Luke Shaw | 2026/27 Performances

[Ekeke]

Got skinned in the first half for the goal, also let the same player cross the ball to the back post for another chance soon after. He's in poor form and we really could use another leftback

But still our fastest player so far this season. The legs are there, the brain is lacking.

 

[FootyGirl88]

Got skinned in the first half for the goal, also let the same player cross the ball to the back post for another chance soon after. He's in poor form and we really could use another leftback

But still our fastest player so far this season. The legs are there, the brain is lacking.

This is what Jose was telling us years ago

 

[ErikElevenHag]

Nope. Rashy almost looked confused when Maz came on and started doing overlapping runs

He definitely did. At least twice. Rashford ignored him both times..

 

[Irrational.]

The sooner he’s dropped from contention the better the chances of us having a semi-decent season.

 

[BarryWinks]

Felt sorry for him out there today. You can tell his body is struggling to keep up and that yard of pace he’s lost has made him more susceptible to tricky wingers who play on the outside. Ideally, we get Hall this season, have him mentor while we phase him out this season then let him go next summer.

 

[dinostar77]

If we want any chance of success this season, he has to become a squad option and not a regular starter. How many times have we conceded goals from his side of the pitch. He's been a good servant to the club but his time has been and gone.

 

[Oranges038]

He’s going nowhere. But we need a replacement and Shaw should be a squad player in this final year.

Should be gone long ago. 2 games in, he's been very much at fault for 3 goals?

 

[Ekeke]

This is what Jose was telling us years ago

I dont think it was the case before though. He more than silenced the Mourinho criticism. Was he right 10 years after he said it? Yeah maybe. Any prediction where you're suggesting its happening right then and its wrong for 9 years is emphatically wrong.

 

[CM]

He's becoming a real problem for the team but it's hard to even blame him if such an obvious issue continues to get ignored by the recruitment team. It wasn't difficult to foresee a drop off after last season

 

[criticalanalysis]

The first goal wasn't even about pace or legs. It was just Shaw stupidly overcommitting trying to close down the player, which is ironic because one of his biggest problems is leaving too much space to the opposition.

He did do really well chasing down Enciso for that 1 vs 1 from the halfway line but without having seen it again, I'd question his positioning (and the rest of the team tbh) because why was he in no one's land for that corner. Apart from the goal, he did ok by his standards. At least he somewhat tried, made some runs and made some passes in the 2nd half. I'm judging from a low base though.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

I can't believe a player of his experience hasn't just ragged the lad back by his shirt as soon as he got megged

 

[lex talionis]

We all know about the rinse job, but apart from that Shaw had a decent game. Still, he got rinsed and we conceded the opening goal.

The board has to deal with the LB situation right now. Even if there is reason to believe Hall is gettable next season, we need another LB right now, not next season.

 

[Rossa]

Got skinned in the first half for the goal, also let the same player cross the ball to the back post for another chance soon after. He's in poor form and we really could use another leftback

But still our fastest player so far this season. The legs are there, the brain is lacking.

His top speed has never been in question, not by my anyways. You could tell it when he chased the attacker that he lost on the first 10-20 yards then started gaining and passed Mbuemo (who looked slow), and was just fast enough to get back in and off-set the attacker.

However, his acceleration is really letting him down. He was never the fastest over ten yards, but now his acceleration and complete lack of agility is a real concern.

 

[Rossa]

The first goal wasn't even about pace or legs. It was just Shaw stupidly overcommitting trying to close down the player, which is ironic because one of his biggest problems is leaving too much space to the opposition.

He did do really well chasing down Enciso for that 1 vs 1 from the halfway line but without having seen it again, I'd question his positioning (and the rest of the team tbh) because why was he in no one's land for that corner. Apart from the goal, he did ok by his standards. At least he somewhat tried, made some runs and made some passes in the 2nd half. I'm judging from a low base though.

from memory, both Shaw and Mbuemo were a good few yards closer to Lammens than Encisco, but they appeared to not catch the danger and took too long before they started sprinting, so they were left behind and had to chase - some due to pace and some due to lack of awareness. Maybe some positioning, but they should have been in control there.

 

[Blood Mage]

He's not very good anymore, but the club still seem to think he's one of the best LBs around. It doesn't help that he seems to be one of Carrick's favourites.

 

[r0663664]

If we start Luke and Licha on left, every team will favour attacking us from the left. it is a recipe for disaster.

 

[criticalanalysis]

from memory, both Shaw and Mbuemo were a good few yards closer to Lammens than Encisco, but they appeared to not catch the danger and took too long before they started sprinting, so they were left behind and had to chase - some due to pace and some due to lack of awareness. Maybe some positioning, but they should have been in control there.

Cheers. I've been saying for a long while now that our last men/shape on set pieces is dodgy as feck. We regularly get countered because it seems every man and his dog go up for a set piece and try to head the first ball. Every second or third ball is just hoping the players make the right defensive choices or closing down at the right time and often we lose it. We should never had been in a situation where Shaw and Mbeumo were the last two.

 

[OverratedOpinion]

From one of Shaw's biggest defenders on the forum to being absolutely finished with him.

He's just not upto it anymore. Nothing to do with effort or wanting to do well but he just doesn't have it in him physically.

Strong as an ox. Fast as an ox.

 

[pelterz]

His top speed has never been in question, not by my anyways. You could tell it when he chased the attacker that he lost on the first 10-20 yards then started gaining and passed Mbuemo (who looked slow), and was just fast enough to get back in and off-set the attacker.

However, his acceleration is really letting him down. He was never the fastest over ten yards, but now his acceleration and complete lack of agility is a real concern.

Recovery also gets much harder. Longer rests are needed between effort which costs you opportunities. Not bombing down the wing because you have to save it for defence and vise versa.
He is doing ok but with Dalot as well l think we’ve somewhat forgotten what a top fullback can provide and overestimate both of their contributions. A good fullback can be a menace.

 

[Rossa]

Cheers. I've been saying for a long while now that our last men/shape on set pieces is dodgy as feck. We regularly get countered because it seems every man and his dog go up for a set piece and try to head the first ball. Every second or third ball is just hoping the players make the right defensive choices or closing down at the right time and often we lose it. We should never had been in a situation where Shaw and Mbeumo were the last two.

Really is quite simple. There are two players in that backline that I would trust in those situations: Dalot and then Yoro. So always one of those. Hell I remember even Rio stayed back on some corners most likely because of his recovery pace.

 

[Ekeke]

So he's currently the 4th fastest fullback in the league for max speed so far this season. Van Ewick (25) is the fastest player fullstop, then Maatsen (24) , then 32 year old Reinaldo, 31 year old Shaw and 32 year old Robertson make up the top 5. Frimpong is 6th, Hall is 15th

 

[Borys]

Lost all pace but still managed to out pace Mbuemo and stopped a goal. Terrible for their goal though. He has a habit of allowing his winger far too much space, and even at his best he never had the acceleration to get back in. Silly play.

He had plenty of pace and acceleration - back in the days that is. He was a rapid player and powerful runner.

My theory is: after losing some pace he never adapted, he is giving the opponents too much space but also can't get very tight to them as he will be outrun easily.

That combined with him clearly changing his playing style to more "conservative" made him what he is now - a liability, but I do feel sorry for him as this is a known fact we need a LB and he should not be there starting games.

 

[golden_blunder]

This is interesting. Obviously its from just 1 game so far but for years people have said his legs have gone

Our fastest player at the moment. His legs arent an issue. Defending set pieces is an issue as was only getting 1 assist last season, granted he only played half of it at fullback.

Fastest? That could be one or two sprints. It doesn’t show him jogging back, or wandering around out of position. He was better than he was against Hull but in my opinion he offers nothing offensively anymore and the team would be better off if we replaced him adequately. I thought that last season too. Plus he’s inevitably going to get injured and miss a bunch of games. I mean these aren’t rocket science observations so I don’t get the defending him angle.

 

[golden_blunder]

So he's currently the 4th fastest fullback in the league for max speed so far this season. Van Ewick (25) is the fastest player fullstop, then Maatsen (24) , then 32 year old Reinaldo, 31 year old Shaw and 32 year old Robertson make up the top 5. Frimpong is 6th, Hall is 15th

That should tell you that it doesn’t matter a shit because Robertson is washed up. Ask Liverpool fans who used to watch him running up and down the flank for years

 

[Ekeke]

That should tell you that it doesn’t matter a shit because Robertson is washed up. Ask Liverpool fans who used to watch him running up and down the flank for years

He is, but its because of defensive errors. He's certainly slower than he was, but he's clearly still fast. Same as Shaw,the thinking part is declining more than overall speed

 

[devilish]

This is interesting. Obviously its from just 1 game so far but for years people have said his legs have gone

Our fastest player at the moment. His legs arent an issue. Defending set pieces is an issue as was only getting 1 assist last season, granted he only played half of it at fullback.

Legs gone doesn't necessarily mean pace but also stamina. The FB position has never been as demanding as now. Gaz thinks he couldn't be a modern FB in today's game. Yet we expect shaw to constantly go up and down the pitch for the entire game and for the entire season

 

[maximus419]

Shaw has always taken time to get started and in form at the beginning of a season. He's never had brilliant acceleration but once he gets going he builds up speed. I honestly think people are being over critical of him right now. Funny how there isn't the same level of constant criticism aimed at Licha who had yet another brain fart that literally gifted them a goal, he somehow seems to get a free pass.

 

[Ekeke]

Legs gone doesn't necessarily mean pace but also stamina. The FB position has never been as demanding as now. Gaz thinks he couldn't be a modern FB in today's game. Yet we expect shaw to constantly go up and down the pitch for the entire game and for the entire season

I'd agree with that somewhat. Hes also 7th for distance covered in our team and 31st across all fullbacks in the league out of 38 showing presumably more decline for overall running. However he's had 4th most sprints per 90 mins for our team and 29th out of 38 out of all premier league fullbacks. So down on total running, but a bit closer to the middle when it comes to making sprints and running when he needs to rather than just running to help the team or even unnecessarily as it would all count.

 

[fergiewherearethou]

Dorgu should start at LB and rotate with Shaw.

 

[Apokalips]

I dont think it was the case before though. He more than silenced the Mourinho criticism. Was he right 10 years after he said it? Yeah maybe. Any prediction where you're suggesting its happening right then and its wrong for 9 years is emphatically wrong.

People need to stop this "Jose was right" nonsense. Every player he talked shite about proved him wrong.

Obviously they all eventually fell off due to injury and age but they all gace us good moments after he left and performed at a higher level for us than Jose performed anywhere.

Fed up of people who pine after Jose bloody Mourinho. Ashley Young even said the other day, the Mou we got was not the same guy as his first Chelsea stint. There is no reason for a United fan to pine after Jose or even love him too much.

 

[Ekeke]

People need to stop this "Jose was right" nonsense. Every player he talked shite about proved him wrong.

Obviously they all eventually fell off due to injury and age but they all gace us good moments after he left and performed at a higher level for us than Jose performed anywhere.

Fed up of people who pine after Jose bloody Mourinho. Ashley Young even said the other day, the Mou we got was not the same guy as his first Chelsea stint. There is no reason for a United fan to pine after Jose or even love him too much.

Yeah it was actually the opposite of the Chelsea Mourinho. Losing the Madrid job broke something in him.

I remember when he came in as "A special one" (not The), one of the things the media quickly recognised is that he took all the criticism shielding his players and not singling players out. That took the pressure off them. By the time he came to United he was blaming not just individual players, but young ones at that not even the veterans who should know better and who are used to the high standards expected at United. There was no taking the criticism for the players. He was out for himself and that caused the hostile environment.

 

[JustOneMoreRebuild]

This is interesting. Obviously its from just 1 game so far but for years people have said his legs have gone

Our fastest player at the moment. His legs arent an issue. Defending set pieces is an issue as was only getting 1 assist last season, granted he only played half of it at fullback.

Top speed is a nice attribute to have, but acceleration is key. Comparing top speeds isn't really that useful when it can take 5–6 seconds of sprinting to actually reach that maximum.

Doku is a great example of this. His top speed isn't anything particularly extraordinary compared to some of the fastest players in the league, but his acceleration over the first 5–10 yards is ridiculous. That explosive burst is what allows him to blow past defenders before they even have time to react.

In football, unless you're talking about open-field situations, acceleration is far more important than top speed. Most situations are decided over the first few yards, not by who can maintain the highest speed over 40–50 metres.

 

[Ekeke]

Top speed is a nice attribute to have, but acceleration is key. Comparing top speeds isn't really that useful when it can take 5–6 seconds of sprinting to actually reach that maximum.

Doku is a great example of this. His top speed isn't anything particularly extraordinary compared to some of the fastest players in the league, but his acceleration over the first 5–10 yards is ridiculous. That explosive burst is what allows him to blow past defenders before they even have time to react.

In football, unless you're talking about open-field situations, acceleration is far more important than top speed. Most situations are decided over the first few yards, not by who can maintain the highest speed over 40–50 metres.

Speed in the first few yards or over a short distance is definitely more important. But its also something nobody is a good judge of with their eyes. You're forever comparing them to a memory of a past event, with different players. So unless you have numbers to tell you the real distance between players, which all the clubs will have for their own players and maybe they have some info on opposition players too. But we dont. And there are some obvious guys who are clearly at the top of the acceleration charts and some at the bottom. But for everyone somewhere in the middle nobody knows without actual data. Its complete guesswork.

If you dont have a high max speed you cannot get to a high speed at any point. So thats where its useful. It just shows how fast a player can get if theres a foot race over 15-30 yards usually down the wing or chasing passes in behind the CBs. And even then defenders can still block the guy or use their body to hold them off a bit and not let them get to top speed. But eventually after a certain amount of matches everyone should have been able to run 15-20 yards and reach a topspeed at some point. Any player that hasnt managed to do that after 5 or 10 games isnt going to be able to do it reliably at any point so their max speed wont matter.

Max speed is just all we have the data for. If someone wants to fund collection of data on acceleration for footballers be my guess. I welcome your data.

 

[Andersons Dietician]

from memory, both Shaw and Mbuemo were a good few yards closer to Lammens than Encisco, but they appeared to not catch the danger and took too long before they started sprinting, so they were left behind and had to chase - some due to pace and some due to lack of awareness. Maybe some positioning, but they should have been in control there.

They all sort of set off at the same time but Encisco is moving out facing the direction doing what any good forward does and gambling that the ball is going to break. Shaw and Mbeumo are facing the opposite way. So they are turning in to a sprint and the ball has landed infront of Encisco where as Shaw and Mbeumo are having to close at an angle.

Saw the top end speeds of all three in that sprint.

Shaw 34.4
Encisco 34.2
Mbeumo 33.6

I think this idea that Shaw is slow has come from that pre season where Lukaku posted the sprint speeds. Shaw just coming back from hamstring injury so clearly wasn’t going full out. I don’t even think he is slow acceleration wise.

I do think that he is more reluctant to get forward but I think in part that is by design as he is the cover for the backline as he is really the only fast and powerful one in it.

 

[erlichbachman]

I can't believe people are using stats to prove he is fast or not fast, when it's quite obvious for years that he is hardly ever sprinting at full pace, or even challenging for dangerous duels that involve accelerating quickly, get stuck in and stuff like that.

From human side I can understand him, injuries have cost hima. Lot but from football point of view it's simply not good enough for highest level. Also him being fast over one meter in about 20-30m run means feck all when the guy left him for dead in first few seconds and he couldn't catch him anymore, which resulted in good cross and us conceeding a goal after that cross.

 

[RuudtheRed]

I think Shaw simply gets a lot more stick than others in the team, to the point where people are claiming he made no overlaps when clearly he did. Undoubtedly he was at fault for the 1st goal (he even admitted it) but on balance, I'd prefer him as LB to any of the other options we have. Not a fan of inverted fullbacks. He's been written off a lot but generally I have faith in him when he plays. The question mark is on fitness and obviously it is not ideal to have just 1 specialist leftback for a packed season.

 

[Rossa]

They all sort of set off at the same time but Encisco is moving out facing the direction doing what any good forward does and gambling that the ball is going to break. Shaw and Mbeumo are facing the opposite way. So they are turning in to a sprint and the ball has landed infront of Encisco where as Shaw and Mbeumo are having to close at an angle.

Saw the top end speeds of all three in that sprint.

Shaw 34.4
Encisco 34.2
Mbeumo 33.6

I think this idea that Shaw is slow has come from that pre season where Lukaku posted the sprint speeds. Shaw just coming back from hamstring injury so clearly wasn’t going full out. I don’t even think he is slow acceleration wise.

I do think that he is more reluctant to get forward but I think in part that is by design as he is the cover for the backline as he is really the only fast and powerful one in it.

First of all, 34,4 isn't a very high top speed, and they were going at it over a fairly long distance. What surprised me there, and all match was how slow Mbuemo looked.

Shaw has always had a pretty high top speed - many have talked about him being one of the fastest in the league once he hits top speed, also implicitly saying his acceleration isn't of the same calibre. It isn't and never has been, which makes sense considering his stocky build and frame.

As for him not going forwards: Dalot is clearly the fastest defender we have both over short and longer distances. Shaw is often caught upfield, so what's your excuse there? I'd be surprised if Yoro isn't second; he's looking quicker and fitter this season.

 

[Rossa]

Speed in the first few yards or over a short distance is definitely more important. But its also something nobody is a good judge of with their eyes. You're forever comparing them to a memory of a past event, with different players. So unless you have numbers to tell you the real distance between players, which all the clubs will have for their own players and maybe they have some info on opposition players too. But we dont. And there are some obvious guys who are clearly at the top of the acceleration charts and some at the bottom. But for everyone somewhere in the middle nobody knows without actual data. Its complete guesswork.

If you dont have a high max speed you cannot get to a high speed at any point. So thats where its useful. It just shows how fast a player can get if theres a foot race over 15-30 yards usually down the wing or chasing passes in behind the CBs. And even then defenders can still block the guy or use their body to hold them off a bit and not let them get to top speed. But eventually after a certain amount of matches everyone should have been able to run 15-20 yards and reach a topspeed at some point. Any player that hasnt managed to do that after 5 or 10 games isnt going to be able to do it reliably at any point so their max speed wont matter.

Max speed is just all we have the data for. If someone wants to fund collection of data on acceleration for footballers be my guess. I welcome your data.

I kinda agree with you, but as you also know, top speed can be a split of a second; it doesn't say anything about how long you are able to maintain that speed or how long it takes to get there, so it's not the best metric. Especially not this early into the season.

Also, I think one can quite easily spot players that have acceleration that transcends that of most players - Adama, Antonio Valencia, Owen, Doku, Vinicius, Mbappe, Giggs, Robben, Sterling, Lennon etc all had burst of pace that very few defenders were able to stick with. Not sure Doku or Sterling would ever have the highest top speeds (saw prime Sterling lose a fair few foot races), but for their role, that initial burst is what would get them away from their defender and make them a real handful to defend against. Then you have a select few that have both the acceleration and top speed such as Giggs, Robben, Ronaldo, Valencia, Dembele, Mbappe etc.

We should just have a relay - 40 yard dash relays with the five fastest players of each team (I think we'd finish down towards the bottom).

 

[Marwood]

Top speed is a nice attribute to have, but acceleration is key. Comparing top speeds isn't really that useful when it can take 5–6 seconds of sprinting to actually reach that maximum.

Doku is a great example of this. His top speed isn't anything particularly extraordinary compared to some of the fastest players in the league, but his acceleration over the first 5–10 yards is ridiculous. That explosive burst is what allows him to blow past defenders before they even have time to react.

In football, unless you're talking about open-field situations, acceleration is far more important than top speed. Most situations are decided over the first few yards, not by who can maintain the highest speed over 40–50 metres.

True about acceleration but these speed stats do counter the extreme argument that his legs have gone. You can't be topping speed charts if you're physically finished.

I've not been a massive fan of Shaw during his time here, he's been at times overweight and unfit in my opinion. Which will no doubt have contributed to the injuries. He looks fitter now than he did 7 years ago. Nor do I think he plays with the leadership you'd expect of a player with his experience. He's essentially the same lad we signed minus some pace. His game hasn't matured.

But he is still a good player. His legs haven't gone.

Apart from that one mistake, which can happen, fullbacks do get beat, he was good against Ipswich.

 

[Lyng]

I think Shaw simply gets a lot more stick than others in the team, to the point where people are claiming he made no overlaps when clearly he did. Undoubtedly he was at fault for the 1st goal (he even admitted it) but on balance, I'd prefer him as LB to any of the other options we have. Not a fan of inverted fullbacks. He's been written off a lot but generally I have faith in him when he plays. The question mark is on fitness and obviously it is not ideal to have just 1 specialist leftback for a packed season.

Most of the changes Ipswich got where due to him either being out of position or not being able to deal with the winger. We could have been down by 3 if not for Lammens and most of that was mainly caused by Shaw. He used to be a absolute fantastic leftback but he has fallen of a cliff and should NOT be a starter in every game.