Luke Shaw Scout Report At Manchester United 2025/2026: Man United Defensive Struggles Show Where Lisandro Martínez Is Missed – Team Analysis

Five games into Ruben Amorim’s first start to a Premier League season, there are likely to be mixed feelings among Manchester United fans.

Though the Red Devils currently sit 11th in the English top flight, Wyscout’s expected points (xPTS) metric places them as high as fifth.

An EFL Cup defeat to Grimsby Town and a 3-0 Manchester Derby thumping at the Etihad Stadium will serve as particularly disappointing lows and reminders for Man United fans that the team is very much still in transition at the moment.

On a positive note, however, according to Wyscout, Amorim’s side has generated the second-most xG (9.66) in the league and the most shots (12.78).

This, along with some glimpses of entertaining, attacking football, will perhaps reassure supporters that the club is moving in the right direction.

On top of new signings like Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Šeško, who have bolstered the team’s attack this term, United have welcomed Luke Shaw back into the starting XI for his longest run of Premier League starts since late 2023.

As the title of this article suggests, we will have some negative things to say about Luke Shaw.

However, there are significant positives Luke Shaw has brought to Amorim’s side this season.

For starters, Shaw has been solid in the air so far this season, even contributing heavily to United’s second goal against Chelsea last weekend via an aerial duel win.

The 30-year-old has really stood out this term in possession, contributing a relatively high 9.71 progressive passes per 90 at a slightly above-average success rate of 69.23%.

Luke Shaw has been quite strong at helping United progress into the final third, playing a key role in the team’s ball progression phase via passes and, indeed, progressive carries.

Defensively, only four Premier League sides have conceded more goals than United (eight) so far this term, though they haven’t conceded a ton of shots (7.28 per 90, fifth-best).

At the back, their issue has been giving away a small number of big chances, leading to United having the highest xGA per shot (0.181) in the league in the first five games.

In terms of defensive duel success, United rank joint seventh alongside Manchester City and Burnley, with a success rate of 63.7%.

There have been some bright performers in the backline who have helped the team achieve those numbers, such as Amad Diallo, with 83.33% defensive duel success, Matthijs de Ligt with 80.56%, Diogo Dalot with 80%, and Noussair Mazraoui with 76.92%.

Shaw is not one of those who has covered himself in glory through his performance in defensive duels, in particular, however, which is where things take a negative turn.

The two members of United’s backline with the most Premier League minutes this term are Matthijs De Ligt and Luke Shaw.

Luke Shaw’s defensive duel success rate stands at 57.14% at the time of writing, which is lower than that of all Man United defenders this term, bar Leny Yoro, who is at 53.33%.

This Manchester United tactical analysis and team-focused scout report will analyse Luke Shaw’s defending this term to highlight where his defensive duel success has fallen down, how it’s had a negative impact on United, and how Shaw can potentially learn from his Old Trafford teammate Lisandro Martínez to improve on this particular weakness.

Luke Shaw Scout Report: Defensive Duels

We’ve identified three main areas where Luke Shaw’s defending has fallen below par this term.

The first area has been overcommitting or being overly aggressive in 1-on-1s.

Here, the Arsenal ball carrier draws Shaw into a tackle to which the Man United defender commits a little early, overestimating his ability to get out to the attacker quickly.