Erik ten Hag, the manager of Manchester United, recently discussed his choice to play Luke Shaw as a centre-back instead of his traditional role as a left-back.
Since the World Cup break, the Red Devils have been without a number of their natural central defenders. Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof have both battled illnesses, Raphael Varane returned on December 27 after helping France reach the final, while Lisandro Martinez has just recently reassembled with the team at Carrington.
In light of these concerns, Shaw has started at centre back during United’s triumphs over Nottingham Forest and Wolves in the Premier League, while Casemiro played there during United’s Carabao Cup victory over Burnley.
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Prior to United’s match against Bournemouth, Erik ten Hag was questioned about the situation at center back and provided an explanation of why Shaw has been trusted to play there.
“Of course, you have your ideas and a plan but sometimes it changes by circumstances like the illnesses for Harry and Victor,” he 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.”
