Erik ten Hag Manchester United manager has explained why he fielded Luke Shaw as a centre-back in their win over Manchester City in a Premier League fixture last week.

Erik ten Hag has deployed Luke Shaw, who primarily plies his trade as a left-back, as a centre-back in three of the four Premier League matches the Red Devils have so far played since the resumption of club football action after the end of the winter break.

One of Luke Shaw’s appearances as a centre-back came against defending Premier League champions and cross-town rivals Manchester City. Luke Shaw excelled in that role once again as Manchester United largely kept Manchester City attackers at bay.

Despite dominating possession against Manchester United, Manchester City registered just one shot on target as Pep Guardiola and co. suffered a 2-1 defeat at the hands of the Red Devils.

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Why Erik ten Hag played Luke Shaw as centre-back vs Man City?

Erik ten Hag has now explained why he fielded Luke Shaw as a centre-back vs Manchester City and also admitted that it was a big decision.

“It is a big decision. But I think when you analyse the profile of Haaland and the combination with De Bruyne it was also the right decision because Luke has the physical power to compete with them and also has the tactical view to make the right decision and technical skills to play in that position,” Erik ten Hag said.

“So I think [against City] it matched really well but I think in other games he can contribute even more on the left in the wide positions so it’s a tactical choice and we can see from game to game what we need. And I think we have more players in our squad who have the capacity to be multi-functional and we can use that as a weapon in games.”

Luke Shaw has re-established himself as a regular starter at Manchester United after briefly losing the left-back spot to Tyrell Malacia after the Red Devils’ disappointing performances in their first two Premier League games of the season.

Meanwhile, Manchester United moved to within a point of second-placed Manchester City with their win in the Manchester derby. But they still trail table-toppers Arsenal by nine points.

Erik ten Hag and co., however, will have the opportunity to reduce their gap on Arsenal to six points when the two sides meet in the Premier League this weekend.