When Tyrell Malacia signed for Manchester United and subsequently worked his way into the starting XI as Luke Shaw toiled, many fans expected the England full-back to struggle regain his starting spot. But now many see the 27-year-old as undroppable.
After coming back into the fold following the derby drubbing, Shaw has started regularly for United and showed his superiority to Malacia as an attacking full-back. And given that the out-of-form Jadon Sancho has often been starting on the left wing, he needs the support.
If United fans still needed to be convinced that Shaw should start over Malacia at the moment, then they should look to the 27 minutes Shaw played against Sheriff Tiraspol on Thursday night.
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It should be noted that Sheriff did not offer much threat going forward, so this was not a test of either Shaw or Malacia's defensive capabilities. Both players were also allowed more time and space on the ball thanks to how deeply the Moldovan side was sitting.
But in 27 minutes, Shaw completed 35 passes out of 36 attempted. He also managed three key passes which could only be beaten by Bruno Fernandes (4) and Christian Eriksen (6).
He also carried the ball up the field with confidence and made use of the space created by Alejandro Garnacho's dribbling. This is something United have been missing when Malacia plays due to the full-back's reluctance to push too high up.
Of course, Shaw capped his cameo with an assist. Receiving the ball on the left-hand side of the pitch he drove forward before whipping it in with pinpoint accuracy onto to the head of Marcus Rashford, who put into the back of the neck with a powerful header.
Overall, United are going to play games where they have more possession more often than games where they don't and in those situations, you need Shaw to help breakdown the defences. He has been an underrated ball carrier and chance creator for years due to United's misfiring attack but hopefully under Ten Hag things will change for the better.
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