How did Manchester United’s Luke Shaw fare in his first league appearance since October?

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The last time that Luke Shaw was involved in a Premier League match, Donald Trump had not been elected president of the United States and people were just beginning to think about their plans for Guy Fawkes’ Night. Over four months on, he made his first Premier League appearance since October against Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon.

A handful of cup appearances since then is the sum of his game time, and it showed as the young left-back struggled with his confidence clearly low. The performance was far from that of the assured teenager that impressed many with his displays at Southampton to earn his big money move to Old Trafford.

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That’s not to say that Shaw was poor – in fact, he was quite impressive given the circumstances – but what was very clear was that this performance was the start of a comeback which may include some slow progress. Defensively, Shaw was frequently caught out potentially by Bournemouth on the counter attack and made several basic errors that will have frustrated Jose Mourinho on the touchline.

He wasn’t afraid to get stuck in and do the hard work, though, with five tackles, two interceptions and three clearances showing his willingness to show that he is not afraid to do the dirty work. Whereas he has previously been blasted for his laziness in tracking back to help out the likes of Phil Jones in the middle, he did not allow that to be the case this time around.

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Going forward, his performance was better. With two key passes and the third highest pass completion rate in the starting eleven, Shaw was good on the ball and was often looking to get down the byline and put the ball into the box, combining well with Anthony Martial on the flank.

However, dragged off and looking exhausted after 69 minutes, there is clearly work ahead for Shaw. He won’t quite have done enough to have earned himself a regular place in the starting eleven just yet, but it is a promising start for the 21-year-old.

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