The battle to be Manchester United’s first selection left again between Luke Shaw and Alex Telles is nearer than ever.
Telles accompanied interim supervisor Ralf Rangnick to yesterday’s press convention forward of tonight’s essential Champions League match towards Atletico Madrid, hinting that he may very well be beginning the match even when Shaw has recovered absolutely from Covid-19.
Shaw’s type this season has been patchy, while Telles, who struggled in his first 12 months on the membership, has improved.
It’s usually assumed that Shaw is the extra strong choice defensively whereas Telles provides extra in assault, however the season’s statistics, apparently, don’t bear out that assumption.
Shaw has performed 19 Premier League video games this season (18 begins) whereas Telles has performed 13, with 11 begins. This offers a superb quantity of minutes to check between the 2.
Telles simply has the sting for general sofascore score per recreation, with 6.95 towards Shaw’s 6.89 (supply of this and different stats: sofascore.com).
By way of offensive stats, the pair are fairly related. Telles has twice as many photographs per recreation (0.6 vs. 0.3) with the identical ratio on course (0.2 vs. 0.1). They’ve registered the identical proportion of assists however Shaw has created extra massive probabilities (0.26 per recreation vs Telles’ 0.07).
However in defensive stats, Telles comes out because the stronger of the 2. He makes twice as many interceptions as Shaw (1 per recreation vs 0.5), greater than twice as many tackles (2.7 vs. 1.1), has received possession barely extra usually (0.5 vs. 0.4 per recreation) and makes virtually twice as many clearances (1.7 vs. 0.9).
This maybe ought to give Telles the sting when it comes to who ought to be the primary selection.
Clearly the Premier League is way harder than the Portuguese League, but it surely may be argued that the Brazilian remains to be but to seek out the form of type that prompted United to signal him within the first place.
In 2019/20, enjoying for FC Porto, Telles scored 11 targets and offered 8 assists in 31 league video games, an exceptional file for a full again.
In equity, it also needs to be stated that Shaw’s type of 2020/21 earned him a participant of the 12 months award and would most likely tip the steadiness again in his favour have been he to rediscover it.
It’s a fascinating contest and one that can hopefully convey out the perfect of each gamers because the season attracts to a detailed.
