Man United overcame the AC Milan test in the Europa League beating the Italians with an aggregate scoreline of 2-1 and left-back Luke Shaw, once again, had a really outstanding game.
The England international has turned things around this season and right now, he’s the best player in the Man United squad. In fact, his performances have been so convincing that Owen Hargreaves has claimed that Luke Shaw is currently a better left-back than Liverpool’s Andy Robertson.
Hargreaves said, as quoted: “He’s earned the shirt, right now. He’s the best left-back in the country. Last year it was Andy Robertson, now it’s Luke Shaw.
“If he’s fit and healthy, he’s one of the best he’s proved that. It’s been Luke Shaw and Bruno Fernandes, rotating the player of the month roles. He’s been magnificent. When Bruno Fernandes has had a quiet day, he [Shaw] has stepped up.
“In the last six weeks, he’s been fantastic. Luke on that left-hand side has been fantastic in terms of creating more than anyone apart from Bruno Fernandes.”
Is Luke Shaw really better than Andy Robertson this season?
ATTACK:
Luke Shaw has played in 25 Premier League games this season while Robertson has featured in 29 matches and if we only look at the attacking stats then the England international falls short of his Liverpool counterpart in almost every department.
Robertson has made 636 forward passes in the 2605 minutes he has played till now this season while Shaw has managed only 419. The Scot has attempted 229 crosses into the box and even in this department, Luke Shaw does not come close(135 passes).
Both of them have scored one and assisted five goals this season in the Premier League.
DEFENCE:
The defensive area is where Luke Shaw manages to catch up with Robertson and this is also a big reason why Liverpool have been losing so many games this season and on the other hand, Man United have been more or less steady at the back.
Shaw, along with his other defensive partners have conceded only 24 goals as compared to Robertson’s 36 and the England international has managed to keep nine clean sheets so far in the Premier League.
The Man United left-back has clearly been more proactive in defence, contesting 205 duels in comparison to Robertson’s 163 and making as many as 36 tackles while the Liverpool man has managed only 28.
Eventually, the two aspects balance things out evenly(more or less) but there’s no denying that 25-year-old has been really inspirational for Man United this season and he is one of the main reasons why Solskjaer side are sitting second on the league table.
On the other hand, Liverpool are struggling to even get back into the top-four and the failure of both their full-backs in recent months is a major cause for this deterioration.
