Luke Shaw's pace ensured he started at centre-back for the second Manchester United match running against Wolves.
Shaw had volunteered to play at centre half in the League Cup win over Burnley when Harry Maguire was out through illness but Ten Hag opted for Casemiro. Shaw was selected next to Raphael Varane for the Premier League win over Nottingham Forest as Victor Lindelof was unwell.
Lindelof and Maguire were both on the bench for the Premier League victory at Wolves, where Shaw continued next to Varane, and the England international excelled again.
Also read: Ten Hag showed his tactical astuteness in seven minutes at Wolves
Shaw played in central defence in a back three on a number of high-profile occasions under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, helping United to wins over Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain but also suffering defeats to Barcelona and Liverpool. The Forest was match was the first time he had started in a defensive partnership.
"Of course, you have your ideas and a plan but sometimes it changes by circumstances like the illnesses for Harry and Victor," Ten Hag said. "Normally, they start in the games we have just played, but then Casemiro did well as a centre half (against Burnley) and then Luke Shaw did very well against Nottingham Forest.
"Also, you look at the game plan, the way we had to approach Wolves, and I thought it was the best match with Rapha and Luke. Especially we knew the speed of Wolves from the right side and we could cover that because we wanted to attack over the left side with our offensive game from Tyrell Malacia.
"That was a good fit and also in possession you can have better angles with the left foot."
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