Manchester United are once again facing questions over squad balance after Luke Shaw missed Thursday\u2019s Champions League win over Sabah because of injury.<\/p>\n
Before the match, Carrick explained why the left back was left out. \u201cIt\u2019s a little bit of [managing him],\u201d Carrick said of Shaw\u2019s absence before the game. \u201cHe came off the other day with a little bit of cramp. We didn\u2019t want to take any risks really.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe tried to manage him so we will see how he is after this one.\u201d<\/p>\n
The issue comes at an awkward moment for United, whose summer business in 2025 focused heavily on attack before a midfield rebuild arrived in 2026 with the arrivals of Youri Tielemans, Andrey Santos and Carlos Baleba. That spending addressed one part of the squad, but the window closed with a clear sense of frustration over the failure to bring in another left back to challenge Shaw.<\/p>\n
That omission now looks more significant because United are back in four competitions this season, leaving little margin for error when injuries strike. The timing is especially awkward so soon after the market shut, with the club already needing to manage the same thin depth it chose to live with.<\/p>\n
Patrick Dorgu filled in for Shaw against Sabah, though his best role remains uncertain. Under Carrick, he has been used on the left wing, despite arriving primarily as an attacking wing back for Ruben Amorim\u2019s ultimately doomed 3-4-2-1 system.<\/p>\n
Dorgu handled Thursday\u2019s assignment without issue, but the challenge ahead is a different matter entirely. Sabah\u2019s level meant there was always likely to be a clear gap in quality, something Sunday\u2019s derby will not offer. Kaheem Parris represented the test on Thursday, while the next one could come from Antoine Semenyo, Phil Foden or Rayan Cherki.<\/p>\n
Carrick will want his side to attack at home, but the space to commit everyone forward will not be as generous. Dorgu\u2019s adventurous style may prove too risky.<\/p>\n
United hope Shaw will be available again soon. The 31-year-old does not appear to have suffered anything serious, yet his long injury record means caution remains essential and risks are unlikely to be taken.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Shaw\u2019s latest injury issue exposes United\u2019s left-back shortage after a summer transfer window that felt unfinished.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19337,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1083,179,2019],"tags":[1047,242,182],"class_list":["post-19338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-man-utd","category-manchester-united","category-manchester-united-news","tag-champions-league","tag-injury","tag-transfers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19338\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}