Manchester United are in huge danger of watching their once-promising season crumble in the space of just one week, as today they travel to Wembley hoping to book their spot in the FA Cup final.
Having crashed out of the Europa League in embarrassing fashion, on the end of a 3-0 hammering at the hands of Sevilla, Brighton and Hove Albion now pose an arguably even tougher challenge as both sides clash for the honour to face Manchester City.
With the EFL Cup already under his belt, and top four well in his sights, Erik ten Hag would certainly have chalked this debut campaign down as a roaring success. However, the opportunity they had to win further silverware is melting away, whether it be through fatigue, a mentality shift or injuries.
The latter in particular is an easy source of blame, especially with the huge absences of Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez at the back.
Missing one is bearable, but with both out it has meant Harry Maguire has had to partner Victor Lindelof once again. Their display in Spain was enough to prove this was far from sustainable.
Therefore, in front of a packed-out Wembley crowd, perhaps the Dutch tactician could return to an old idea that had been trialled earlier in the season with success; to deputise Luke Shaw at centre-back and in turn drop their £80m flop.
Will Luke Shaw be available vs Brighton?
Despite having picked up a knock in their last game, the England full-back reportedly claimed "I'm good" following the match that he still finished.
To start the £150k-per-week ace at the heart of defence has been a tactic that has worked at times this year, and led to huge praise from Ten Hag: "He’s showed a lot of leadership capacities – he’s the example at this moment – and with his skills and with his physical power he brings a lot to the team. But now also with his mentality.
"He’s an example of how to win big games. I’m really happy with his development. I think it’s been huge either at centre-half or left full-back, he’s a great player and a great personality for the dressing room."
Shaw's 7.08 average rating this season is indicative of this, where he marks himself out as a defensive leader by boasting 1.7 tackles and 1.8 clearances per game, via Sofascore. However, by putting the mobile star at centre back, it could allow greater control of the ball, with his speed sure to quell the threat Roberto De Zerbi's free-flowing outfit pose.
Especially in the place of Maguire, who earned an abysmal 6.3 rating last time out of which only David De Gea was handed worse. Both were particularly bad, with the former notably being dispossessed in awful fashion for the opener. With his culpability for mistakes in key areas and positional deficiencies, the natural centre half cannot be trusted to avoid another disasterclass that would knock them out of a different cup.
The 27-year-old is far from a huge physical downgrade to his 30-year-old teammate too, standing at 6 foot 1 and having been branded a "monster" by recruitment analyst Daniel Sebestyen.
To once again remove the former Leicester City man from the scrutiny of the limelight could be good not only to bolster the team but to defend Maguire from further scathing criticism.
