Think we've finally seen the real Luke Shaw, and the reason why we spent so much money on him. A lot of people remain skeptical of him but he's clearly going to be a top class player.
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Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 20
- Clean sheets
- 4
- Goals
- 0
- Assists
- 0
- Yellow cards
- 3
- Red cards
- 1
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
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Needs to stay fit and in five years there may be no match for him on the left.
Ridiculously big potential for his age.
Ridiculously big potential for his age.
I'm not one to criticise LvG but I can't help but think we could have been much better had Shaw and Rafael been playing when fit.
Thought Shaw was brilliant today, such drive and power when surging forward. Gets us on the front foot.
Thought Shaw was brilliant today, such drive and power when surging forward. Gets us on the front foot.
For the most part Shaw has been playing when available, it is just from the Arsenal match he stopped being played, with the reasons around that not entirely known, but he wasn't looking great in that game and the time out seems to have done him good.
when we create the space for him so he doesnt have to dribble he is absolutely fantastic. The thing i love about him is that he doesnt just cross the ball into random area like most of our players, he looks before he puts the final ball.
He's already good enough to be a regular starter, but if he improves his attacking play, he's gonna be one of the best full-backs in the world.
And based on what he displayed today when he cut towards the inside, he will be getting there for sure.
Would love to see more of Shaw/Di Maria linking up down the left
He was absolutely class, the cut back for the earlier Rooney chance was great. Something which I thought he lacked but he proved me wrong.
More of this Luke!
More of this Luke!
Any word on his injury?
Not sure he was injured as he just sat on the bench. Think it was something planned, and with him running as much as he did, best not to play him full 90 mins on his first game back in action
I think this was his best game for us, Chelsea struggled to keep up with him at times and he created one of our best chances!
I just hope LVG is doing to him what he did with Herrera and then let him loose!!!
I just hope LVG is doing to him what he did with Herrera and then let him loose!!!
Yep, looked like a textbook pre-planned substitution to me. Shame for Di Maria, if he'd come on ahead of a marauding Shaw there would have been real holes to exploit. You could see how frustrated he was with Blackett repeatedly neglecting to overlap.
It's easy to think of Shaw as just fast and strong, but his delicacy of touch and range of passing are superb. And he seems to have that Rooney quality of being thick as two short planks in real life but having oodles of 'football intelligence', because his decision making really stands out too. The way he chooses his passes is almost like a Carrick type player sometimes, reading the game and taking the right action to help the whole team into the right shape or position.
He started off like a train, great work and linkup play down the left before then fading away and taking the sage option. But fair play to him, he turned on beast mode in the second half and was deservedly the man of the match until Van Gaal decided to take him off for the hopeless Blackett.
Going forward, he was miles better than any other performance we've seen from him so I'm glad we've got a solid option there should Blind be injured. In fact, if he keeps this going, Blind may have to play elsewhere or on the bench altogether.
Going forward, he was miles better than any other performance we've seen from him so I'm glad we've got a solid option there should Blind be injured. In fact, if he keeps this going, Blind may have to play elsewhere or on the bench altogether.
Top class performance, barring any injuries, we're sorted on the left hand side for the next decade.
Should always start when fit, will probably finish his career with 100caps. Just a mega talent really.
This place is maddeningly bipolar. He was great today, but there was no element of his performance that hasn't been on show a couple of times at least in the season already. Yet before the game loads of people seemed to have written him off and wanted him replaced by Blind for good, and now everyone thinks we're definitely sorted for 10 years and he's nailed on to be a star.
He's had an injury-plagued season but been good when he's played, with moments of real promise, and today was the first time he showed it consistently for the entire match. Opinions definitely shouldn't have yo-yo'd so violently.
He's had an injury-plagued season but been good when he's played, with moments of real promise, and today was the first time he showed it consistently for the entire match. Opinions definitely shouldn't have yo-yo'd so violently.
I thought he was excellent and easily the best player on the pitch when he was taken off. Regardless of whether or not the substitution was planned, he should have stayed on, he was running the show. And even a half fit Shaw is a far far better option than Blackett.
That's absurdly short-termist. If Shaw had stayed on against medical advice to not play the full 90, and then picked up a stress injury in training next week, everyone would have been throwing up their hands, bemoaning our injury record, writing him off as a permacrock and whining that we should have signed Rodriguez instead.
As a manager if you've decided that a player isn't fit enough to play the whole match, you have to stick by that decision and take them off no matter what's happening. This wasn't the CL final, it was a game which LVG will have been expecting us to drop points in, and we're in a position where we could afford to drop those points. Getting Shaw injured on the off chance that he'd create a goal in the last ten minutes wouldn't have done our season any favours.
Funny reading some comments and only having to go back to last week to hear the same people saying Blind should be the LB next season.
Was a great display from Shaw and exactly what you want from him.
Was a great display from Shaw and exactly what you want from him.
That's what I was thinking. A week ago he was a flop that we overpaid for and was a long way off first choice, now he is back to being a top prospect who should be playing more regularly.
Good in patches, wouldnt say he was any better than good but he did well at times. Think he will improve next season as he will take better care of himself over his summer break after the u21 championship.
I missed the first 15/20 minutes of the match today, when I started watching all I saw was Shaw doing his usual run down the wing, stop, cut back or pass back, slow down the play and end another one of our possible attacks. I was a little hasty and posted in the match day thread saying that he is overrated and I have never seen him do anything to warrant a place at United etc I was quickly shot down in the thread for criticising him so I must of missed his moments of good play up until that point. Anyway I do take most of that back now as after that point and especially in the second half he had a great game and I guess that is the real Luke Shaw that we saw some of today, hope he can keep it up.
Yeah he did very well in the first 20 mins, then tailed off a bit for the rest of the half. Here's a very good chance he created for Rooney:
Not to rain on anyone's parade in here because Shaw was good today, but Ivanovic has been getting absolutely destroyed pretty frequently for quite a while this season. Even by subpar players he's been getting skinned. Anyone with decent pace can have the better of him.
This is why Willian is so important to our team. Think Shaw would've had a much tougher time of it today had he played. He's constantly putting a shift at both ends of the pitch and would've stuck to shaw much better than Oscar and Ivanovic did.
This is why Willian is so important to our team. Think Shaw would've had a much tougher time of it today had he played. He's constantly putting a shift at both ends of the pitch and would've stuck to shaw much better than Oscar and Ivanovic did.
Do you think Mourinho misjudged how effective our left side would be? Alright, Shaw's only just come in for the game but most of our attacks have been on the left side of our team for a while now. I thought it was a bit weird having Oscar when Willian would have been more suited like you say.
I think he was very concerned about Young as he's been arguably your best player over your recent run. We basically shut him down which was obviously something the team worked on a lot during the week.
Shaw clearly caught us off guard. Don't think any of our players really knew what to expect.
Like I've said many times before, I haven't seen a better full back at that age. Like many I thought no way he could come in and produce to the extent Blind has done during this run but he comes in and puts in a performance like that. It was criminal that left side domination did not lead to goal and Rooney robbed him of an assist he thoroughly deserved for his performance.
He probably focused more on Young, not knowing what to expect from Shaw.
He has showed today why i wanted him so much 10 months ago 
We didn't miss Blind as LB because McNair was taking that role as the passer from the back. If we go back to have Jones as CB, Blind should be back as LB.
Great performance from Shaw. Has natural acceleration. Will get even better once he clears these niggling injuries and lose another 3kg.
He was bloody brilliant.
Defensively he has always been solid for his age and his pace, My god.
Just need to be lucky and stay fit now.
Defensively he has always been solid for his age and his pace, My god.
Just need to be lucky and stay fit now.
Played well can't wait till he learns the timing of the over lap he's going to be awesome for us!
Bloody love Luke I do.
Not so much his haircut...
Not so much his haircut...
That article on page 66 is bullshit, Shaw came straight into the team and played as if he'd been playing all season.
For some reason his talent doesn't seem obvious to a lot of people. I really don't know why. I think the kid is going to be great and on the whole barring a mistake here and there he's been good whenever he's played. Yes sometimes he's not been great going forwards and not crossed well but he's only a kid and his game is extremely refined for a teenager.
If he isn't one of the best left backs in the game in a few years I'll be surprised.
The most positve aspect of his performance was his ability to keep the game moving forward even when closed down.
I loved it when he would fake to go back but then nudge it inwards and use the space within the midfield to drive into space and regenerate momentum for the teams attack. He made it look easy and it is something he used to do all the time at Saints but too nervous to do it here.
I loved it when he would fake to go back but then nudge it inwards and use the space within the midfield to drive into space and regenerate momentum for the teams attack. He made it look easy and it is something he used to do all the time at Saints but too nervous to do it here.
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