It's his second game for us, and it's a bloody friendly. These games mean nothing, otherwise going off of last years games Jesse Lingard is our best player.
Give him time.
Give him time.
23
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 20
- Clean sheets
- 4
- Goals
- 0
- Assists
- 0
- Yellow cards
- 3
- Red cards
- 1
- Status
His current level isn't worth 30m but anyone that watched Southampton can see from his very fast progress during the last 2 seasons that he's bound to become one of the best left backs in world football.
If you haven't, you can watch clips like those that show all his touches in a game so you can see both his good and bad side. He puts in some really wonderful crosses against Arsenal, one of them fell on top of the striker and he still managed to miss. Sometimes having a high count of assists depends more on the striker rather than on the player providing the ball. The more useful stat in my book is chances created and he's created 35 during the last season playing for Southampton, a team that's on the back foot against many opponents.
Criticizing Shaw after his first 90 minutes of football in preseason in a new role is just unfair. I suspect such criticism is coming from individuals who thought he would be the finished product from the first minute he played for us.
Last edited:
I can see him being first choice this season but will share a fair amount of game times with James.I would love to see LVG try Shaw in the LCB role.No harm having another one who is capable of playing that role plus we can allow James to have more game times without benching one of the two.
Some people need a reality check. Shaw is a 19 yo who already has two years of experience in the PL and he is full of potential. We spent 30m because we believe we have all it takes (training ground, coaches, philosophy etc.) to help him reach his full potential and become our LB for the next decade. I think we should wait a liitle bit more than two weeks of training and two 45 minute appearances.
I think he did ok in those two friendlies and there's still plenty of room for improvement. Of course he will improve his attacking game in time. He has a strong left foot and his body structure will make it hard for opposition wingers and full backs to mark him. He will learn how to use his body when he's in possession in order to protect the ball and cross/shoot in the final third and, as the season progresses and he learns his teammates' off the ball movement, he will eventually look better.
I really don't get the comparison with Carlos and Maldini. Roberto Carlos was a player with completely different technical and physical attributes, who played the LWB position in a way Shaw can't and should never try to play. Maldini was one of the best LBs in the history of the game mainly because his reading of the game was unique. He was a ready made defender at the age of 19, a right footed full back whom Sacchi had no problem starting at LB cause he had Tassotti and then Panucci at RB. Maldini was special, no LB playing for top clubs right now has shown any indication of coming close to that level.
Shaw has to work and learn how to use his physical attributes correctly when he goes fotward. He must improve his acceleration and his reading of the game so that he can perform these short sprints into open spaces at the right time. He will also have to become better on the ball. The key factor will be to not sacrifice any of his defensive abilities or neglect them in training. But with his body structure it will take some time. If i had to compare him with a top LB that would be Alaba. No one thought he was Bayern quality but through hard training, playing game after game and belief from his managers he has become a great player.
I think he did ok in those two friendlies and there's still plenty of room for improvement. Of course he will improve his attacking game in time. He has a strong left foot and his body structure will make it hard for opposition wingers and full backs to mark him. He will learn how to use his body when he's in possession in order to protect the ball and cross/shoot in the final third and, as the season progresses and he learns his teammates' off the ball movement, he will eventually look better.
I really don't get the comparison with Carlos and Maldini. Roberto Carlos was a player with completely different technical and physical attributes, who played the LWB position in a way Shaw can't and should never try to play. Maldini was one of the best LBs in the history of the game mainly because his reading of the game was unique. He was a ready made defender at the age of 19, a right footed full back whom Sacchi had no problem starting at LB cause he had Tassotti and then Panucci at RB. Maldini was special, no LB playing for top clubs right now has shown any indication of coming close to that level.
Shaw has to work and learn how to use his physical attributes correctly when he goes fotward. He must improve his acceleration and his reading of the game so that he can perform these short sprints into open spaces at the right time. He will also have to become better on the ball. The key factor will be to not sacrifice any of his defensive abilities or neglect them in training. But with his body structure it will take some time. If i had to compare him with a top LB that would be Alaba. No one thought he was Bayern quality but through hard training, playing game after game and belief from his managers he has become a great player.
I haven't made an opinion on him yet, and no one else should either considering the amount of time he has been at the club.
But! when you cost £30 million you have to perform and the 'young and learning' excuse doesn't carry much weight either. Plenty of other players get slaughter every time they have a bad touch and reminded of their transfer fees every second, so Shaw shouldn't be any different.
But! when you cost £30 million you have to perform and the 'young and learning' excuse doesn't carry much weight either. Plenty of other players get slaughter every time they have a bad touch and reminded of their transfer fees every second, so Shaw shouldn't be any different.
Having rewatched the second half (don't ask why) I don't get the stick he is getting... obviously if you analyse him against his price tag.. he will always underwhelm, bottom line is no full back should be that much.
Anyway as to his performance, much more positive than his first game.. he looked more direct with the ball, had an urgency about him.. definitely the coaches have had a word and he got past some Roma players with some neat touches, good pace. He always looks solid defensively which is another plus.
Alot of growth in this player, he has alot of potential in my opinion. He should be judged at 23/24, because he is a mere baby and in terms of his attacking game.. there is so much to teach him but alot of good material to work with.. quality left foot, fantastic first touch, ability to glide past players (trust me he has it, just needs confidence and pressure from the gaffer to keep driving at players) and very composed passer in the final third and out of defence. If you ally that to his natural ability to read the game in a defensive sense and his recovery pace, he is a solid player for the future. He also has the ability to take set pieces which once he becomes a fixture in the team in the coming years will become more evident.
Anyway as to his performance, much more positive than his first game.. he looked more direct with the ball, had an urgency about him.. definitely the coaches have had a word and he got past some Roma players with some neat touches, good pace. He always looks solid defensively which is another plus.
Alot of growth in this player, he has alot of potential in my opinion. He should be judged at 23/24, because he is a mere baby and in terms of his attacking game.. there is so much to teach him but alot of good material to work with.. quality left foot, fantastic first touch, ability to glide past players (trust me he has it, just needs confidence and pressure from the gaffer to keep driving at players) and very composed passer in the final third and out of defence. If you ally that to his natural ability to read the game in a defensive sense and his recovery pace, he is a solid player for the future. He also has the ability to take set pieces which once he becomes a fixture in the team in the coming years will become more evident.
He definitely will need time to adapt in the same mould as Vidic or Evra, especially being so young. If he can replicate his Southampton form for us then he'll be doing ok.
I'm not even worried about Luke Shaw's ability to adapt and evolve as a left wing back as he's used to being alone on that left side with Southampton. Both Jay Rodriguez and Lallana aren't players that offer much width.
A work in progress. I was disappointed with his pull back, think the obvious ball was hernandez but it's early days. Hopefully his crossing improves because he's obviously important in the formation we're playing
This guy will be great, not necessarily in his first season or second even. See - Evra
Obvious to the fans who knows Hernandez having watched him for years. Shaw has trained with them for a week so of course he won't be used to their movement just yet, and so he's pretty much guessing where to pass/cross it in those positions. Once he adapts he'll get it right more often.
As he's 19, we'll need to wait 3-4 years until we see the best out of him so all good. As long as he's good and solid defensively, then it's all good. The rest will come over time and under LVG he will develop nicely
I think some of you guys are missing out on some key aspects surrounding Luke Shaw's performances. If you saw him at Southampton, in a LB role, he got freedom to drive at defenses from deep and could use his pace to get separation from defenders. However, since he's played as LWB in our system, his starting attacking positions are higher up the pitch. Hence, he is getting the ball much later in our build up phase where it seems like he's expected to take on the defender in 1v1 situations. So he has less room to run which takes away from one aspect of his game which I think coaching staff will work out with him over time.
The second aspect which is important to observe imo is that whenever Shaw has been picking up the ball, he doesn't have that many passing options around him. If you think back to how Evra was used last season, he was quite isolated on the left flank. With Shaw, it's a bit similar but not as bad as last season. One of Shaw's tendencies is to use his teammates as a passing outlet to run off of. If you look at any of his compilations for Southampton, you will find it's a common feature of his game. he hasn't been offered the same luxury in our preseason games thus far but he showed more signs of doing it against Roma which I would take as a positive.
There's more to observe as well but think that's enough for now on Shaw. I'm not worried about him at all. Having James as an option can't hurt either
The second aspect which is important to observe imo is that whenever Shaw has been picking up the ball, he doesn't have that many passing options around him. If you think back to how Evra was used last season, he was quite isolated on the left flank. With Shaw, it's a bit similar but not as bad as last season. One of Shaw's tendencies is to use his teammates as a passing outlet to run off of. If you look at any of his compilations for Southampton, you will find it's a common feature of his game. he hasn't been offered the same luxury in our preseason games thus far but he showed more signs of doing it against Roma which I would take as a positive.
There's more to observe as well but think that's enough for now on Shaw. I'm not worried about him at all. Having James as an option can't hurt either
Aye, reminds me of the "Evra as a left winger" experiment Fergie tried once or twice. Really shows the different skillset needed to create space for a cross as a winger compared to a fullback. Evra always seemed like a brilliant dribbler to me but was completely out of his depth when played on the wing. Shaw's probably going through similar problems in this formation.
I would say so Pogue. Even though it doesnt seem like much of a difference between LB and LW, think it takes different skill sets to excel in a higher attacking position on the flank.
Kid is 19. Young and learning and he's already solid. not worried
Not being able to make overlapping runs makes the role so much more different to when you have a winger in front of you.
Shaw rarely had what you would call wingers at Southampton since both Rodriguez and Lallana play very narrow.
They're still someone else for the opposing fullback to worry about. In Shaw's two games he's almost never found himself on an overlap with his opposite number forced to pick up someone else. In fact, he's probably more often found himself out-numbered by opposing defenders than the other way round. So long as we keep playing 352 I think he's going to find it very tough. From what I saw of hims last season his greatest strength is his defending and he's not a tricky, attacking fullback who will beat someone with a bit of skill. The absence of a naturally left-sided winger in our squad is a real problem if Van Gaal persists with that formation. Slightly ironically, I think Evra would be great as a wingback.
He'll need time to develop at United. I'm still not convinced he offers enough in his attacking game currently to play LWB, but we aren't blessed with options in that position. He's certainly done nothing to warrant people questioning his signing, we overpaid yes, but we stumped up that cash on his potential as much as his current ability.
Some of the reactions in here to Shaw's performances are ridiculous.
He's only played 90 minutes of football in total for us in pre-season friendlies, whereby we are playing a completely new system, not only for Shaw, but the whole team. He needs time to adjust to the system and develop his attacking game accordingly, but I don't think that will be an issue with van Gaal as manager and the coaching he is implementing.
I don't know what some people expect of him so far. His defensive game is widely considered as stronger than his attacking game and he's playing as a wingback where more emphasis is put on his offensive output and providing the width. His performances so far are only natural.
However, I wouldn't be suprised if LVG felt inclined to give James a chance in the first team, while Shaw slowly integrates into the squad and system. He's been one of our best players on tour so far and looks at home as a wingback.
He's only played 90 minutes of football in total for us in pre-season friendlies, whereby we are playing a completely new system, not only for Shaw, but the whole team. He needs time to adjust to the system and develop his attacking game accordingly, but I don't think that will be an issue with van Gaal as manager and the coaching he is implementing.
I don't know what some people expect of him so far. His defensive game is widely considered as stronger than his attacking game and he's playing as a wingback where more emphasis is put on his offensive output and providing the width. His performances so far are only natural.
However, I wouldn't be suprised if LVG felt inclined to give James a chance in the first team, while Shaw slowly integrates into the squad and system. He's been one of our best players on tour so far and looks at home as a wingback.
It's not just Shaw who's getting used to the system. Everyone has to adjust to it to bring about the absolute best out of everyone in this formation. Shaw's being outnumbered because not too many look to drift out wide to support the wing backs. This improved against Roma, but we still have a way to go before we start to overload the wide areas appropriately to create space in the middle.
Shaw will definitely improve once everyone adjusts to this different formation. It will also put us in good stead when we play the 4-3-3 as this formation's more familiar to our players than the 3-4-1-2.
I think his "struggles" are entirely down to the new position. He might not be suited for a wing back role.
He's played 45 minutes in two friendlies FFS! Can't believe some people are getting worried about his performances over such a short space of time in meaningless friendlies. These same probably saw nothing of him at Southampton where he was fantastic.
Maybe the huge price tag does get into his head, it would affect most teenagers to be fair. But its only early pre-season, there's nothing to judge from here.
One thing to remember is that he doesn't have Jay Rodriguez on the left in front of him for combination play. He has a central midfielder, who will almost always be towards the middle of the pitch. So when he gets the ball out on the lefthand side, for him to do anything but find a pass inside to a teammate, he's probably going to need to burst past a player or two. He can dribble, maybe doesn't do it all that often yet but hopefully when he's fully fit he'll have a couple of raiding runs
Training on his own today apparently according to Ladymsn.
Maybe just a 10 days rest wasn't a good idea
I've been impressed; He's played 90 minutes now without doing a single noticeably annoying thing defensively and he seems to be careful with not giving away possession. He'll show us more offensively soon. As the Arsenal clip above shows, he can hit a cross (as well as a diagonal long ball) very well.
My head tells me to be realistic, but my heart and this tweet suggest strongly that Van Gaal will immediately work on improving anything a player is not already great at and soon enough Anderson will be thin and defensively responsible, Rooney's first touch in traffic will come back and Carrick will start dancing past pressing midfielders.
That is a bit worrying. He returned to pre-season training a week early didn't he? Hopefully he'a not too far behind.
Bit worrying.
To be fair, you need to be extremely fit to play as a wing-back. The fact that Shaw is so stocky means he probably requires a bit more work than others.
Didn't a poster comment on him appearing chubby a week or so back? I disagreed but maybe he was right? 
I don't actually understand how he can be out of shape though. He wasn;t injured last season, went to the world cup, then had about a week's holiday afterwards. How the hell has he managed to get out of shape?
A tweet earlier mentioned that Shaw spent the day training alone trying to improve his beating of a man and crossing, are we sure the press aren't putting two and two together? Or has LVG actually confirmed it?
A tweet earlier mentioned that Shaw spent the day training alone trying to improve his beating of a man and crossing, are we sure the press aren't putting two and two together? Or has LVG actually confirmed it?
feck sake, this is how ridiculous rumours start. He's obviously not chubby, you can see that just by looking at him. There's a difference between being out of shape, which he's not, and not being at peak fitness. The whole point of pre-season is to fine-tune a player's fitness.
Luke Shaw loves his big mac's it seems
- Status