Nah this isn't really accurate. He's had plenty of woeful spells for us. At one point Brandon Williams was comfortably more worthy of starting than him for heaven's sake. It's a rewriting of history to say when he's fit he's always great, that's not reality.
Shaw is our best full back and best FB in Europe (edited)
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Nah this isn't really accurate. He's had plenty of woeful spells for us. At one point Brandon Williams was comfortably more worthy of starting than him for heaven's sake. It's a rewriting of history to say when he's fit he's always great, that's not reality.
I agree we need a new LB but I’m not sure we need a replacement for Shaw. When he’s fit — and I understand his fitness is what we’re discussing right now — Shaw is substantially superior to any other LB we could realistically expect to bring in. Find a decent LB to stand in for the last year or two Shaw has left with us while we develop Amass.
Doesn't matter how good you are if you aren't available.
Agree.
Yeah there is some weird rewriting of Shaw's time here I find. You mention Williams in 19-20 but also Telles was ahead of him during the Ole/Ralf season too IIRC, in the second half of the season at least. Shaw also made the comment in the media that he was "happy when he played for England" at that time, implying he wasn't happy with the club.
It really isn't an exaggeration to say his first four seasons were really disappointing and since then it's been one very good season followed by either a huge loss of form or injury hit season. The good news is that we're due one of his good seasons this year
If fit, undoubtedly true. He's an absolute monster.
We definitely need a first choice LB. We cannot go into another season praying that Shaw remains fit. He has had a few of top class spells in the last decade, it's not that he has consistently been so good that we cannot find someone better. Even when he is fit, it takes a while for him to get going.
We'll see what happens with Amass. He is only 17. If he is good enough he'll find a place in the squad like Mainoo, Garnacho & many before them did. Young players at United always get an opportunity.
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I know it's pre-season, first game that too, but Amass looked appalling. Their RW skinned him quite a few times and didn't really do much with the ball (nor did anyone else in the team tbf).
We'd definitely need to get someone in to bridge the gap between Shaw and him, Malacia after his first season would be perfect for that role but he's another mystery now.
We'd definitely need to get someone in to bridge the gap between Shaw and him, Malacia after his first season would be perfect for that role but he's another mystery now.
Shaw is as a better LB than anyone we can realistically hope to recruit at this time. The solution is better-quality backup coverage than we presently have.
It would be utterly foolish to rely on him as our starting LB this season. We need a very good backup if he's an expected starter. I can't imagine how low the odds would be for him play 75% of matches for United. I like him a lot. He used to be lazy, but has turned his career around for sure, but sadly I cannot see him staying fit.
We need a lot of positions filled and although we've made a good start with Zirkzee and Yoro we have a long way to go to rebuild the squad. Even some of our senior players who not along ago were considered best of breed -- Casemiro and Onana come to mind, but Rashford as well -- are at the very least on probation.
If you have in mind a top class LB whom we can bring in for less than 40m who is substantially better than Shaw please let us know who that is, but I suspect it will be hard to come up with that name. What we can do, which I would not object to doing, is to bring in a promising young LB -- not as young as Amass of course, who can challenge Shaw and if/when Shaw is out step in for Shaw, who was England's best outfield player in the Euro final. But a straight upgrade on Shaw is not in the cards and I seriously doubt United is considering getting rid of Shaw altogether.
If he was fit, and if we were a good team that won big trophies, then to me I think we’re talking Maldini kind of levels. Truly wonderful player, great defender and footballer. I wonder what an 8 year spell at a club that wins leagues and CLs would have done for his standing in the game. He’s the player of ours that I know should not be intimidated by any level of opposition.