A year can be a long time in football.

After a few seasons of stop starts at Manchester United due to injuries, loss of confidence and managers continually having a pop at him I felt the time was right for Luke Shaw to leave Old Trafford last summer.

Yet Shaw has always shown a resilience and a determination to prove that he does indeed deserve to wear the red of Manchester United.

This season has finally seen Luke rise like a phoenix from the ashes and his dogged and diligent performances have allowed Shaw to flourish and once again become a first team regular with the Red Devils.

Before his sacking in December, even former boss Jose Mourinho (a harsh critic) had come round to believing that Shaw was his best left-back. In an interview with Sky Sports in October of last year, Jose explained why the twenty-three year deserved his new long term contract:

‘The kid was very focused on his objectives and he got what he fought for. He really fought for it. He got a new contract that keeps him here for many years.”

As well as his new deal, Shaw’s form was also rewarded with a recall to Gareth Southgate’s England team.

Like many others at United, Luke Shaw has stepped it up a level since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s arrival as interim manager.

A few weeks ago he was the man of the match in Man United’s goalless draw with rivals Liverpool. His assured display meant that Reds star man Mohamed Salah didn’t get a sniff at goal and the Egyptian superstar was eventually subbed off after seventy-nine minutes.

After that clash with Jurgen Klopp’s side, Ole was quick to praise his left-back (Source – Tribal Football):

“Luke Shaw, that was his best performance under me.”

“It’s one of them things, you want him to go forward a bit more but Salah and [Sadio] Mane aren’t bad, either, so we had to take that bit of caution.”

He followed that up with another solid display against Crystal Palace, helping his team’s cause with an assist.

Then last night, he was one of the warriors that overturned a first leg loss against PSG in the Champions League. United were victorious 3-1 in Paris, negotiating their way into the quarter-final stage and again Shaw was a standout performer.

Brazilian veteran Dani Alves didn’t get much change out of the English full-back.

The Man United man gave a more restrained performance, he didn’t burst forward the way he usually does in the Premier League but that’s what Solskjaer’s gameplay called for. It was all about staying in the tie and keeping PSG at bay.

The left-back was successful in his solo tackle, made four dribble attempts and was successful in all of them (no player dribbled better).

In the league, Shaw has been more adventurous in getting forward and that’s allowed him to score one  and grab two assists. His passing success rate is up at 84%.

Defensively he makes on average 2.1 tackles per league outing and makes around 2.7 clearances. (Stats from Whoscored)

Ultimately the player is once again playing with a smile on his face. He’s getting plenty of minutes under his belt, doesn’t fear a bollocking from his gaffer and has been consistently good because of it.

Luke Shaw is finally showing us that he’s worth the £30m than Manchester United paid for him in 2014.

The left-back worked hard and bet on himself and now he’s justifiably receiving the plaudits and becoming a dependable star at Old Trafford!

 

Posted on March 7th, 2019 by scott
Filed under: Article