Shaw impresses on return to side
One plus point that Jose Mourinho can take from Saturday’s performance is the return of defender Luke Shaw, who put in an impressive shift on his first Manchester United start for 126 days.
After a ropey first five minutes – where he allowed Ryan Fraser in behind him – Shaw put in an excellent attacking and defensive display, arguably being his side’s best player on the pitch.
Whereas Phil Jones struggled in his first match after injury, Shaw commanded the left-hand side of the field extremely well, lending himself well in attack with four crosses and a beautifully shaped through ball for Paul Pogba to run on to early on – with the Frenchman narrowly firing wide.
Shaw also put himself about in defence, despite his injury, and made three tackles, three clearances and two interceptions, including a crunching 50/50 tackle that he won just before half-time.
After many different experiments at left-back since the 21-year-old’s injury earlier in the season, it seems that United may finally be able to build a strong back-line with Shaw at the heart of it.
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