Gary Neville has recently interviewed Erik ten Hag for Sky Sports and opened up on the conversation that took place off the record.
"The interesting thing about that was, and he did push me back on this, was around the fact that there is no doubt that Luke Shaw and Lisandro Martinez are vital to him," Neville said.
"They both step into midfield with Casemiro when Man United are attacking to provide that extra bit of pace and aggression, and they are braver. So, that was massive for him. There is no doubt. He said that to me off-camera.
"He said it on camera, too. It’s obvious. We know Shaw is a big loss, we know Martinez is a big loss.
"But the one big thing he said when I pushed him on style was that Man United last season had the most clean sheets in the Premier League playing the same way.
'It was scoring goals that was the problem. He said that was proof that his style can provide good defensive stats, in terms of clean sheets."
Both Shaw and Martinez missed most of the season. Shaw played just 12 Premier League games, while Martinez was limited to nine league appearances.
They were regular starters under Ten Hag in his first season which was much more successful, and it looks like that head coach has struggled to deal with their absence.
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