[bishblaize]

I'll be honest-I'm not convinced by him.

Too often he ends up ball watching when the play comes in from the right. Going forward, he's not penetrative enough (maybe this is a tactical instruction, though). Defensively, when the play is in front of him, he's quite composed and reads the game well. When the play is beyond him, he often ends up giving silly fouls.

But as others have said, he's only 19, debut season with us etc. So, I hope he does improve.

I'd be surprised tbh. Read through any of LVGs long pieces about tactics and having full backs that push really high up the pitch is an essential part of the way he does things.

I think he's still just figuring out the balance needed between attacking and defending.

 

[Raees]

That is the one thing I noticed as well. Lost his player 2-3 times, one of which they scored from. That could be a lapse in concentration. He is still just a kid. But from the looks of it, he seems a very solid defender.

Yeah, when it comes to one on one defending he's superb. Probably as good as any other leftback in the PL. Definitely needs to work on his marking, though. In set-pieces and open play. Been caught napping a few times. As well as Ki's goal at the weekend, Daley Blind gave him an awful bollocking for losing the same player when he had that near post chance in the second half.

In terms of 1 v 1 defending vs a winger, he has exceptional talent. I am sure we do not mean to overrate him but he is arguably better than Evra ever was at it and he's barely begun his career. He is a world class talent in this regard.

Not reacting to crosses etc he is a young lad and the knowledge he needs to be able to deal with such crosses and situations is more that of a centre-back. It is why someone like Gary Neville was so rock solid, even Evra too.. Evra was so good in the air and in the box, so he will hopefully pick up a few tricks of the trade in that regard through the right coaching.

The basics are all there, he just needs to be taught never to let go off a runner in the box. Someone like Ronaldo wouldn't tear him apart 1 v 1 down the flank, but he'd still score a hat trick by targeting Shaw.. making diagonal runs from wide positions and getting in on the far post.

This is the era of the wide forward who gets goals, so Shaw definitely needs to up his game in this regard.

 

[RedMachine03]

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[Kag]

If true, he's had a frustrating season on the injury front. As soon as he hits any kind of form and consistency he's pushed back to square one. Real shame for him, as well as us.

 

[SirAF]

That's shite news, he is easily our best full back.

 

[ZDwyr]

I just shake my head at our injuries these days. He hardly got injured at Southampton! What do we do in training!?

 

[Raw]

This is where Evra's invulnerability to injuries would come in handy.

 

[Redo91]

We really are cursed with injuries. Shaw barely missed a game last season yet the instant he joins us he becomes injury prone. There must be something wrong with our training methods. Most of the injuries are suffered in training rather than matches.

 

[NotoriousISSY]

What has happened to him. One day he played for Southampton, and then appeared to be an ever-present ever since. Joins us, becomes injury-prone.

Fills me with confidence defensively...well mainly the 1v1 situations. Has slowly been coming out of his shell going forward too...looked alright in the first half in particular last week. Hopefully it's just a stupid little niggle and nothing to keep him out for another few weeks.

 

[Orton]

Next Hargreaves

 

[Raw]

It's even worse than Rafael. Hopefully it's just a knock.

 

[Sied]

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fecking tired?! Please tell me this quote is bullshit.

 

[SirAF]

That's good news then.

 

[ZDwyr]

Tired! Who does he think he is? Raheem Sterling?

 

[Solius]

It's his first season for us trying to learn to cover that entire left side on his own every game for 90 minutes. It's not the worst thing in the world that he's tired, and at least he told van Gaal rather than play and have it affect his performance.

He should've gone to bed earlier though, tbf.

 

[DWelbz19]

I'd rather see him dropped sporadically than overwork him. He's only 19, and whilst he has come from a Saints side that was very aggressive and high paced, expectations and fitness levels here are needed at a whole new level. Let him rest, I have time for Shaw.

 

[justboy68]

Tired? How's he going to cope when we hopefully have 2 games a week with the CL next year.

 

[Zoo]

He's probably in the 'red zone' as Arsene Wenger would say.

 

[Sied]

Tired? How's he going to cope when we hopefully have 2 games a week with the CL next year.

This seems even more pathetic when compared to Evra, who played twice per week throughout the season with only a handful of rests. Hopefully just a youth thing for Shaw and he'll eventually live up to the high standards Evra set in his peak.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

He's still a teenager. Nothing wrong with taking it easy on him. Especially with his injuries this season.

 

[Hed Zitin]

Tired.. Don't give me that crap. He's hardly been on a huge run of games.

 

[justboy68]

He's still a teenager ffs. The comparisons with Evra are idiotic.

I agree it is important to remember he is only a teenager and frankly comparing anyone to Evra in regards to fitness is a bit unfair. Still, not being able to play 1 game a week without having to sit out due to being tired? it's definitely unusual for someone with 2 Premier league seasons under his belt already and someone who was an ever present for an intense Poccetino side last season. I think it's fair to be slightly concerned that our £30 million pound left back prospect might be going down the same shaky road as our other young defenders in recent years, Smalling, Jones, Rafael. It has plagued them all and I am beginning to seriously question our fitness and training regime.

 

[Kakeru]

This seems even more pathetic when compared to Evra, who played twice per week throughout the season with only a handful of rests. Hopefully just a youth thing for Shaw and he'll eventually live up to the high standards Evra set in his peak.

We could also say Denis Irwin-type standards as well. There is a reason why he was called M. Reliable almost to the very end of his time at United.

 

[Sean_RedDevil]

Tired = Tight hamstring

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[SirAF]

He's still a teenager. Nothing wrong with taking it easy on him. Especially with his injuries this season.

Exactly, it is mind blowing to read how some can criticise him for this!

There are far too many young talents who have been overplayed in their youth.

 

[pseudo_canadian]

If he was feeling fatigued then I'm glad van Gaal has let him rest. Too many young players these days are burned out from being over-played.

Hopefully he'll be feeling full of energy come Wednesday.

 

[Sam]

I like the fact he has the balls to tell the manager he's not 100%, shows good character.

Far better to have players like that, then players that will play on through everything and end up injuring themselves/playing badly/or both.

 

[m1y2]

Want him back in the team asap, he would do much better than Rojo who offers almost nothing coming forward. You'll see he will do much better in 4-2-3-1 with Young in form..

I can't wait to see finally playing with wingers on regular basis. Valencia-Januzaj looks like a great pairing too on that right hand side

 

[Revan]

Tired? How's he going to cope when we hopefully have 2 games a week with the CL next year.

He is 19 years old so obviosly he will get tired when he plays a lot of games. Newxt season when we have more games, he won't play in all of them and get rotated.

Nothing shocking here that a young player is tired.

 

[Skills]

He's 19 and has an entire flank to defend and attack by himself. I'm guessing his workload off the pitch is fairly high as well as we're probably getting him to fill out a bit more, as we do with most new players.

 

[Sean_RedDevil]

Shaw isn't/wasn't tired!!!!!

 

[ottosec]

Almost never injured for teh Saints, comes here and he can't play more than 2 consecutive games without getting injured...

 

[VanGaalEra]

I like the fact he has the balls to tell the manager he's not 100%, shows good character.

Far better to have players like that, then players that will play on through everything and end up injuring themselves/playing badly/or both.

Completely agree, especially at his age. Last thing we want is for him to play and injure himself.

 

[Acole9]

I hope he's not tired, he shouldn't be he's only 19!

 

[Ballache]

Is he still injured? Surprised not to see him start tonight

 

[NoPace]

After Herrera, I'd say I'm most troubled by LVG in his rating of Shaw. The Fellaini usage at least has a rationale to it.

I'm assuming Shaw wasn't 100% tonight, but in general I think he's a really good all-around player and will be the best English LB since Cole was good.

 

[Damien]

I'm not concerned as he has been played when fit. I reckon hamstring problem was more serious than LvG let on.

Only thing I find a bit weird is Luke Shaw's social media blackout for the past week. Even when not tweeting he's usually favouriting something or other.

 

[SonnyTheHaloPro]

We need him back for the game on Monday. Arsenal have some world class attacking players and Shaw is very good at defending 1v1's.

 

[limerickcitykid]

I'm not concerned as he has been played when fit. I reckon hamstring problem was more serious than LvG let on.

Only thing I find a bit weird is Luke Shaw's social media blackout for the past week. Even when not tweeting he's usually favouriting something or other.

He's dead so. van Gaal has clearly killed him in a fit of rage and is now trying to cover it up.

 

[SirAF]

After Herrera, I'd say I'm most troubled by LVG in his rating of Shaw. The Fellaini usage at least has a rationale to it.

I'm assuming Shaw wasn't 100% tonight, but in general I think he's a really good all-around player and will be the best English LB since Cole was good.

He's obviously rated by van Gaal and is just carrying a hamstring injury at the moment. I completely agree with the bolded bit.