[Shane88]

Will probably be adding to this frequently again this season.

14/15: 21 games missed

15/16: 51 games missed (leg break season)

16/17: 38 games missed

17/18: 25 games missed

18/19: 8 games missed

19/20: 27 games missed

20/21: 8 games missed

21/22: 20 games missed

22/23: 8 games missed

23/24: 37 games missed.

24/25: 4 and counting.

How do we build a solid, consistent backline, the foundation of any decent side, by relying on a player in a specialist position who is literally missing half the time? A full decade of this shite and still we persist with him.

 

[saivet]

Some posts aged really well, and it's been just few days. I really don't want to be this kind of guy, but all these are recent posts just continuing the same discussion, so it's more than fair to quote some folks.

How on earth is anyone still on his side, or thinking he is good/reliable enough to play for us?

Sorry what has happened? He is injured again?

Him skipping the Euros and deciding to play pre-season instead doesn't mean he won't be injury prone. He's an unreliable player from a physical perspective.

I still don't hold anything against him by going to the Euros, my issue is the club not signing a left back when we know relying on him is an issue. Malacia has proved unreliable too.

 

[Syphon Wallet]

Transfermarkt has Mazaroui listed as only playing LB 10 games out of 280
Outstanding.

 

[saik]

Sorry what has happened? He is injured again?

Yea injured at least until the September international break.

 

[RedDevil@84]

Sorry what has happened? He is injured again?

Ya. He trained.

 

[Godfather]

This guy angers me so much. Also why have we not adressed the LB position in the market this summer?

 

[Licha-Vidic]

The first attribute of being the best player is being physically fit and ready to play whenever needed.

Shaw lacks this immensely

 

[EverReddy]

Yea injured at least until the September international break.

So at least he'll be fit for England. Which is nice.

 

[GwilDor]

So, basically we´re going into a season without the version of Shaw we were romantically dreaming could return. It seems we´ll be looking at the following depth for LB this year, without further additions:
1. Shaw
2: Mazraoui/Dalot
3: Amass
4: L.Martinez

Only Shaw and Amass are natural LB´s, and i´d be surprised if either of them play significantly more than 15 games as it stands. That means we´d be with a non-optimal «cover» for more than half the season. Only one of Dalot/Mazraoui can really play LB, as the other would have to play RB. Mazraoui is apparently quite injury prone also…
Guess my best hope is either that i´m undervaluing Amass´standing and development, or that we find a «hidden gem», be it Ferdi Kadioǧlu or someone else…
Definately a make or break position this year, along with DM.

 

[saik]

So at least he'll be fit for England. Which is nice.

Good thing is Southgate isn't the England manager anymore, so Shaw might actually get dropped this time around.

 

[Red Royal]

So, basically we´re going into a season without the version of Shaw we were romantically dreaming could return. It seems we´ll be looking at the following depth for LB this year, without further additions:
1. Shaw
2: Mazraoui/Dalot
3: Amass
4: L.Martinez

Only Shaw and Amass are natural LB´s, and i´d be surprised if either of them play significantly more than 15 games as it stands. That means we´d be with a non-optimal «cover» for more than half the season. Only one of Dalot/Mazraoui can really play LB, as the other would have to play RB. Mazraoui is apparently quite injury prone also…
Guess my best hope is either that i´m undervaluing Amass´standing and development, or that we find a «hidden gem», be it Ferdi Kadioǧlu or someone else…
Definately a make or break position this year, along with DM.

There is a very slim chance of Malacia adding to that list... I have a feeling we will see a lot of Martinez at LB when the other CBs are fit.

 

[Morpheus 7]

People can dress it up but he's let United down, rushed back for Euros. This is a man who struggled all last season and was paid a fortune. Couldn't even be ready, fans will not forgive this one. Can't rely on boys like this long term.

 

[GwilDor]

There is a very slim chance of Malacia adding to that list... I have a feeling we will see a lot of Martinez at LB when the other CBs are fit.

Ha! Right, i actually forgot about him
Guess he could be a surprise element aswell, but i´d be shocked if we go into 25/26 season being happy with him as 1st choice

 

[sugar_kane]

fecking sell him next opportunity we get.

Useless.

 

[NicolaSacco]

This rushing back for England thing is also cobblers. He’s been on an individual training plan since February and continued that with England physios all the way up until mid July. The alternative would have been ending the season in May and going on holiday.

The suggestion that daily rehabilitation with England has had any impact on his current calf injury is baseless.

The top and bottom of it with Shaw is that his body isn’t up to it. It’s quite sad, but it’s a tale as old as time. In the last twenty years alone you can point to the likes of Phil Jones, Kieron Dyer, Dean Ashton, Owen Hargreaves, Michael Owen and many more. It is what it is. What matters in the short term is that the club look to solve the problem in the transfer market.

There was a pretty damn good team in there if you had all of those guys fit and firing. Dyer came through at Ipswich, and at 17 you could just tell he was going to make it, and do so on a far bigger stage than we could offer him. It sounds weird to say, but even though he left us at aged only 20, I think we got more from him than any other team he went on to play for:

 

[FreakyJim]

We should move on
He's 29, he's never going to be fit enough

We had the chance to move on, we didn't.

People like to throw the "fraud" word around. I'd say, for me, it's always been Shaw. Perpetually looking unfit, picking up injuries after injuries, I'm sure it's all coincidence and doesn't have anything to do with his lifestyle or attitude towards his profession. He's just "big boned" and ''injury prone". I'm sure he's never even touched chips.

 

[glazed]

He'll probably stay here till 2027 unfortunately. We've got another Phil Jones in our hands.

Maybe we can Ledley King him? No training, just playing. Seems to me that his leg break is the root of all this and the fact he plays at all is a miracle, let alone in a Euros Final.

 

[The Cat]

We had the chance to move on, we didn't.

People like to throw the "fraud" word around. I'd say, for me, it's always been Shaw. Perpetually looking unfit, picking up injuries after injuries, I'm sure it's all coincidence and doesn't have anything to do with his lifestyle or attitude towards his profession. He's just "big boned" and ''injury prone". I'm sure he's never even touched chips.

He prefers bottles of Lucozade. Like dozens of them apparently.

 

[3KDré]

Mazraoui is supposedly injury prone and will now start. Meaning if he gets injured we have no starting LB and no backup RB. So we will be left with a total of 1 LB (Amass, a child) and 1 RB in the squad.

Then again, is it not on us as a club to have prepared for this? I would not have sold Wan Bissaka.

 

[Syphon Wallet]

I'll expect to see him around December for a couple of game. Mazraoui will probably be unavailable for most of that spell too.

I got 99 problems but left back... Yeah that's a problem too.

 

[jamesjimmybyrondean]

I’ve given up on him. At least the injury happened before transfer window closes

 

[saivet]

This rushing back for England thing is also cobblers. He’s been on an individual training plan since February and continued that with England physios all the way up until mid July. The alternative would have been ending the season in May and going on holiday.

The suggestion that daily rehabilitation with England has had any impact on his current calf injury is baseless.

The top and bottom of it with Shaw is that his body isn’t up to it. It’s quite sad, but it’s a tale as old as time. In the last twenty years alone you can point to the likes of Phil Jones, Kieron Dyer, Dean Ashton, Owen Hargreaves, Michael Owen and many more. It is what it is. What matters in the short term is that the club look to solve the problem in the transfer market.

Bang on - it was good he managed to get himself fit enough to participate in the Euros. There's a good chance that if he had skipped the Euros, he'd have just broken down in pre-season. We can't rely on him, even if he retired from international football, like Varane did - still unreliable. I think bashing him for going to the Euros is misinformed and quite frankly. Personally, I don't have any issue with a player wanting to play for their country at a major tournament. There are worse cases of players playing through injury and requiring surgery or making their injuries worse at international tournaments, none of which Shaw has done.'s My issue with him going to the Euros was Southgate deciding not to bring a natural left back as a back up.

 

[Irwin99]

Mazraoui is supposedly injury prone and will now start. Meaning if he gets injured we have no starting LB and no backup RB. So we will be left with a total of 1 LB (Amass, a child) and 1 RB in the squad.

Then again, is it not on us as a club to have prepared for this? I would not have sold Wan Bissaka.

The idea (I think) is to have Malacia finally back in the picture before long so our options are Dalot, Mazraoui, Shaw, Amass and Malacia and the first two of those names can also play on the left. Amass will surely get games in the Europa League which will hopefully build his confidence, Malacia as well. It's risky but we're not too bad in the full back positions provided at least some of them stay fit.

As for Shaw, is anyone surprised? He's an excellent player when fit and in form but i'm not convinced he's world class myself. Give me prime Patrice Evra or Denis Irwin over prime Shaw any day. They could stay fit as well.

 

[Strachan8]

I bet Ratcliffe is pissed I remember the video of him telling him not to get injured whilst on duty for England, I'm sure it was tongue in cheek but was probably an element of truth to it.

Freud and there are no jokes observation seems apt.

 

[NicolaSacco]

10 seasons at Utd. Played 275 games, missed 265 games (and counting). That’s just absolutely diabolical.

It clearly wasn’t his fault having his leg broken, but it does seem to mark the start of an unbelievable injury run. It’s obviously guesswork to say that the two things correlate though. I’d imagine only Phil Jones has a worse record over that kind of time frame?

 

[CloneMC16]

Injured again and we haven't bought a LB. Who would have fecking thought that would happen.

 

[Valencia Shin Crosses]

I dont think it's much to do with laziness or the fact hes often been overweight, though they are factors. He had a horrific leg break in multiple places. The recovery from that was okay but puts major stress on other areas. He was always gonna end up more likely to get muscle/joint injuries later on.

And that's a slippery slope. Same as with Martial, as soon as you get a couple bad muscle injuries they permanently affect your mobility and then from there the healthy time in between injuries just keeps shrinking.

Yeah, think people are looking too deep into it when the truth is he's just very injury prone and these types of things tend to have a compounding effect, especially in football where so much running is already involved.

 

[Strachan8]

You would have thought his agent/PR might have told Luke to announce his retirement from international football to show his true commitment to Utd (who ‘butter his bread’) after the Euros or in tandem with this announcement. All told, a real lack of self awareness from Luke.

 

[Morpheus 7]

Bang on - it was good he managed to get himself fit enough to participate in the Euros. There's a good chance that if he had skipped the Euros, he'd have just broken down in pre-season. We can't rely on him, even if he retired from international football, like Varane did - still unreliable. I think bashing him for going to the Euros is misinformed and quite frankly. Personally, I don't have any issue with a player wanting to play for their country at a major tournament. There are worse cases of players playing through injury and requiring surgery or making their injuries worse at international tournaments, none of which Shaw has done.'s My issue with him going to the Euros was Southgate deciding not to bring a natural left back as a back up.

I'm sorry but Luke Shaw made remarks in June, about returning too quickly in February. Commenting on blaming himself and United's medical team, for aggravating his hamstring. Even Jim Ratcliffe made a joke about not pulling his hamstring again, when he joined England. Now he's not ready and actually pulled his hamstring, it's absolutely ridiculous and he has no excuse.

Maybe he would've broke down again like Varane. More chance of him being ready if he wasn't thrown in to tournament knockout football, training every few days and playing many minutes after being out so long. He's not getting away with this and needs to be called out. He's let United down, not put the club first.

 

[bond19821982]

Mazraoui is supposedly injury prone and will now start. Meaning if he gets injured we have no starting LB and no backup RB. So we will be left with a total of 1 LB (Amass, a child) and 1 RB in the squad.

Then again, is it not on us as a club to have prepared for this? I would not have sold Wan Bissaka.

That's not how you build the squad. We aren't renewing AWB and is looking for a different profile and Mazraoui just fits the style. Sell AWB and buy this guy who actually fits us for basically zero net.

He can play on left but that's just a bonus. We just fixed our right back issues. Hopefully next is left full back position next summer if not this year.

 

[NewGlory]

He made it impossible to not be mad at him. It's one thing to prioritize England over club, in general, but to do that when you have just missed almost entire season, and then end up unavailable for us for a big chunk of the start of the season - is unforgivable. And all of that after he complained about United for "bringing him back to soon in February".

For feck's sake

 

[saivet]

I'm sorry but Luke Shaw made remarks in June, about returning too quickly in February. Commenting on blaming himself and United's medical team, for aggravating his hamstring. Even Jim Ratcliffe made a joke about not pulling his hamstring again, when he joined England. Now he's not ready and actually pulled his hamstring, it's absolutely ridiculous and he has no excuse.

Maybe he would've broke down again like Varane. More chance of him being ready if he wasn't thrown in to tournament knockout football, training every few days and playing many minutes after being out so long. He's not getting away with this and needs to be called out. He's let United down, not put the club first.

It's a calf injury now.

International football is part of the parcel of playing top level football. Some will view it as equal, some may prefer club football, other international. I don't see there being a right or wrong.

He played 180 minutes in a week. Big games, sure but he wasn't exactly run into the ground irresponsibly. Most of his time at the Euros was spent doing rehab. I'm not saying it was a sensible decision but I don't think it's crazy. I understand the frustration, but like I said my issue is with the club not signing a LB that can be relied upon physically. Last season was a big lesson and his entire career at United has largely been plagued with injuries.

 

[NicolaSacco]

You would have thought his agent/PR might have told Luke to announce his retirement from international football to show his true commitment to Utd (who ‘butter his bread’) after the Euros or in tandem with this announcement. All told, a real lack of self awareness from Luke.

I don’t think it’s Luke Shaw who is lacking self awareness in that post.

 

[VivaRonaldo85]

So between walking off the pitch in the euros final 5 weeks ago not kicking a competitive ball since, he has managed to pull a calf which will put him out for another month or so. Wow.

That’s not bad luck. It can’t be when it happens multiple times a year for 10 years. The player is physically done at this level and our fitness/training staff are also embarrassing allowing him to even be put into a position where this could happen.

It’s tough to say sell him when you know how much he can offer on the rare occasion he’s fit. But I’m afraid his injury record is truly diabolical and we should be prioritising a new first choice LB very soon in the squad rebuild. We are exposed at full back going into the season.

 

[Morpheus 7]

It's a calf injury now.

International football is part of the parcel of playing top level football. Some will view it as equal, some may prefer club football, other international. I don't see there being a right or wrong.

He played 180 minutes in a week. Big games, sure but he wasn't exactly run into the ground irresponsibly. Most of his time at the Euros was spent doing rehab. I'm not saying it was a sensible decision but I don't think it's crazy. I understand the frustration, but like I said my issue is with the club not signing a LB that can be relied upon physically. Last season was a big lesson and his entire career at United has largely been plagued with injuries.

He has been plagued with injuries in fairness, maybe we shouldn't be relying on him. My allegiance is completely to Man United, I don't care about international football. Maybe it's a conflict that some fans and players have. I just think, if he continued his rehabilitation at United. Maybe he would've got the correct recovery. Muscle injuries are a sign maybe he isn't looking after himself too. Nutrition, rest etc..Him and Ben Chilwell must be related.

 

[hp88]

One of the best around when he’s fit but he never is which is a shame, he should have given the Euros miss but that’s on him now. Doubt there will many queuing up to buy him thanks to his injury record so that’s another player on the who’s going to be hard to shift in the next window.

 

[NicolaSacco]

He made it impossible to not be mad at him. It's one thing to prioritize England over club, in general, but to do that when you have just missed almost entire season, and then end up unavailable for us for a big chunk of the start of the season - is unforgivable. And all of that after he complained about United for "bringing him back to soon in February".

For feck's sake

I don’t see how he’s prioritised England though. He had an injury, he didn’t choose to get one, nor the length of it. If he’d rushed back and aggravated an old injury then I think you’d have a point, but it seems like the opposite happened at the Euros. He was held back and missed most of it. I’d bet any money you like Utd’s medical team were in regular contact with their counterparts in the national team. It seems you are linking a calf injury picked up in training with some matches he played 3 weeks earlier.

 

[RuudTom83]

As the saying goes…the best ability is availability!

Shaw cannot be relied on by the manager. Even when he isn’t injured you have to still limit his minutes similar to Varane, as it’s only a matter of time before he breaks down again.

Nothing can be done this summer but he should be one of the names on the chopping block for next summer.

 

[Vidooq]

Yeah, the optics on this does not look good at all for him. We need a new starting LB, there should not be any doubts about it. He is unreliable, and I hope the club can make it a habit going forward to not extend contracts to players past 26-27, who have missed 30% of the previous two season due to repetitive type of injuries, such as muscle, calf or hamstring injuries.

Our players don't seem to learn when it comes to the national team over their club. Rashford decided to go with the national team, instead of using the summer to have his shoulder operation, and be fully fit for the start of the next season. He decided to have the surgery after the EURO, and just before the start of the Premier League season, which resulted in missing bunch of games for the club until October. He was starter in 0 matches on that EURO.

Shaw, instead of focusing to get his body in the best possible shape for the start of the season, he decided to get himself fit for the national team at all costs, and played whooping 180 minutes. He knows that he is injury prone, and that a busy summer is the last thing he needed. This required for him to have the 3 weeks off after the EURO, which made him miss the preseason, Community Shield where we were desperate for a left back. It's a slap in the face that on the same day you learn that Garnacho asked to cut his holiday short in order to be back training sooner, and in contention for the Community Shield, you are hearing the news of Shaw's injury.

Sorry for the long post. This putting the national team before United at all costs, when you are not even fit or a regular starter is truly aggravating.

 

[lex talionis]

What if Shaw takes the next month to attain fitness and puts in some decent shifts for us? Not 2x/week shifts but a decent run that gives space for others to develop their game at LB while he winds down? I'd take that deal. He's without any question the best LB in the PL...when fit.