Manchester United and England left-back Luke Shaw, has visited the Manchester United training ground for the first time since his horror leg break against PSV in Manchester United’s 2-1 defeat to the Dutch side in the Champions League opening fixture.  

Recovery stage for Shaw

The 20 year-olds initial stage of rehabilitation saw him undergo multiple operations due to the nature of the leg break, since then he has been recovering at home under doctors’ orders.

Monday saw him back at the training ground for the first time since his leg break in the Champions League away at PSV, in United’s 2-1 defeat. The England and Manchester United left back tweeted via his personal twitter account, "first day back at the training ground today, nice to be back”. 

While Manchester United have not made it categorically clear just how long Shaw will be out for, it is still a good sign to see him back at the training ground visiting team mates for the first time.

United’s decline in his absence

It was clear for all to see against Arsenal, that Ashley Young was just not a natural left back. While critics have to take into consideration he is a make shift left back filling a void caused by injury, it can still be said that Young was shown up by the extremely talented Alexis Sanchez in United’s 3-0 defeat at the weekend.  

The weakening of quality defensively is clear to see with United conceding six goals in their last five games, this sounds good if not in context. But in context United have conceded six goals in the three games they faced opposition to a similar quality to themselves. They kept two clean sheets against Sunderland and Preston.

But the minute they faced opposition a similar quality to themselves they have leaked goals.

Can United defensively hold it together?

In Manchester United’s back four you currently will see; new signing Matteo Darmian, Chris Smalling, make shift centre back Daley Blind and make shift left back Ashely Young.

It is clear that the left side of defence will be targeted by opposition sides. However, the solution to make sure they aren’t exploited isn’t all too difficult.

When a side is forced to put out a weakened defensive line, the manager can do one of two things. Either place a central midfielder directly in front of them like a Morgan Schneiderlin type player to give them added protection. Or simply instruct the two full backs to not push forward as much, therefore leaving less space in behind for wingers to exploit. 

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