% of their time in the treatment room. Luke Shaw hasnt had a good game for us in 2 years. Every time he's been given a chance he's not been able to perform better than Blind or he's gotten injured.

There's no point in hoping Luke Shaw fulfills his potential; his leg break has changed him as a player both in mentality and in injury record. IMO he should be given a squad role, and if he can show that he has improved given a run in the team.

Luke Shaw shouldnt be given the same treatment as Martial and Rashford because he hasnt shown the same mentality or reliability as them.
'Best left back in the league' doesn't make sense either? That's what he was before his leg
Well, if you put it that way. Do I think he has talent or potential? Yes I do but my point is that it is way too risky to pin our left back fixing hopes on Luke Shaw considering what I have seen him do for United so far.

Let me refer you to what breakout67 posted:

"'Best left back in the league' after 5-6 games makes no sense. It reminds me of the 10 different arsenal players that are the 'best' in their position despite spending 75% of their time in the treatment room. Luke Shaw hasnt had a good game for us in 2 years. Every time he's been given a chance he's not been able to perform better than Blind or he's gotten injured.

There's no point in hoping Luke Shaw fulfills his potential; his leg break has changed him as a player both in mentality and in injury record. IMO he should be given a squad role, and if he can show that he has improved given a run in the team.

Luke Shaw shouldnt be given the same treatment as Martial and Rashford because he hasnt shown the same mentality or reliability as them."
let me just summarise why that's a silly post.

Prior to us signing he was the best left back in the league, not from 5 or 6 games, from a season and a half. The best.

Whether he'll fulfill his potential or not is irrelevant, his performances without fulfilling it warrants his place in the side.

Luke hasn't had a good game for us in 2 years? Daft, he's been out with a serious injury almost that entire time. It's a ridiculous metric to measure his talent on.

These aren't continuous niggling muscle injuries, these are breaks and fractures. He's just been bloody unlucky. Unless you surmise he hasn't had enough calcium...
 

AndyJ1985

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Not signing a full back or two was a mistake imo. We need better wise players.
 

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Did Darmian not set up the second goal yesterday now or something? Or win the corner for the first?
 

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Today's game highlighted why we should have went all in for Perisic. We have no one on the team who could cross the ball. Our best crosser imo is Valencia and his crossing is horrible when you compare it to our rivals.
I honestly don't understand why people think Perisic is the answer just because he can cross a ball. Surely someone who can do that from the right is far more needed. Clearly Martial and Rashford are way better on the left, so signing Perisic would only mean they get left out.

I know HM and Mata come inside leaving space for Valencia, but surely having someone with proper width would leave more room for the midfield to find space. Teams defend so narrow against us because they know we'll hit it out for Valencia to deliver a terrible cross.
 

GM K

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'Best left back in the league' doesn't make sense either? That's what he was before his leg

let me just summarise why that's a silly post.

Prior to us signing he was the best left back in the league, not from 5 or 6 games, from a season and a half. The best.

Whether he'll fulfill his potential or not is irrelevant, his performances without fulfilling it warrants his place in the side.

Luke hasn't had a good game for us in 2 years? Daft, he's been out with a serious injury almost that entire time. It's a ridiculous metric to measure his talent on.

These aren't continuous niggling muscle injuries, these are breaks and fractures. He's just been bloody unlucky. Unless you surmise he hasn't had enough calcium...
 

breakout67

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'Best left back in the league' doesn't make sense either? That's what he was before his leg

let me just summarise why that's a silly post.

Prior to us signing he was the best left back in the league, not from 5 or 6 games, from a season and a half. The best.

Whether he'll fulfill his potential or not is irrelevant, his performances without fulfilling it warrants his place in the side.

Luke hasn't had a good game for us in 2 years? Daft, he's been out with a serious injury almost that entire time. It's a ridiculous metric to measure his talent on.

These aren't continuous niggling muscle injuries, these are breaks and fractures. He's just been bloody unlucky. Unless you surmise he hasn't had enough calcium...
Best left back in the league when playing for Southampton as a teenager...you can't make this up. Looks like we have another young english hype job on our hands. In 2012-2013 Evra was the best left back in the league, then Azpiliqueta took over from him as the best left back in the league. Even after them you have left backs like Baines and Kolarov.

Its quite obvious what you are doing, you are looking at his 'talent' while I am looking at his performance level. Luke Shaw is young and plays for Southampton so he can have some good performances and you'll start picturing him as the next Maldini because of potential.
 

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Young has actually done well at LB or LWB whenever he has played there. I genuinely think he'd be a very good left back.
Oh come on, none of these options are ideal in any way, what we really need is Shaw back and firing like he did before his leg break. Young is just another compromise, out of the 3 I prefer Blind for his all-round game and intelligence.
 

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There aren't many quality LB's around eh? Apparently Mendy specifically wanted to work with Guardiola.
 

ivaldo

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Best left back in the league when playing for Southampton as a teenager...you can't make this up. Looks like we have another young english hype job on our hands. In 2012-2013 Evra was the best left back in the league, then Azpiliqueta took over from him as the best left back in the league. Even after them you have left backs like Baines and Kolarov.

Its quite obvious what you are doing, you are looking at his 'talent' while I am looking at his performance level. Luke Shaw is young and plays for Southampton so he can have some good performances and you'll start picturing him as the next Maldini because of potential.
Yeah, when playing for Southampton... as a teenager. How you have managed to turn that into a negative I have no idea.

Well yeah, I try not to look at his performance level when he's got a broken leg or foot, that tends to somewhat affect his performances.

What you're doing is looking at a handful of performances coming back for injury and deciding all of a sudden he's Titus Bramble and completely ignoring how he has performed when fully fit.
 

GM K

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'Best left back in the league' doesn't make sense either? That's what he was before his leg

let me just summarise why that's a silly post.

Prior to us signing he was the best left back in the league, not from 5 or 6 games, from a season and a half. The best.


Whether he'll fulfill his potential or not is irrelevant, his performances without fulfilling it warrants his place in the side.

Luke hasn't had a good game for us in 2 years? Daft, he's been out with a serious injury almost that entire time. It's a ridiculous metric to measure his talent on.

These aren't continuous niggling muscle injuries, these are breaks and fractures. He's just been bloody unlucky. Unless you surmise he hasn't had enough calcium...

Even though you have the right to your views, try and make your point without referring to someone else's post as 'silly'. It won't take away anything from your post.

About your Luke Shaw assertion, most people will totally disagree with you. In the season prior to Shaw joining United (2013/2014 season. Shaw joined United in 2014), he was seen as a promising young left back with incredible potential and NOT as the best left back in the league. That season was perhaps Leighton Baines' best season. Almost everyone agreed he was the best. He and his full back partner, Seamus Coleman, were the talk of the league. Leighton could do everything you wanted in a left full back. He had pace, he had high work ethics, he could swing a cross like no other and he chipped in goals occasionally. So much so that, he was voted the PL's best left back player ahead of Azpilicueta of Chelsea who had impressed everyone even more than Luke Shaw having been a right back player converted to the left yet excelling brilliantly there.

Again, for emphasis sake, I think Shaw is talented and my post was never meant to debunk his talent. I was only focused on his performances for United. He has done nothing to justify relying on him entirely to fix our left back problems. If nothing else, he is too injury prone for that.
 

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Frankie Boyle is offensively minded but he's still a shit left back.

The fact is he just isn't good enough. He's so slow it looks like he's running through treacle.
Seemed decent enough when he made two assists from that exact position in the last international game.
But sure, let's just put Young in LB. I mean, he's quick...
 

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The fact is, we have a variety of different left backs. Some are quick, some arent. Some are defensively oriented, some offensively. Instead of buying one regular starting player, what's the issue in having different utility players rotating as pr. need?
 

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Luke Shaw may come good for us, he's got all the attributes and Jose there to sort him out.

Right back is the bigger problem because Valencia is so painfully average. Really, we need someone who can supply Lukaku from crosses, he's worth 5-10 goals a season in the air, whether it's from the fullbacks or a proper winger. Nobody is giving him the service though.
 

ivaldo

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Even though you have the right to your views, try and make your point without referring to someone else's post as 'silly'. It won't take away anything from your post.

About your Luke Shaw assertion, most people will totally disagree with you. In the season prior to Shaw joining United (2013/2014 season. Shaw joined United in 2014), he was seen as a promising young left back with incredible potential and NOT as the best left back in the league. That season was perhaps Leighton Baines' best season. Almost everyone agreed he was the best. He and his full back partner, Seamus Coleman, were the talk of the league. Leighton could do everything you wanted in a left full back. He had pace, he had high work ethics, he could swing a cross like no other and he chipped in goals occasionally. So much so that, he was voted the PL's best left back player ahead of Azpilicueta of Chelsea who had impressed everyone even more than Luke Shaw having been a right back player converted to the left yet excelling brilliantly there.

Again, for emphasis sake, I think Shaw is talented and my post was never meant to debunk his talent. I was only focused on his performances for United. He has done nothing to justify relying on him entirely to fix our left back problems. If nothing else, he is too injury prone for that.
He was voted in the team of the year, as a left back, above all other leftbacks including Leighton Baines. Google it. This is my point about revisionism.
 

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you look round at the clubs who are possibly title contenders and i think we have the strongest defensive unit and the most depth, so i don't think we can use this as excuse if we don't win the league.
 

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Over the course of a season I mean. Valencia is fine for now but I don't think he has any real competition for that position and it'll be difficult for him to maintain his form of last season.

At the moment we don't have anyone nailed down as the starting left back but between Shaw, Blind and Darmian we should have it covered.
I can see Lindelof playing there at times. Might be an easier way in, especially in the league. Having seen his attempts to head it in pre season!
 

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I really wanted Shaw to succeed, but I think it's over for him. We sit on players too long sometimes, although this can be excused a bit with his injury and age. Maybe he needs to go with a buyback.
 

GM K

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He was voted in the team of the year, as a left back, above all other leftbacks including Leighton Baines. Google it. This is my point about revisionism.
Which season and who voted him in the team of the year? I will be happy to check it out and admit if I got it wrong. You said the season before he joined us which means the 2013/ 2014 season right?
 

GM K

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He was voted in the team of the year, as a left back, above all other leftbacks including Leighton Baines. Google it. This is my point about revisionism.
I just checked the 2013/2014 PFA team. You were right. Shaw was picked for the left back position that season. Baines was the pick for the two previous seasons (2011/2012 and 2012/2013) back to back.

But it does not change the core of my submission which was never to suggest that Shaw is not talented.

My point (again) is that based on what I have seen of him since he got to United - his constant injuries and inconsistent quality in many instances - it is way too risky to rely on him to fix the LB position problem.