Is This Man Half Of The Solution To United’s Midfield Woes?
Anyway the year out from blogging has probabbly helped maintain my sanity because United were quite frankly very below par this season, in a league that was in general quite poor once again – despite some proclaiming it as the ‘most exciting ever’.
Yes it was exciting but with all respect, we and the league in general got our asses handed to us by Europe in terms of performance levels albeit Chelsea somehow, unbelievably so managed to defy all realms of logic and hoofballed their way towards a rather unmemorable European Cup triumph which will not be looked back upon fondly by history – unless of course John Terry on retirement becomes footballs answer to Herodotus.
The key problem areas with the english teams that leads them to look so second rate and have to resort to parking the bus at times is the midfield. For some reason (people always talk about it as if its an unsolvable mystery), english teams are always made to look agricultural in midfield and resort to playing on the counter and failing to take the game to the opposition. It hasn’t harmed the likes of Chelsea and United particularly, due to the fact they’re excellent defensively although standards have been slipping in this regard due to ageing stalwarts such as Terry, Ferdinand, Evra, Vidic, Van der Sar, Cech either retiring, being injured or losing a yard of pace/hunger. Nevertheless the lack of good defences in Europe generally at the moment means these two teams are still world class defensively even though even the most casual observer would be capable of telling they’re not particularly performing at a world class level in comparison to say 2007/08.
However this summer has seen both teams try to take the first tentative steps towards evolving and finally adopting the Barcelona style of play. Chelsea have signed Marin and Hazard, whilst already possessing the nimble footwork of Mata and the vastly underrated in terms of technical ability Ramires in their ranks. If administered correctly, they could be dominating possession stats next term and give Man City a run for their money. It’s clear that the desire at Stamford Bridge is to move away from a power based game to a more technical, finesse possession-based style more in line with Abramovic’s vision.
Are United in danger of being left behind? well as it stands, quite frankly we don’t have a midfield capable of winning the CL, far far from it, a midfield which finishes the fourth highest in terms of amount of possession per game in the Premier League ( (57.3%), behind Arsenal (59.6%), Manchester City (57.7%), and Swansea City (57.6%)) doesn’t have a leg to stand on with regards to being able to outplay the likes of Barca, unless of course the footballing goods are smiling on you like they did on Chelsea. But wouldn’t it be nice to actually win the European Cup and be dominant, utterly brilliant and fearless in doing so?
The pursuit of Hazard and Kagawa demonstrates that perhaps finally Fergie has grasped the importance of the fluid midfield and how it correlates to controlling games in modern football and that a move away from wing-dominated thinking is imminent. Or perhaps, Fergie has just been biding his time for the right players to come along at the right prices, I presume its the latter, the great man has never really let us down and usually always clocks on to trends within the game and gets it right eventually.
Why signinng Kagawa is a masterstroke
Statistics (courtesy of ESPN:
Season 2010/11 (International & Club):
- Games Played: 49 (4 as Sub) , Goals: 21 Assists: 10
Season 2011/12 (International & Club):
- Games Played: 31 (1 as Sub) , Goals scored, 17 Assists: 2
There are a number of flaws with the current United midfield. It lacks mobility, it lacks creativity, it lacks goals, it lacks quick thinking and awareness, it lacks bite, it lacks leadership. Look at the list I’ve just given and compare that to the United midfield of 1999-2001.. yep exactly. There were two reasons why that United midfield ticked all the boxes, two reasons why it was so complete that it was capable of matching up to the likes of Real Madrid and Juventus at their peaks. Messers Keane and Scholes, two such different yet complementary players, a dynamic/tough/creative midfield duo which despite the averageness of the strikers in front of it, never allowed United to ever come second best or be embarassed in a game. Yes we’d have a few losses, but I can’t remember many games in which those two at their pomp allowed us to look second rate.. . put it this way, what Athletic Bilbao done to us this year, would simply not have been allowed to happen if Scholes and Keane in their pomp were playing for us in midfield. Both of them were elegent and mobile on the ball, Keane was no Edgar Davids in terms of on the ball talent, but he was good enough on it to never be shy of carrying it even under pressure and this meant him and Scholes could trust each other in tight spots and this in turn encouraged the defenders to always release the ball to them rather than look to play it long or back to the keeper.
What individual attributes would Kagawa bring to this United Side?
So yeah why is Kagawa such a vital signing? well look back at that list of flaws. Anyone that has watched Kagawa closely and there are a few full match complilations of Japan matches on youtube for those who have never had the chance to watch him over a full 90 mins for Dortmund, would no doubt vouch for the following attributes.
1. Mobility (Technique & Agility): On the ball this lad is quite simply brilliant. There are many who were dying over Eden Hazard and many of the same are now ridiculing his talent for choosing Chelsea over us, but in my personal opinion this lad was always the superior signing in terms of what United needed. He has a class and economy on the ball you can’t teach, he doesn’t need to resort to trickery not that he doesn’t have it in his locker – I assure you he does – but he beats players with feints, his two-footedness, close Barcelona-esque dribbling. In addition to this he doesn’t linger on the ball despite being such a good dribbler he’s entitled to, but he knows the right places when to and when not to dribble.
2. Industry: This lad glides across the pitch like a Iniesta and eats up ground for fun. One second he’ll be by the halfway line turning his man and unleashing a 40 yard pass, the next he’s in the box getting on the end of the cross to the winger he just supplied. Hands up if you reckon Anderson has showed as much movement over the course of a season? He never stops moving and whereas someone like Rooney who despite his famed ‘never stops running’doesn’t really have the movement and innate fitness of a true number 10, Kagawa is like a younger Scholes, a player who doesn’t stop trying to make things happen rather than get frustrated at his team mates for not getting him into the game.
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4. Finishing Ability: There’s no point of making all those excellent runs if you don’t have the technique or the confidence to put chances away and whilst the latter may be in question with regards to whether he can regularly be relied upon to put chances away in a high pressure enviroment such as Manchester United, there’s no doubt that technically he’s a very complete goalscoring attacking midfielder. He can score volleys off either foot, finish with curls, chips, from the edge of the box or one v one. Long range shots to be honest are probably not a speciality but this is more due to the fact he likes to keep the ball and ensure he has a sure fire chance to score rather than take pot shots from distance. His heading is unlikely to be the second coming of Ronaldo, but he is capable of putting headers away and no doubt he has years to develop this side to his game.
5. Commercial Success: There has been much talk about how United are buying him for commercial success and no doubt, this aspect to him as a player has definitely drawn extra attention to him from Old Trafford circles. He is already a budding star in the east, but mark my words, when he signs he’ll be the greatest Asian Footballer to have left those shores – period. Unlike Park who seems abit overwhelmed with the attention he recieves, Kagawa is alot more self-confident and would take it in his stride, he’ll revel in being a far east poster boy. Nevertheless even if he didn’t possess this aspect to hm, I and many others would’ve advocated signing him anyway, his talent rather than his ethnicity speaks volumes.
Despite marvelling at his attributes, one has to bear in mind he is slighly lightweight in terms of physique and experience in terms of being a big number 10 who dictates games on a regular basis. The likes of Messi, David Silva, Iniesta, Kroos, Ozil, Sniejder… they excel for club and country (bar Messi) due to the fact they have an excellent support structure in midfield, which allows them to move around the pitch without being man-marked too heavily and kicked out of the game. It is often cliched to say football is a team game and no individual on his own can make a difference, but when one looks at Messi for his club and Messi for his country, the saying has never been truer.
The modern game is so physically demanding it seems unlikely that a Maradona type player or even Ronaldinho at his pomp can transcend the averageness of his team mates and run a game single-handedly and that is players of extreme calibre we’re talking about. One only has to look at Eden Hazard’s recent performance for Belgium against Montenegro to realise just how difficult it is for the budding number 10 to completely dominate a game as an old school playmaker. He was made to look distinctly average and predictable, and he’s not alone, most top footballers who look great at club level, tend to look awful at international football tournements these days due to the improvements in organisation and fitness. Thus the point I’m trying to make is you need a strong team in terms of technique, movement, intelligence and a variety of threats, to bring the best out a modern playmaker and make no bones about it, Kagawa is without doubt an old school playmaker.
What United need to do to bring the best out of Kagawa and the team?
To truly create a functioning midfield which is capable of weaving the same patterns of play as Barcelona, Madrid, Bayern.. you need three players in a midfield which share similar characteristics to an extent. They must be intelligent, confident, technical, industrious and mobile… other than that, their actual qualities can be different and the roles they play can be divergent. Whereas at Barcelona there is Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets – at Madrid there is Ozil, Alonso & Khadeira, at Bayern there is Kroos, Schweinsteiger, Gustavo… at United, ideally Scholes, Giggs and Carrick as a trio on paper can match up, but in reality the former two lack the industry due to age to perform consistently at high intensity and furthermore Carrick for all his qualities in terms of reading the game defensively, doesn’t match up to the other simple passers aforementioned in terms of mobility, a key attribute which is often overlooked in defensive midfield players.
Thus to allow Kagawa to be our Ozil we need players similar to him terms of mobility, confidence and intelligence. Cleverley is perhaps the only younger player we possess on his wavelength. We need one more, as in my opinion Anderson just can’t be relied upon as he always has one major injury a year. The issue is however do we buy a young mobile defensive midfielder and allow Cleverly and Kagawa the freedom to run games in tandem or do we purchase a more deeper lying playmaker in the mould of Modric and use a combination of Carrick/Jones or Cleverley as our defensive midfielders. Either way one more midfield talent is needed in my opinion, if we want to make a mark on Europe. Kagawa alone might actually be enough to win the premiership bear in mind Vidic returning and hopefully a injury-free season from Cleverley, but if we want to aspire to a very high standard of play we need two playmakers and a mobile defensive midfielder.
Modric-Kagawa
Cleverley
It would be pretty mouth-watering in terms of possession, it might not be defensively strong and it lacks bite, but to be honest the Barcelona, Bayern and Madrid midfields lack bite and it doesn’t seem to be hurting their possession stats one bit. The need for an old school Keane like player in terms of personality is not really needed anymore, but what is needed is Keane’s presence, authority and understated elegance on the ball in those deeper positions. Cleverley has to take his game to the next level and remain injury free in order for United to get the best out of new recruits and take that midfield to the next level. Jones can possibly play in that position, but he’s abit gung ho and I just don’t think he has the intelligence of Cleverley on the ball or the nimble footwork.
Conclusion
In conclusion I think the signing of Kagawa is a brilliant one, if he’s the only purchase we make, our play will still undoubtedly go up a notch. With the return of Vidic, and the greater experience in general of our defenders we will go further in Europe this season and I think we could wrestle the title back from City. But in my opinion to truly get rid of the malaise which has been evident in this team since the back end of 07/08, we need to revolutionise our midfield. To truly compete with what will be a resurgent Barca, giving the likes of Scholes one year contracts is not going to help. Kagawa is just one half of the solution, the other half needs to be found.
Written by Raees Mahmood (follow me on www.twitter.com/redrae7)