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da lvbet： Since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013, Manchester United have struggled in so many areas.It would be hard to say the main problem was not replacing such and such a player, but so many fabulous ones have left the club in the last few years that their absences were always likely to leave a dent. One such player is Paul Scholes.After hanging up his boots and picking up a microphone, Scholes’ obvious qualities on the pitch have been missed: his fabled passing range, his nous and ability to read the game perfectly, and his general will to win are all lacking in the current squad that Jose Mourinho has at his disposal.[ad_pod id=’now-tv’ align=’centre’]There is one advantage to having that microphone close to hand, though. After years of playing for Manchester United, it’s unsurprising that Scholes would have an idea of the kind of player that United should want to buy in order to bolster their squad this summer. And in an interview with German magazine Kicker, the former midfielder revealed that, in the later stages of his career, he modelled himself on Toni Kroos – a player, he goes on to say, who would be perfect alongside Paul Pogba and Ander Herrera in United’s midfield.
In many ways, Scholes has hit a nail bang on the head, though actually, the perfect player for Manchester United’s current midfield would be a later-stage Paul Scholes. If he’s telling the truth about modelling his game on Kroos, then clearly the German World Cup winner would be a fitting replacement.
Being buttered up by an English midfield legend with one eye on his signature is nothing new to Kroos, of course. After his own retirement, Steven Gerrard wrote in his autobiography that Brendan Rodgers had often asked his former Liverpool captain to make contact with transfer targets personally, in the hope that being asked to come to Anfield by a legend of the game would grease the wheels of a transfer. Kroos was one such target, but even Gerrard was sceptical.
“Our target in 2014 was ridiculously optimistic. Brendan asked me to take a crack at trying to talk Toni Kroos into signing for Liverpool. He smiled when I said we’d be p****** into the wind with this one.
“We both admired Kroos immensely. I knew Real Madrid were gearing up to make Bayern Munich and offer so I felt a bit awkward when I texted Kroos.
“The German was on his way to winning the World Cup with his country and Real were the champions of Europe. But God loves a trier, and so I gave it a whirl.”
This time, if Kroos is indeed a United target, the greasing is somewhat subtler. And if the idea is to have him belatedly fill Scholes’ vacant midfield berth then what better compliment could he possibly be paid?
He’d certainly fit the bill.
Last summer was fruitful for Manchester United, but by the time the games came around, Jose Mourinho faced a dilemma: Paul Pogba didn’t seem suited to playing in a team that included a number 10. The man they’d recently bought for a world record fee was much more comfortable in a midfield three, with two players alongside him to do the donkey work Pogba would be free to strut £89m worth of stuff.
The switch was made, but there is no natural third man to complete the midfield jigsaw. Herrera and Pogba complement each other nicely enough, but the other options are far from perfect. Marouane Fellaini can’t be trusted to play the deepest role, and he doesn’t possess the right range of passing anyway. Michael Carrick would work, but ideally the Carrick of five or ten years ago. He’s no long-term solution. Barely even a short-term one these days.
Utilising Herrera at the base of the three nullifies much of his box-to-box qualities by burdening him with extra defensive responsibilities. His defensive stats are impressive, but mostly because he’s able to roam around and hassle the opposition. In any case, his long-range passing is lacking. Pogba is better at the longer balls, but relieving him of defensive responsibilities was the whole point of switching to a midfield three in the first place.
Averaging 71 passes per game in La Liga, Kroos has actually completed fewer passes on average than both Pogba and Herrera this season. Yet looking beyond those two – who we already proclaimed as two of the perfect midfield three – the next best is Michael Carrick on a much lower 61 passes per game. No one after Carrick is worth talking about.
Where no current United player can match Kroos, though, is in the pass accuracy stakes. Herrera and Pogba both come way down the list of United players in terms of pass accuracy. That’s not surprising – and it’s exactly what Kroos is known for – but it does show that there’s room for someone with both Kroos’ range and accuracy alongside the other two.
The most important point about playing a midfield three, though, is the balance. Herrera averages a huge three tackles and three interceptions per game. No one in United’s side even comes close to that, and although Herrera is neat in possession, he’s not a passer like Kroos nor is he a powerful and canny attacker like Pogba. But put them altogether and you have probably the most balanced midfield in the Premier League.
And perhaps balance is the right aim for United this summer. Since Ferguson’s retirement, United have been plagued by imbalance. From the cross-heavy spells under David Moyes to the compulsive sidewards passing that characterised the worst excesses of Louis van Gaal’s time in charge, United have often swung from one extreme to the other: from a side who tried to walk the ball into the net, to a thoroughly route one machine with their own totem pole up front in Fellaini.
Jose Mourinho’s team is already much more balanced than the few incarnations that have gone before it. But after an unbeaten run stretching back to United’s nadir under their current manager – a 4-0 humbling at Stamford Bridge in October – they still sit in sixth place. That proves that progress is slow. But getting the midfield right this summer is an important step.
You can see why even Paul Scholes is volunteering to do the dirty work.
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