That's setting the bar a bit low for a significant contribution to a season. Look at Walker at City. 31 is his lowest ever number of games in a season. Usually 40 to 50. Robertson at Liverpool would be the same. His appearances have always been in the 40s/50s. This season would be perceived as a bit of a disaster for him, in terms of injuries, and he's on track for 30+ games.
23
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 15
- Clean sheets
- 4
- Goals
- 0
- Assists
- 1
- Yellow cards
- 7
I've never been keen on Shaw's defending, not even at his peak (which, let's face it, it's a rare occurrence these days). He just doesn't have the pace (or stamina, or desire, or who knows what) to keep up with wingers, so he ends up either fouling them or hanging back and tucking in near the left centre back, leaving the flank wide open.
Mind you, he's rather good at getting forward to support the attack and carrying the ball up the pitch. That's what we really miss when he's sidelined.
And let's be honest, no one's going to convince me that he's giving it his all to stay in shape.
Mind you, he's rather good at getting forward to support the attack and carrying the ball up the pitch. That's what we really miss when he's sidelined.
And let's be honest, no one's going to convince me that he's giving it his all to stay in shape.
Yeah I miscounted.
First 4 seasons were a write off, that leg break really did take a lot out of him. Then you have 6 seasons, where he was really good for 2, decent for 2 and practically unavailable for 2.
As talented as he is, he just cannot handle the physical intensity required to play 40 games a season for a top team. Utd need to get away from these "when he's fit" and "on his day" players who's base level can he incredibly low. The club needs to have standards when it comes to being available and performing consistently week in week out.
By important contribution, I didn’t necessarily mean in terms of high game count or everpresentness. That is one way to get consistency in a back four, sure, but I don’t think it’s the only way. If Shaw had had a ‘normal’ season by recent standards, and Malacia had taken one step up instead of one step off a skyscraper or whatever, I think our full back position would have been the one in least need of recruitment. With how it is, it’s up to the medical team to say, but we have other positions I would focus on for the next three seasons if Shaw/Malacia could pick up where they left of.
Part of that is that I think we should at this point trust the squad enough to do more like Real Madrid, focus on one or max two top class and fairly young recruitments instead of an array of hopefuls and loanees. The decline of Varane, Martial, Eriksen, Rashford (?) and Casemiro may do this impossible this forthcoming window, but I think we should move in that direction and be patient.
I actually think I’m with you on this. We should have room in our squad for Shaw.
He'll have his post tournament break, will come late in summer pre-season for us, play a couple of decent games, will look 'ripped' in photos and then inexplicably start the season slow and off pace. He'll then play himself into form and will look good/great for about 10-15 games then get injured again.
Rinse repeat.
I dont rate him that highly when hes available to be honest. Always thought he was overrated on here. I'd sell him. His wages are far too high for a back up left back, see no reason to believe he'd be a better centre back than an actual centre back. Just dont rate his mentality at all.
Great, now we just have to figure which newbie here is Ashworth in disguise, and tell him
I'm guessing INEOS thinking is as follows.
We are going to built a top class squad for season 2027/28. We aren't going to hang on to any player who we don't think will be a part of that.
So it's hard to see how Shaw will be part of that plan.
We are going to built a top class squad for season 2027/28. We aren't going to hang on to any player who we don't think will be a part of that.
So it's hard to see how Shaw will be part of that plan.
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Think I agree with most of this. However, even at his best, Shaw is suspect defensively. He leaves too much space for wingers to whip in a cross.
Then there is the question of fitness. Poor form and or injuries has been a major concern during his time at United.
I’d argue that overall he’s been a disappointment. His top level is very good, best first touch in the squad and great at playing out from the back; but he lacks intensity, often poor at one on one defending, reading of the game defensively and has serious fitness issues.
He isn’t. Periods of not playing counts against him. He often comes back out of shape and takes a while before up to speed. He has struggled defensively quite often. His general output in attack isn’t great, but his passing, first touch and playing out from the back are all first class.
His tendency to switch off defensively and lack of intensity while defending have always been concerns.
As you say, it’s my opinion. Bruno has, imo, been a far better and more important player than Shaw. It’s not his best season, still he is creating chances for fun and works his socks off.
He's experienced, he's homegrown and he's one of our best players, that's a lot of ticks in the right boxes but he's probably worth a decent fee and his injuries seem to be coming thick and fast. If we are looking to have some kind of fire sale, will he be considered for sale?
Wages and fitness aside, Shaw is a very good LB and I would definitely keep him if there's any realistic hope that he can remain fit for most of the season in 24/25. My greater concern is Shaw's cover as there isn't much about Malacia to suggest that he's a worthy successor to Shaw.
People hoping on Shaw's fitness are the ones who keep throwing money into buying Lotto tickets for more than a decade, hoping some day they would be millionaires.
Agree with the rest except the bolded. I always see this bandied around like some fact when Shaw is incredibly inconsistent with this. He's got the technique and has shown enough over time to say he's very capable in this aspect but he's far too often on his heels/giving poor angles for himself and in a lot of the cases, will play it back where it came. When he's on it, he can take a touch, glance past players like they're not there and then open up the entire pitch but this has happened rarely in the past few season i.e maybe once or twice a game. Dalot (this season) and Martinez are far more well rounded in their approach and number of attempts when it comes to their progressive plays out from the back e.g passing angles, beating presses, making feints, drawing players before making the space to pass progressively etc.
If we bring Tuchel in then maybe Shaw may reinvent his career as a third CB because that would bring the best out of him imo and suits his skillset/conditioning right now.
We need to sign a better LB than him in the summer rather than another Malacia or Telles in the hope that it might "motivate" him.
Next time's the charm!
Poor guy. Sell him this summer and Malacia. So many players need to be sold. Set up a garage sale at carrington!
We need to sign a left-back, and hopefully we will also get something out of Malacia soon. That being said, there is still room for Shaw in the squad, and I doubt we could offload him anyway. When fit he is still a quality left-back, and he can even slot into the Martinez role when necessary. Should we get a new manager that would use a back three, he could also play there.
The problem is having him as the only quality left-back option. He can't be relied on.
The problem is having him as the only quality left-back option. He can't be relied on.
If you got an offer you'd have to consider it. As with every player really but those with a history of injuries more than any other.
You'd keep him as a good squad option ideally but not at the cost of a first team left back which we clearly need.
You'd keep him as a good squad option ideally but not at the cost of a first team left back which we clearly need.
If we don't put him in the market, we will not get any offers.
I'm fine with the message that everyone is for sale (kids excluded). Ideally it would have been better delivered at the end of the season. I might stop at some point if we miraculously sold a dozen players or something. I get he wont be the easiest player to move on but he wont be the hardest either. Getting a fee for him sounds more plausible than Lindelof or Malacia who've had their own injury problems.
Suffered another set back asking with Mount
At this point it might be better if he just sits out the rest of the season.
At this point it might be better if he just sits out the rest of the season.
Makes Phil Jones look like Bruno.
Like a run-down chip van, unreliable. Cash in ASAP.
Like a run-down chip van, unreliable. Cash in ASAP.
We need to look at replacing him, we can't rely on him to stay fit.
Needed him for the Euros too. Ah well 
Move him on. I like Shaw a lot but enough is enough. Cannot rely on him AT ALL fitness wise.
Class player but we need a left back badly so Shaws minutes cab be managed when he is actually fit.
Sell Malacia as he's wank.
Sell Malacia as he's wank.
To the members who said that a new LB is not a priority: it is.
How many games has he played compared to those missed? Must be pretty tight.
I was looking at Varane's league appearances for United and like Shaw it really doesn't make for good reading at all, especially for a first choice player on a big contract. It's very hard to make a case for building teams around such players despite the quality. I hope the new club structure starts picking up on this.
Very good post. This is how we should have been thinking for the last five years but no one has the balls to suffer a few bad seasons, yet we’re actually having bad seasons anyway
Some players will have to stay and see out their contracts to ensure some kind of capability, like Bruno. But Shaw is not worth the money or playing time for us at this point. We won’t be competing for a title in the next two years.
I think you are right in the respect that this is how we, the fans, should have been thinking. Problems arise with the fans (some swayed by the pundits (who don’t really know or remember stuff like ‘long term thinking’) see an attack of Garnacho (long term thinking), Højlund (long term thinking) and Mainoo (long term thinking), Rashford (actually a result of long term thinking) and McTominay (ditto) struggle to play coherent top class football, which we blame (not on them of course, they are young and learning) on Bruno, Antony, Rashford and McTominay (because they are old and possible to blame.Very good post. This is how we should have been thinking for the last five years but no one has the balls to suffer a few bad seasons, yet we’re actually having bad seasons anyway
Some players will have to stay and see out their contracts to ensure some kind of capability, like Bruno. But Shaw is not worth the money or playing time for us at this point. We won’t be competing for a title in the next two years.
Fans are not only fickle, but incredibly unknowledgeable (and I include myself in this), and most sports journous, and certainly the anybodies who fans mistake for journous, are not better, because they don’t have time to look deep nor do they have incentives, and incentives is all they know, that’s why they’re hired, in short -
We should all really let the knowledgeable people get on with it in peace.
But of course we can’t - we’re
fans, after all (myself included), what can we do? We can talk, comment, comolain, weep, that’s all we can do in the end. So we do what we can. Glory!
It's pretty clear now that we need a new LB. Even if Shaw is able to put in a few minutes here and there next season, as I assume he's under contract but will be unsellable this summer, we need a LB for the next 4-5 seasons.