Would you keep Shaw and Varane as first choice centre-back pairing?

Lee565

Full Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2019
Messages
5,268
They have looked really solid together and shaw has not put a foot wrong, as much as I like martinez with his warrior attitude I find shaw more reassuring in central defence as he stays on his feet and passing wise I would say there is little between the two of them.
 
Think Shaw will eventually move to LCB full time, whether with us or with someone else. He’s a very compact, efficient, tidy player and I think he could do very well there given a run of games.
 
No. Shaw adds more to the attack than Malacia. Licha also adds a measure of passing control better than Shaw.
 
Hell no, Martinez straight back in and Shaw back at LB
 
Shawberto is in good form. He can keep up the good form as left back. Malacia has great effort and work rate however is limited on the ball.
 
No. Once Martinez is back in the team, it’s him & Varane at CB for me. I’d put Shaw back at his natural LB position.
 
We’ve played Forest and a Wolves team that have scored about twice all year.

Shaw has done well but Martinez and Varane together is an entirely different level.
 
Not if Varane and Martinez are fit. I’d rather him play there than Maguire though.
 
No, Malacia is very poor as LB. We need Shaw to stretch the left-hand side, Martinez is quality and its a nobrainer he is brought back in.

We should be cashing in on Maguire though, we could get some money for him in January.
 
No. But if we only have Varane, Shaw and Maguire available, I prefer Varane - Shaw rather than Varane - Maguire.
 
Lee565 said:
They have looked really solid together and shaw has not put a foot wrong, as much as I like martinez with his warrior attitude I find shaw more reassuring in central defence as he stays on his feet and passing wise I would say there is little between the two of them.
Click to expand...

What? Martinez has been phenomenal.

Why would you not have our best LB at LB and get both players on the pitch together.
 
Martinez is the better passer of the ball from that position but Shaw has done a fantastic job.

I'd get rid of Maguire and Lindelof and keep Shaw as 3rd choice IMO
 
Lee565 said:
They have looked really solid together and shaw has not put a foot wrong, as much as I like martinez with his warrior attitude I find shaw more reassuring in central defence as he stays on his feet and passing wise I would say there is little between the two of them.
Click to expand...
Prefer Martinez for 2 reasons:
First, we have Shaw available at LB
But mostly because the aggression and intensity Martinez brings lifts the entire team. I felt we missed that - particularly in the first half
 
Why not try martinez at left back, he played there at times for ajax as well, maybe it's but I prefer defenders that don't go to ground so often
 
Hell no with this. Martinez at LCB all day long, he's gold.
 
We have a proven, vastly superior CB in Martinez. Maguire has had a rough patch, but he is superior to Shaw at CB. Shaw is by far our best LB, a position he excels in — with dips in form without question — for the last 7-8 seasons.
 
why would we do that? have you forgotten that Martinez was literally our best player before the break?
Shaw Martinez Varane and Dalot as starters, and then we have a nice set of backups in Malacia Lindelof Maguire and a recently improved AWB.
 
He's good as CB but much better at LB and we need him back there, he adds a lot to our attacking play and we missed that today I feel. Long-term if we find a better LB then yes
 
I've been pleasantly surprised by Shaw at CB. But we need him at LB.
 
Shaw is such a good footballer and could play for any team in the world. He could even play centre mid. Unfortunately there's only one of him though, so we need him at left back. Fortunately, Martinez is quality too. Our defensive unit is as good as anything in Europe.
 
Why not a back 3 of Martinez - Shaw - Malacia.
Small defence energy
 
We need an in form Shaw at left back. As well as he’s played at centre half these last two matches, it’s not his natural position and I’m very nervous about him making a mistake and getting slated for it.

But more importantly, when he’s playing centre half we’re badly missing his attacking play on the left - Malacia offers very little in that respect. Shaw is so comfortable on the ball and links up very well with the likes of Eriksen and Rashford. We could have used that today.
 
No. Martinez needs to come back in but Shaw can be 2nd choice LCB from now on.
 
All credit to Shaw, for stepping into the LCB role and doing a excellent job for a couple of games, but there’s tougher opposition ahead and we have superior, proper CB’s in the squad, with Martinez being in pole position for that spot.
Shaw can now move back to his natural LB position.
 
No, even though Shaw has been supremely impressive at CB. Licha is great and gives us much needed energy, Shaw is a massive upgrade over Malacia at LB (who had a good game tbf to him today).
 
Shaw at LB. The last 2 games just highlight the lack of depth behind Varane and Martinez. I will say that Maguire was excellent at the WC and maybe merited a start in one of these 2 games if he was fit. Attack loses a lot of its cohesiveness with Shaw at CB and Dalot out.
 
Shaw having to step into the CB position, has come with a bonus.
Malacia needed a good run to build his experience and confidence.
The young lad had a fairly solid game today, but is still a work in progress.
Don’t write this player off too soon.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.