Great post. He does this every game to. Must be fantastic being on the opposition wing against Shaw, knowing the acres you are going to get."Shuts the left side down". That's how PSG got their corner from which they scored their first goal :
The lad simply has a big problem understanding his surroundings as a fullback.
There's absolutely no way any fullback won't anticipate a pass is going to be made to the winger and instead leave him completely open to get the pass and cross.
The real madness is this picture was repeated 2 times in a row for PSG and he didn't anticipate it both times, and the second one ended in the corner they scored.
If he's sitting back, then he's shite at it.
23
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 40
- Clean sheets
- 10
- Goals
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Presume you have never played fullback then.
Go on then, Cafu. What would you do?
That is definitely not on Shaw. The problem there is you have the image, not the video. We were caught on one side of the pitch and thereby making space for the wingback - it is something we did a lot with Valencia. PSG were playing a sort of 343, so Shaw had the inside winger to contend with as our midfielder was already out of the game and two of our centre halfs were too close to each other, with both marking the striker. He was outnumbered 2-1 and PSG executed the attack perfectly. He could have stayed a bit wider with hindsight, but his defending was fine."Shuts the left side down". That's how PSG got their corner from which they scored their first goal :
The lad simply has a big problem understanding his surroundings as a fullback.
There's absolutely no way any fullback won't anticipate a pass is going to be made to the winger and instead leave him completely open to get the pass and cross.
The real madness is this picture was repeated 2 times in a row for PSG and he didn't anticipate it both times, and the second one ended in the corner they scored.
If he's sitting back, then he's shite at it.
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Shaw couldn't go wide. That would have meant a 2v1 for Lindelof to deal with in the box.
By staying close to his CB, he kept it 2v2 in the box and left the wing relatively free. In that situation, a defender accepts that the ball will go out wide and expects to defend the cross. It's a secondary danger and so takes a lesser priority over defending the box.
In a standard 442 or 433, the winger would be picking up Alves. In Mourinho's team, it would have been Martial.
By staying close to his CB, he kept it 2v2 in the box and left the wing relatively free. In that situation, a defender accepts that the ball will go out wide and expects to defend the cross. It's a secondary danger and so takes a lesser priority over defending the box.
In a standard 442 or 433, the winger would be picking up Alves. In Mourinho's team, it would have been Martial.
I agree. That situation is one reason why managers are reluctant to randomly play the 442 diamond formation.
It requires top level coaching to ensure that the team is not regularly caught in that situation.
Read his discussion again as his point is Shaw is covering for our left wing and Pogba because they don't track much.
Everyone in this photo is having someone covered except Shaw, he's not covering anyone. Lindelof and Bailly are covering for their striker, Young and Mata each covering their players. Shaw is standing there not covering anyone.
The positioning is normal as Young is also cutting inside but the difference is first Young is cutting inside covering someone while Shaw cutting inside covering no one and second as I said, in such position when the midfielder got the pass it's obvious the ball is going to be passed to the free winger as all their other players are covered by our defense except this winger. If Shaw read his surroundings he would have started moving immediately once the pass reached the midfielder to cut the passing lane on him.
If Shaw had moved to cut the passing line on the midfielder while the rest of their players already covered the midfielder would have had no option to pass to and probably would have kept the ball till pressured and cut from him or tried to shot.
But Shaw in this picture is covering no one, and not cutting the passing line. By the time he moved to close the flank the pass had already been made and the winger was in a perfect position to cross and get a corner.
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Defenders cover space, not always man marking at all times.
When defending in that way the back 4 always sit tigher together to stop through balls or strikers getting space. It's down to the winger to drop back and mark the fullback.
In that situation Shaw is doing the right thing by being narrow, the only "mistake" he made is not spring out faster to Alves, he was a little ponderous in doing it.
His positioning in that instance though is correct. If he goes too wide then Draxler just runs forward and shoots. You always protect the centre of the pitch/goal first, leave the space in the width.
@Dante You're spot on. I think people are expecting shaw to be standing out wide and marking Alves as he's the fullback, but that isn't what you're taught to do.
He's stopping neither that's the problem. Their striker is already covered by our CBs and a pass made to him would have been cut anyway by Lindelof in such position.
I'm not saying Shaw should have left the position completely and stick to the free winger. I said he should have moved to cut the passing line on the midfielder, stand between both so that the midfielder would have had no option to pass to, killing their attack.
Problem is Shaw is standing there neither covering anything nor cutting any passing lines, unlike the rest of our players in this photo who are all having their men covered pretty well. He's basically standing in no man's land here.
This is why you can't really judge defending by looking at a static photo.
If Shaw moved out towards Alves, Mbappe would have seen the space and moved into it He's facing that direction and quick enough to get there.. Draxler could have accelerated into the space and risked a penalty if challenged.
It's easy to say he's doing nothing, but he's plugging space. He's ready to intercept Draxler if he approaches, and if the ball goes wide the defence shuffles across and he challenges Alves.
No way! Shaw is one of the few that are actually doing something there. The right sided players are not in play, Matic and Sanchez are already out of the game and the player near the referee is meant to track any late run from deep. Shaw is covering the space between the ball-carrier(Draxler) and the goal. If Shaw moves to mark the wingback(Alves) before Draxler releases the ball, then Draxler will just ignore Alves and drive through the space vacated by Shaw. That move will wrongfoot and take Shaw out of the game forcing Lindelof to come across to cover and completely expose Bailly against Mbappe.
Shaw made absolutely the right decision there. It is a dangerous 2-on-1 situation, and the best thing a fullback can do there is usher the ball outwide - a less threatening position - and block the resulting cross. If he doesn't block the cross, then that is where the Centre backs are expected to do their job.
Mbappe can't as he's already covered by 2 players who are following him not just one. Even if he ends up receiving a pass away from Lindelof and Bailly it would have probably been in an unfavorable position to shoot.
Moving little inches to the left to cut the passing lane once their player got the ball isn't going to evacuate the space, it's going to cut all options from their players. Again I'm not blaming him on the positioning, it's normal as Young is doing the same thing on the other side, nor am I saying he should stick to the free winger, he should be standing between both. The problem is Shaw didn't anticipate what's going to happen once the player got the pass, and that this picture was repeated 2 times in a row for PSG with Shaw not anticipating the pass in both situations.
He can't read his surroundings very well imo, neither on the attack (hence the lack of overlapping) and here too on defending. He's positioning and doing the basics right, but that's about it. He's lacking the extra stuff.
Of course he can! Strikers run along the line of a defence all the time, CB's won't follow him out of position they'll pass him on. Lindelof wouldn't be able to react in time with the speed of Mbappe running passed him.
Anyway this is all hypothetical. Bottom line IMO in a correct defensive shape Sanchez pulls wide and allows the 3 midfielders to do their jobs and defend the space.
Opinions but I think a pass here with Lindelof and Bailly covering Mbappe would have ended in either Lindelof intercepting it or the pass received with him close to the line in an unfavorable position, and he still has Bailly in his face if the pass went through Lindelof, but as you said it's all hypothetical. I just think Shaw could have done more here imo.
"Shuts the left side down". That's how PSG got their corner from which they scored their first goal :
The lad simply has a big problem understanding his surroundings as a fullback.
There's absolutely no way any fullback won't anticipate a pass is going to be made to the winger and instead leave him completely open to get the pass and cross.
The real madness is this picture was repeated 2 times in a row for PSG and he didn't anticipate it both times, and the second one ended in the corner they scored.
If he's sitting back, then he's shite at it.
Not an individual mistake, Thomas tuchel really did dominate this game with his tactics. Psg were 343 with the ball and 442 without it. That's a wing back you are seeing in that picture and shaw can't go and mark that player and leave a gaping hole in the defense.
A wingback system is best nullified with a wing back system itself without the ball or the wingers have to drop deep and defend as a full back too without the ball in mourinho fashion.
Tuchel outclassed ole and Phelan in this game tactically.
Indeed. Even Rafael for a spell was exciting and Had that great tussle vs Ribery (one of the world's best) leading to my Newcastle fan friend forever believing that Ribery was overrated.
It's mentality. He get a up the pitch and does 85% of the task and bottles it.
Shame.
Highest level? What do you define as highest level cos he certainly ain't good enough for no elite side or country
I think he can become so. A year ago I didn’t, but I think he’s shown improvement in many aspects this season, both under Mourinho and then inder Solskjær. He fast, strong in the duels, more and more difficult to pass. He used to be terrible at positional understanding, he’s much better now even if he has a lot to go on in that respect. His ballcarrying, shielding is top class for a fb, important for playing out of defence. His initiatives in the last third are sometimes there, but variable - this can improve with confidence, instructions and more games. His final ball is often lacking. This can also be worked at. So I think he still has a lot of potential for improving.
What is he doing wrong there"Shuts the left side down". That's how PSG got their corner from which they scored their first goal :
The lad simply has a big problem understanding his surroundings as a fullback.
There's absolutely no way any fullback won't anticipate a pass is going to be made to the winger and instead leave him completely open to get the pass and cross.
The real madness is this picture was repeated 2 times in a row for PSG and he didn't anticipate it both times, and the second one ended in the corner they scored.
If he's sitting back, then he's shite at it.
He's got a pass at the moment as the other flank is much weaker, and the centre of the defence isn't exactly rock solid.
He's safe until we improve those higher priority areas.
He's safe until we improve those higher priority areas.
Chelsea 0:2 Man Utd
Now that's what I can call a great defensive display. Saved 2 certain goals and closed his flank pretty well.
Excellent defensively today.
Defended well today.
Pogba and Herrera will get the lionshare of the plaudits but I think Shaw was fantastic today. Kept calm, didnt over-commit and was so proactive in snuffing out danger. The moment they broke on us after the trip and he came across and just stopped the danger in its tracks was the highlight of the night. So used to seeing the likes of Hazard punish that 
Rock solid every single week.
Very good defensively. He reads one twos very well. Hopefully he will keep improving.
He's great defensively and was great tonight. Another thing he has going for him is his calmness in keeping possession down the line, keeps it neat and simple. He offers nothing in attack, he just doesn't know how to make runs. I could see him work as a central defender. We need a different LB for games we are expected to dominate, though.
He’s been rock solid for us the majority of the season. Not great but good game once again. He can improve in my opinion.
Excellent.
Quality in defence. Really sharp tonight.
He was great tonight. Hopefully people here will acknowledge his fitness is top level now.
Where are the usual doubters?? 
Thought he was solid.
After a lot of criticism v PSG, I thought he played really well today, solid defensively.
Very good in defence. Like always. In attack as usual. I refuse to believe that he can't do more in attack.
That challenge against Pedro (i think) was beautifully timed.
Did very well defensively, very solid. Showed some great anticipation at times, not just with that tackle on Pedro but lots of little things. I still have some doubts but credit where it's due.
One of the best performances for United.
Saved team twice from conceding and no yellow card... I don't even think he was warned once by the ref.
Saved team twice from conceding and no yellow card... I don't even think he was warned once by the ref.
Very good defensive display tonight, made some big tackles.
Good performance, and he's reading the game really well.
Good defender
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