Agreed, shelvey is useful if you have 2/3 proper British defenders whose job it is to win the ball and play a short pass to a quarterback against a team that doesnt play the press and gives him time on the ball. Rafa knew he was a liability for a red card and generally isn't mobile enough for a midfielder so developed a team that didn't need him.
Hes one of those that people with short memories start to rate more the less he is in the team. Pops up in a friendly with plenty of space and plays a couple of hollywoods and suddenly hes a dead cert first teamer.
People used to say our forwards weren't clever enough to make the runs for him, but last season proved they weren't the problem, as Schar and Lejeune managed to find them perfectly.