Why Luke Shaw's Return Will Be a Huge Boost for Manchester United and England
Manchester United and England will both benefit from the return of Luke Shaw, but it is his club that really needs him.
His international spot has been admirably covered by Tottenham Hotspur's Danny Rose.
However, at Old Trafford, his absence has been keenly felt since Hector Moreno broke his leg with an aggressive tackle on September 15, 2015, in United's 2-1 UEFA Champions League loss to PSV Eindhoven.
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He had been one of the clear bright spots of both pre-season and the opening encounters of the season. His fitness was at a much higher level than at the start of the 2014/15 campaign thanks to a privately arranged training camp last summer.
The decision to take some extra care of himself paid obvious dividends. He played all 90 minutes of United's first five league games of the season and was heavily involved. He averaged 54.2 passes in each of those matches, completing an average of 86 per cent of them.
His average of one accurate cross per 90 minutes in the league is a feat only Andreas Pereira has equalled in United colours this season.
Indeed, Shaw's five accurate crosses puts him in joint 10th place in the United squad for the total number of successful crosses delivered in the Premier League this season. Given he has been injured since September 2015, that is a pretty remarkable fact.
His loss was felt immediately. It was understandable given the sickening nature of the injury, but United looked a different side after his leg break when they lost to PSV. That defeat proved extremely costly, United failing to progress through the Champions League group stage.
And they have never properly recovered. This is not just because of Shaw's injury, of course. Indeed, Louis van Gaal has had to shuffle his pack at left-back over and over again because of injuries elsewhere.
But since Shaw has been unavailable, Van Gaal has played a huge variety of players in his position.
Daley Blind, Marcos Rojo, Ashley Young, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Matteo Darmian, Joe Riley and even Adnan Januzaj have spent time at left-back in senior games for the Red Devils this season. It is hard to imagine that is not some kind of record for most players used in that position in a season.
Of those, not one has matched Shaw's level. Blind is superb on the ball but lacks the same level of physical dynamism—the England international is simply able to get up and down the pitch quicker than the Dutchman. Additionally, Blind has been needed at centre-half. If he had not been, he might have been best placed to cover.
Rojo has had an injury-hit season himself but has not offered the same kind of attacking threat Shaw does. Van Gaal described the Argentina international's performance against Everton on Sunday as "jet-lagged."
He seemed to almost entirely abandon defensive duties, tearing up the flank with abandon, leaving Gerard Deulofeu free to feed passes into Romelu Lukaku. In truth, while a particularly poor performance, it was not that far below his underwhelming level in this campaign.
Darmian has been effective defensively when played on the left. In the five games he has started there in the league, he has averaged 4.2 successful tackles of the 5.4 he has attempted per 90 minutes—by some distance the most of any United left-back this season.
However, his 0.2 key passes per 90 minutes when starting in the position paints a pretty accurate picture of his almost total lack of meaningful attacking contribution.
The only positive from Shaw's absence has been the surprise chance it offered to Borthwick-Jackson, one of the star pupils in the the Class of 2015/16. Van Gaal has given a chance to a pretty big group of youngsters this season as injuries have decimated his relatively small senior squad.
Along with Marcus Rashford and Fosu-Mensah, Borthwick-Jackson looks like a player who has a chance of making it at United.
As Musa Okwonga of ESPN FC wrote in February:
"Remarkably, in the absence of Luke Shaw, Borthwick-Jackson has ensured that United do not want too much for speed, composure and attacking ambition. Though he understandably betrays a lack of experience from time to time, he could well be a fixture of this squad for several seasons to come.
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Next season, having Shaw as the first-choice option with Borthwick-Jackson as a back-up or rotation choice will turn left-back from what has often been a problem position this campaign into one of the squad's most obvious strengths.
Shaw's absence was felt particularly keenly during the peak period of attacking dullness in October and December. With Juan Mata, Wayne Rooney, Michael Carrick and Bastian Schweinsteiger all in the same team, there was often a ponderous quality to United's movement off the ball.
Space was at a premium as team after team came to Old Trafford to defend with a deep and narrow structure, daring the Red Devils to break them down. Having Shaw, so full of energy and capable of adding a change of pace to any attacking passage of play with either his own running or his use of the ball, could have made a huge difference.
When he does return—assuming he comes back the same player he was—United's left flank will be a different proposition. With more experience than Borthwick-Jackson, he also offers greater defensive nous. And with both his physicality and technical ability, he could add a dimension to United's attack that has so often been missing this term.
England have not taken anything like the same kind of hit from Shaw's absence. They have played six games since his injury, winning four and losing two—friendlies away to Spain and at home to the Netherlands.
The Spain game saw the Three Lions outmatched by La Roja's unparalleled use of the ball. Given Roy Hodgson played a pretty experimental lineup against the Netherlands, it seems a little unlikely Shaw would have featured. Even if he had, the problem with that performance was hardly Rose's turn at left-back.
Indeed, for Hodgson, Shaw's return is a luxury—a useful one, but a luxury nonetheless. Rose is having a superb season as Spurs mount a genuine title challenge. Mauricio Pochettino asks a lot of his full-backs, and as a result, he often rotates them. Nonetheless, Rose has started 19 games in the league this season.
In those games, he has succeeded with an average 2.8 of his 3.6 attempted tackles per 90 minutes. His crossing has not been particularly effective, as he has averaged 0.5 accurate crosses per 90. However, he is making a vital attacking contribution, averaging one key pass per 90 minutes in the league.
Of course, given the demands of tournament football, having two outstanding players competing for one position is perhaps a little more than a luxury, especially in a position as physically demanding as full-back.
For Van Gaal, though, it is anything but a luxury.
Shaw's return may even help Memphis Depay recover some form. Having an effective overlapping option should create space in which Memphis can operate. And even if it does not, the prospect of Shaw linking up with Anthony Martial is an appetising one.
This season could have been different for United had Moreno been a little more cautious in the tackle.
It is to be hoped that Shaw returns to the fray and quickly recovers his best form. If he does, this season will be remembered as nothing more than an unfortunate footnote in what should turn out to be a bright career.
Advanced statistics per WhoScored.com.
Quotations obtained firsthand where not otherwise stated.
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