Underrated Manchester United duo were the ‘best performers’ against West Ham

Former Liverpool player Danny Murphy has highlighted both Luke Shaw and Diogo Dalot as two of United’s best players this season.

Speaking on the BBC’s Match of the Day 2, Murphy would heavily praise both Shaw and Dalot’s performances against West Ham, as well as arguing United look more complete when both are in the team.

“I always think United look more accomplished when Luke Shaw’s fit,” Stated Murphy. “He’s a super player, good going both ways, but Dalot has really impressed me as well.”. 

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“When they play at home especially and have a bit more of the ball, these two are really positive and cause problems for the opposition’s wide men because they keep going forward.

“Dalot likes getting in that midfield area. He’s got the freedom to go in there and do it from his manager, he’s got the confidence. We always see him bombing forward when he plays, whether he’s on the right or the left.”

Analysing the full-back duo’s performances against West Ham specifically, Murphy would go on to highlight how Shaw and Dalot made the difference against the Hammers:

“I just think when you’re a wide man like [Ben] Johnson or [Mohamed] Kudus when you’ve got full-backs like these two being able to defend well and play out. It causes you a real problem,” Continued Murphy.

“Just relentless energy. They both look really fit and really hungry. Every time these two are fit and play, United look better going forward especially.

“There was other good performances. [Kobbie] Mainoo has been terrific recently, and Casemiro is getting back to his best. But those two go under the radar a bit. I thought they were really good.”

Unfortunately for United, the pairing of Shaw and Dalot has been one rarely seen so far this season.

Whilst Dalot has been a staple of United’s team, picking up the second most Premier League minutes of any outfielder in Erik ten Hag’s squad, Shaw’s continued injury struggles have forced the latter to miss a significant amount of game time.

With Shaw’s injury woes a constant theme of his United career, the left-back has started just 10 of United’s 23 league matches this season.