Two Manchester United players have received brutal reality check from overdue Erik ten Hag decision

The legendary Roberto Carlos named Luke Shaw as the best player at last summer's European Championship and that is the ultimate praise for a left-back. Shaw was not only the best player at Euro 2020, but he was the best left-back in the world that season.

Shaw was world-class for Manchester United during 2020/21 and he continued in that form for England at Euro 2020. He was changing games from left-back and he was instrumental in England reaching the final of the competition. Shaw had enjoyed a better season than Andrew Robertson, Alphonso Davies, Ferland Mendy and Ben Chilwell, which made him the world's best in his position.

Shaw scored England's only goal in the Euro 2020 final against Italy and he didn't deserve to be on the losing side that night. That disappointment was enough to break some of England's players and it eventually seemed to have that effect on Shaw.

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United endured their worst season for decades last term and only two players emerged from the campaign with credit – Shaw was not on that list. David de Gea and Cristiano Ronaldo were the only players whose reputations weren't damaged.

United conceded 57 goals in the Premier League and Shaw was complicit in that tragically porous defence. His regression from such a world-class season was remarkable and he's still yet to return to those levels, which is the benchmark for the player.

Shaw made 19 league starts and the games he was forced to miss through injury came in the latter stages of the season – the damage had already been done by then. Shaw will currently be fortunate to make a third of the league starts he did last term.

The 27-year-old's inconsistency and fitness problems