There are plenty of problems at Manchester United at the moment. Too many to list, in all honesty. But one of them can be solved with a simple fix that is so painfully obvious its name could be Captain Obvious from Obviousville.
I am, of course, talking about the left-back position. For some bizarre reason, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer prefers to play Luke Shaw in the role despite him being, well, not very good.
Juan-nil! #MUFC
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) January 15, 2020
And it's not even that he isn't good enough, which he isn't, it's that there is another player in the squad who is significantly better suited to play than he is:
Brandon Williams.
Since getting more game time this season, the young full-back has shone in a United shirt, offering far more in both attack and defence than his slightly tubby teammate. It was by no stretch of the imagination a 'vintage' United performance on Wednesday night, but they looked a significantly better side with the 19-year-old Mancunian in the side compared to with, errr, Luke Shaw.
Williams' boundless energy up and down the pitch throughout the 90 minutes was exemplary, looking fearless in the face of both Raul Jimenez and Pedro Neto - two technically adept players.
When Harry Maguire would pick up the ball in defence, Williams immediately would sprint forward, even moving infield to allow Juan Mata to drift wide and whip crosses in.
The more I watch Brandon Williams, the more I like what I see. Another exciting young English talent.
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) January 15, 2020
Against a defensively resolute and well organised Wolves side, what must be most pleasing is that the full-back tried to make things happen in the final third. Shaw more often than not has Plan A without any resemblance of a Plan B, whereas Williams offers more variety in his play going forward, happy to drift inside and link up play, or equally overlap and take on the opposing defenders one-on-one.
His performance was epitomised in the 60th minute when he caught up ground on the pacy Neto to stand strong against the forward, get back, position himself well and not dive in on the Portuguese and win back possession.
Which brings us nicely to another impressive trait of his: reading the game. Positionally, he rarely drifts out of place, giving opposing forwards little to space to run into and even when they do, he gets back in time to make a covering run.
Having started both of the clubs last three matches - prior to Wolves - due to Shaw's injury, there is absolutely no reason why Solskjaer should even consider thrusting the former Southampton full-back into the starting lineup in place of Williams.
Brandon Williams' last 7 appearances in all competitions:
— Statman Dave (@StatmanDave) January 15, 2020
• 0 goals conceded
• 0 goals conceded
• 0 goals conceded
• 0 goals conceded
• 3 goals conceded
• 0 goals conceded
• 0 goals conceded
6/7 clean sheets. pic.twitter.com/HzD6EpDt4k
Against Wolves he was, without doubt, the Red Devils' best player. Aaron Wan-Bissaka arrived over the summer for a hefty sum, but if you hadn't have known before the match, you would have assumed that it was Williams that cost £45m.
He is a prospect, not just for the future, but the present too, and United need to make him an integral part of their starting XI. Solskjaer: just do it. Don't give people more reason to sack you then they already have. Seriously.
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Source : 90min