Luke Shaw makes admission after losing his Manchester United place to Tyrell Malacia

Luke Shaw admits he understands why he was dropped from the Manchester United line-up by Erik ten Hag after a poor start to the season.

The England international began the new campaign as United's first choice at left-back, but after disastrous defeats to Brighton and Brentford, he has lost his place to Tyrell Malacia. United's summer signing arrived at the club as a back-up option, but it didn't take long before he was thrown in at the deep end against Liverpool, and he hasn't looked back since.

Malacia, 23, has taken his chance, and now the onus is on Shaw to fight back and reclaim his starting spot, just as he had to do two years ago when Alex Telles was signed from Porto. Shaw sent a timely reminder with his encouraging England performance on Monday night, grabbing a goal in their 3-3 draw against Germany in the Nations League.

The 27-year-old will be hoping to work his way back into the starting line-up at United. But he says he understands why Ten Hag dropped him in the first place.

“I think it shows the trust Gareth (Southgate) has in me,” Shaw told the BBC.

“I look at it from a club perspective. I know the first two games weren’t good enough and fully understand the manager has to make decisions.

“Now the team has been winning and we’ve got to bide our time. The only thing I can do is keep supporting the team, keep training hard and just wait for my time, because I think if I put my head down and did not care, it would be a bigger hill to climb when I want to play.”