[mattsville]

Completely useless, spends most of his time on his arse slide tackling because he cannot get to the pitch of the ball, contributes nothing but slowing things down and has nothing to offer when on the ball bar short passes, a number of which miss the target, same again today.

 

[El Zoido]

I looked absolutely fooked after about half an hour. Still rate him highly but today wasn't his best day.

 

[United22]

It is basically a shambles because nobody in the team except Martial, DDG and Smalling are playing good. You would think that a MF including BFS , Herrera and Morgan would be the best in the league but it isn't good enough

 

[Wade3]

Schweinsteiger is/was the best allround midfielder there is. Yes, there are players that pass better, dribble better, have a better ball control, are faster, are better headers of the ball, are better shooters etc. - name it and you will find them even in his own teams. You will not find a midfielder who is capable of all of this things to atleast a good level...

It is this variety of abilities that make him the world class player - not one or two specialities in which he is the best but others he is weak or mediocre.

I guess some here need the punching ball why this match today was no win. In my eyes what you do not have right now is any streak of luck. Everything is just running against you.

That doesn't mean Schweinsteiger has been great for us since joining. He's been average and given us some stability, but he hasn't be close to world class for us. Granted some of it is due to the entire team not performing well, but he commits basic errors that shouldn't happen to a player of his caliber.

 

[criticalanalysis]

The 'problem' with Bastian's inconsistencies are his instincts to play forward passes, receive in tight(er) spaces and generally wanting to be more progressive/move the ball forward. The reality is that he isn't as nimble as he wants to and we don't have enough options through the MIDDLE.

EVERYONE is comfortable receiving and passing down the channels but most are scared to receive it in the opposition middle for fear of getting dispossessed/countered. What ends up happening is why you see so many square passes because there is literally only about one option in the central areas, it's usually your Herrera or Mata (or Rooney, who will lose it/momentum of the move, pass it back anyways) and they usually have to come out of position, receive from deep where they can't do jack with it.

 

[Speak]

The 'problem' with Bastian's inconsistencies are his instincts to play forward passes, receive in tight(er) spaces and generally wanting to be more progressive/move the ball forward. The reality is that he isn't as nimble as he wants to and we don't have enough options through the MIDDLE.

EVERYONE is comfortable receiving and passing down the channels but most are scared to receive it in the opposition middle for fear of getting dispossessed/countered. What ends up happening is why you see so many square passes because there is literally only about one option in the central areas, it's usually your Herrera or Mata (or Rooney, who will lose it/momentum of the move, pass it back anyways) and they usually have to come out of position, receive from deep where they can't do jack with it.

True. I call this 'England national team syndrome'

When players don't want to ever pass to anyone who's unmarked, or to receive the ball unless they're unmarked.
So they spend the whole game running AROUND that zone that does the most damage, and they spend the whole game passing in front of the opposition. And even with 60% + possession, the only real avenue is still going round the opposition and crossing, because playing through the middle is impossible without being comfortable in those tight areas.

Better players are needed. Players who don't mind playing in those areas.
Pjanic, for example, would make a huge difference to this side immediately.

Herrera attempts it, but is scrappy with his technique. Same for Rooney, who also often needs three touches to get the ball under control, where better players only need one.
I disagree about Mata, though. He's just as useless under pressure as the others. He avoids the centre just as much as anyone, and he gives the ball up pretty much as soon as he's closed down.

 

[justboy68]

He's looking like a spent force at the moment to be honest. We all know this isn't the Schweinsteiger that built up a world class reputation. He might have to accept his own limitations and adapt his game like Scholes did in order to get back on track.

 

[ZDwyr]

He is an interesting one. We are better with him in the team but he still doesn't really do much. I've been disappointed with him. Just a bit meh really.

 

[m1tch]

Was expecting more after his winter break, although I've been expecting more from him since day 1 and so I shouldn't be too surprised that I'm left wondering what he brings to the team.

 

[kouroux]

He is so slow when making a passing decision. So annoying that he takes a few moments to pass the ball whereas it could be done much quicker. This lack of quick thinking closes the space in front of him and therefore he passes it back too often.

 

[kps88]

I'd still start him ahead of Carrick, who nowadays disappears when games get tough. I'm amazed Bastian lasted the full 90 though.

 

[Sky1981]

He's looking like a spent force at the moment to be honest. We all know this isn't the Schweinsteiger that built up a world class reputation. He might have to accept his own limitations and adapt his game like Scholes did in order to get back on track.

Even with Scholes (prime Scholes) we'll be going nowhere with this team. We're pushing too far ahead their box is congested for anyone to make a pass.

Under Fergie we defend deeper hence there's alot of room to attack the space (boss?), with this possession football we barely have enough room to stand let along making runs, but our own half is empty most of the time

 

[JoaquinJoaquin]

I worry about how he is going to fair the more the season develops as he is really looking tired at the moment. I put it down to the 3 games per week thing when we were still in the CL but the past week or so it hasn't even been that. I'd probably keep him away from the Europa League games once they start and play him on the Sundays, That way he should be more fresh.

 

[Sammyjunn]

We are better when he plays and more stable (except against Arsenal, was horrendous), but I dont know how. I think he's average sorry to say.

But maybe just like Carrick did, he is still positionally very good and blocks of certain areas where dangers could come from. Dont know how we're better attackingly as well, he has as much attacking intent as Cleverley did for us.

 

[sugar_kane]

He's a strange player these days.... although he never looks great himself we always seem to play better when he's on the pitch... I've no idea why, perhaps his mobility (even though he's a bit slow, he moves around more compared to players like Fellaini, Carrick at least) or maybe just his leadership/gravitas/will to win.

 

[NotoriousISSY]

We are better when he plays and more stable (except against Arsenal, was horrendous), but I dont know how. I think he's average sorry to say.

But maybe just like Carrick did, he is still positionally very good and blocks of certain areas where dangers could come from. Dont know how we're better attackingly as well, he has as much attacking intent as Cleverley did for us.

Have to agree, there is a better shape to us with him...but he himself doesn't contribute a lot to our play. He doesn't really dictate anything going forward.

I find his passing cowardly.

 

[McUnited]

He hasn't set our game alight, but there were a number of instances yesterday where he was available for a simple pass down the middle, asking for the ball, and was overlooked for a pass out to the sides by the defenders. That's not his fault.

 

[Randall Flagg]

Let's be honest the warning signs of his downfall were the fact that Bayern let him leave so easily and for so cheap

We signed a spent force even though he is still a decent player

Sadly I would be looking to replace him already next summer

I was not a huge fan of this signing in the summer and got slated for it. It is very reminiscent of the time Chelsea signed Ruud Gullit. You can still see his class from time to time but gets found out more often than not

 

[Cheesy]

Let's be honest the warning signs of his downfall were the fact that Bayern let him leave so easily and for so cheap

We signed a spent force even though he is still a decent player

Sadly I would be looking to replace him already next summer

I was not a huge fan of this signing in the summer and got slated for it. It is very reminiscent of the time Chelsea signed Ruud Gullit. You can still see his class from time to time but gets found out more often than not

Definitely agree with the first part. I was absolutely delighted when we signed him, but I was also slightly curious as to why Bayern were allowing a club legend who had often been a key player leave for such a minimal fee, when he was still only hitting his 30's. I get the argument that the club were allowing him to do his own thing because of all his service, but it was surely a tad telling for most people that they seemed perfectly happy to let him go.

 

[LeChuck]

He's not being utilised correctly, and that's down to LvG. His best performances came when he's in the middle dictating play for Bayern or Germany. Not collecting the ball off Darmian by the touchline, or on the right touchline. He deviates from the middle too much.

 

[Raees]

Let's be honest the warning signs of his downfall were the fact that Bayern let him leave so easily and for so cheap

We signed a spent force even though he is still a decent player

Sadly I would be looking to replace him already next summer

I was not a huge fan of this signing in the summer and got slated for it. It is very reminiscent of the time Chelsea signed Ruud Gullit. You can still see his class from time to time but gets found out more often than not

Doesn't it say everything about the current status of Bayern and United..

Their star midfielder and club legend wins the world cup and a year later they're prepared to ship him our for peanuts for the good of the club and we have a supposed club legend who flops at the World cup, is clearly past his best.. SAF doesn't rate him and = whom we make captain and hand him a 5 year contract.

We're worlds away from them in terms of our footballing IQ (in regards to running a successful club) at the moment.

 

[do.ob]

When I read English speaking forums I always see stuff like "we just need that one player and we'll be good" "[proven] player x is rubbish / average / a coward" "[proven] player x is a fraud" "x contributes nothing". Modern football doesn't work like that, players very rarely dominate teams on their own. When the offense is as lethargic and dysfunctional as United's the problem isn't that one of the CMs doesn't rampage through midfield.
Schweinsteiger looked a lot better at Bayern because they are/were a functioning team where players had a great positional understanding/movement to open up spaces and opportunities for passes. United often look like the opposite of that so it's no surprise that pretty much every single player is looking worse than back when he was playing in a functioning team.
If you look at recent examples you could read almost the same about Evra and Kagawa and now they seem to do quite well for better teams.

 

[Classical Mechanic]

Reminds me of a midfield Wayne Rooney. Can't trap a bag of sand at times and resembles a bulldozer.

 

[Blackwidow]

That doesn't mean Schweinsteiger has been great for us since joining. He's been average and given us some stability, but he hasn't be close to world class for us. Granted some of it is due to the entire team not performing well, but he commits basic errors that shouldn't happen to a player of his caliber.

He is blamed for things that he never is or was here. That is the problem. I think some here need a life. Schweinsteiger is not the reason for the series right now - he just played in one of the last matches and was not the recent 3 before. And the match yesterday with him was good and looked a lot better than the 3 before - and with this I do not even want to judge his own performance. Yes, it was not won - but let just one of the chances be in the goal (and it was just about milimetres) the whole talk in this forum is totally different...

Some her just need to have a scapegoat.

Schweinsteiger right now is in a good form - better than ever since that night in Brazil and in the whole time between the CL final in London 2013 and Brazil. But some seem to see things in him he never was or has been.

For me your match yesterday - I have not seen everything but about 50 % as I was jumping from one thing to another yesterday - looked a lot better than the recent weeks. It had again structure and you saw LvGs handwriting and not the I-do-not-know-what-to-do-as-I-am-so-full-of-fear-match of the recent weeks. And even if no United goal was scored - there was one really big positive - the opponent did not either. In the worst times of Bayern in the recent 6 years - not even with van Gaal but then with Heynckes in his first year - not scoring a goal in the first 60 minutes usually meant that the opponent will score and we for sure will not be able to make a comeback no matter what will happen - and it needed a long time to get this pattern out of the team. It was an early goal and highscoring - or total failure. (I know that a lot of people and especially Bayern fans seem to have forgotten that. It is always good to remember this matches.)

You have something to built on (and that is what I doubted when I looked at parts of the last matches before yesterday).

 

[Sweet Square]

He is blamed for things that he never is or was here. That is the problem. I think some here need a life. Schweinsteiger is not the reason for the series right now - he just played in one of the last matches and was not the recent 3 before. And the match yesterday with him was good and looked a lot better than the 3 before - and with this I do not even want to judge his own performance. Yes, it was not won - but let just one of the chances be in the goal (and it was just about milimetres) the whole talk in this forum is totally different...

Some her just need to have a scapegoat.

Schweinsteiger right now is in a good form - better than ever since that night in Brazil and in the whole time between the CL final in London 2013 and Brazil. But some seem to see things in him he never was or has been.

For me your match yesterday - I have not seen everything but about 50 % as I was jumping from one thing to another yesterday - looked a lot better than the recent weeks. It had again structure and you saw LvGs handwriting and not the I-do-not-know-what-to-do-as-I-am-so-full-of-fear-match of the recent weeks. And even if no United goal was scored - there was one really big positive - the opponent did not either. In the worst times of Bayern in the recent 6 years - not even with van Gaal but then with Heynckes in his first year - not scoring a goal in the first 60 minutes usually meant that the opponent will score and we for sure will not be able to make a comeback no matter what will happen - and it needed a long time to get this pattern out of the team. It was an early goal and highscoring - or total failure.

You have something to built on (and that is what I doubted when I looked at parts of the last matches).

Spot on.

 

[DWelbz19]

Schweinsteiger has not been in 'good form'. If this is the best he's been since 2013 then we've been had.

 

[DWelbz19]

Spot on.

It's not spot on at all. He's praising Bastian for adding solidarity against a side who are 16th in the league and were playing with no striker. They had the biggest chance of the match. And Terry's header was probably joint second with Herrera's. We were better than we have been, but it was almost a given considering how Chelsea set up. There's no foundation that can be built on. It's another false dawn- if you can even call a 0-0 against one of the worst sides in the league that.

 

[Zoo]

I think he played pretty well but tired badly in the second half and should have been subbed. What on earth is going on with his conditioning.

 

[Blackwidow]

It's not spot on at all. He's praising Bastian for adding solidarity against a side who are 16th in the league and were playing with no striker. They had the biggest chance of the match. And Terry's header was probably joint second with Herrera's. We were better than we have been, but it was almost a given considering how Chelsea set up. There's no foundation that can be built on. It's another false dawn- if you can even call a 0-0 against one of the worst sides in the league that.

Maybe you should be as critical to all players...

 

[DWelbz19]

Maybe you should be as critical to all players...

I'm more critical to the ones I expect things of. For instance, I'm one of the few after the game who commented on Smalling's relatively poor game, because I expect a higher standard of him. Most of the side I expect very little from. A player of Basti's stature must show more.

 

[Balu]

In the worst times of Bayern in the recent 6 years - not even with van Gaal but then with Heynckes in his first year - not scoring a goal in the first 60 minutes usually meant that the opponent will score and we for sure will not be able to make a comeback no matter what will happen - and it needed a long time to get this pattern out of the team. It was an early goal and highscoring - or total failure. (I know that a lot of people and especially Bayern fans seem to have forgotten that. It is always good to remember this matches.)

That doesn't make any sense in a thread about Schweinsteiger. We pretty much walked the league easily at the beginning of Heynckes' first season until Schweinsteiger got injured in the game against Napoli and Heynckes had to reorganise the whole side.

We were already playing better than we ever did under van Gaal, were top of the league, 5 points ahead of Dortmund with 30 goals scored and only 3 conceded after 11 games and dominated the CL group with City and Napoli. Then Schweini wasn't available, we quickly lost against Mainz and Dortmund in the league and the problems became more and more obvious. Schweinsteiger never fully recovered that season after an ankle injury soon after he returned again forced him to sit out for a 6-7 weeks. Once he finally returned for good in late March, we had fallen behind Dortmund and couldn't catch up anymore and the matches against Real showed that Schweinsteiger wasn't fit enough yet to lead the team. Luckily Kroos stepped up big time in the CL semifinal or else we wouldn't have reached the final.

 

[Sweet Square]

It's not spot on at all. He's praising Bastian for adding solidarity against a side who are 16th in the league and were playing with no striker. They had the biggest chance of the match. And Terry's header was probably joint second with Herrera's. We were better than we have been, but it was almost a given considering how Chelsea set up. There's no foundation that can be built on. It's another false dawn- if you can even call a 0-0 against one of the worst sides in the league that.

Oh stop.

Chelsea have shown over the last 10 years that with or without a manager they can perform to certain level when it comes to playing the big teams. We played well yesterday but the goal never came, it happens.

 

[Cheesy]

In regards to previous comments, I don't think he's really been getting used as a 'scapegoat' at all. People are just highlighting the fact that he's often not offered us a lot in midfield, looks a shadow of the player he once was, and hasn't been overly exciting or adventurous in his passing.

That's not scapegoating him. That's just making perfectly valid criticisms. I see it in the Fellaini thread a lot as well, as a defence whenever he's horrendously out of position in midfield, or has an all-round terrible game, and people highlight it. If a player is being scapegoated, then he's generally being singled out for criticism above all other players, whose flaws are thus being ignored. That's not the case for us, since players like Rooney, Depay, Darmian, Fellaini and others have probably (and rightfully) come in for a lot more criticism than Schweinsteiger.

 

[Blackwidow]

That doesn't make any sense in a thread about Schweinsteiger. We pretty much walked the league easily at the beginning of Heynckes' first season until Schweinsteiger got injured in the game against Napoli and Heynckes had to reorganise the whole side.

We were already playing better than we ever did under van Gaal, were top of the league, 5 points ahead of Dortmund with 30 goals scored and only 3 conceded after 11 games and dominated the CL group with City and Napoli. Then Schweini wasn't available, we quickly lost against Mainz and Dortmund in the league and the problems became more and more obvious. Schweinsteiger never fully recovered that season after an ankle injury soon after he returned again forced him to sit out for a 6-7 weeks. Once he finally returned for good in late March, we had fallen behind Dortmund and couldn't catch up anymore and the matches against Real showed that Schweinsteiger wasn't fit enough yet to lead the team. Luckily Kroos stepped up big time in the CL semifinal or else we wouldn't have reached the final.

That is something that does not have anything to do with Schweinsteiger even if I mentioned it in his thread... - do not mix things. I will tell you later what I meant with that as I just have too leave house now.

 

[Cheesy]

Oh stop.

Chelsea have shown over the last 10 years that with or without a manager they can perform to certain level when it comes to playing the big teams. We played well yesterday but the goal never came, it happens.

It's fine when it happens on occasion...not when it's happening week in/week out, and seems to be turning into a regular staple of our season...when we're not getting beaten, that is.

We played some decent stuff at times yesterday, and probably should've won. Problem is though, that's not really good enough at the moment. The Chelsea side we were up against look dreadful right now, and seemed relatively content with a draw in the latter stages of the game to an extent.

It's up to players like Schweinsteiger to offer an incisive contribution which helps us to score goals and win games. It's not really overly impressive for him to be alright against a dire Chelsea side. Granted though, he's far from the worst of our problems, because whereas I think Schweinsteiger's mostly only been alright, with some good games and poor ones, we've got other players who have been actively terrible throughout the season. Schweinsteiger definitely does need to step up his game, though.

 

[pocco]

I still think he's one of the prime culprits for slowing down our play. He wants forever on the ball. You could see that Chelsea were inviting our defenders to give the ball to Schweinsteiger before they swarmed him to start counter attacks. Other teams are recognising his weaknesses now.

 

[Kasper]

He is blamed for things that he never is or was here. That is the problem. I think some here need a life. Schweinsteiger is not the reason for the series right now - he just played in one of the last matches and was not the recent 3 before. And the match yesterday with him was good and looked a lot better than the 3 before - and with this I do not even want to judge his own performance. Yes, it was not won - but let just one of the chances be in the goal (and it was just about milimetres) the whole talk in this forum is totally different...

Some her just need to have a scapegoat.

He isn't scapegoated at all on here, wtf are you reading? You should check the other player performance threads, most get slaughtered and criticized way more. The fact that it is your beloved Schweinsteiger who noone should dare to criticize that gave you this conclusion.

I think most agree that United are definitely more solid and the game is better structured when he's playing. The good defensive record has at the beginning of the season had a lot to do with the partnership of Schneiderlin-Schweinsteiger.
But on the other hand - and most probably agree with that as well - he hasn't really lived up to his expectations either. While some has to do with the way Van Gaal wants his team to play (I actually think playing a CM in VGs setup is a horrible task, especially with some of the players around), some is also down to Schweinsteiger simply playing below his level as well right now.
No need to write him of but now need to be happy about his performances as well either.

 

[Balu]

That is something that does not have anything to do with Schweinsteiger even if I mentioned it in his thread... - do not mix things. I will tell you later what I meant with that as I just have too leave house now.

But our problems in Heynckes' first season were 100% related to Schweinsteiger getting injured? It totally hurt our balance in the team, Kroos had to play deeper, because neither Tymo nor Gustavo could offer enough in the build-up from deep and we again had the massive disconnection between attack and defense that caused us so many problems under van Gaal.

It's not surprising that Schweinsteiger can't play on that level anymore and to me it looks as if he's trying to do it or van Gaal asks him to do it, instead of adjusting his role in a way that suits his physical condition today. I wouldn't read too much in a game against a Chelsea side that's even more flawed than United. I agree that Schweinsteiger gives a lot structure to the team that's clearly missing without him. But that doesn't change the fact that he's still underwhelming, far from performing great.

You have something to built on (and that is what I doubted when I looked at parts of the last matches before yesterday).

This I disagree with for these reasons. The midfield set-up is still flawed, because if it depends on an ageing and often underwhelming player who looks clearly past his peak, especially physically, to have at least a bit of structure against an opponent in awful form, then that's a problem and certainly nothing to build on.

 

[Speak]

He needs replacing in the first team.

 

[TheRedDevil'sAdvocate]

He's a good player and a true leader on the pitch, there's no denying that. The problem is that we need a different kind of midfielder to make our midfield a bit more functional. In that sense, we made the same 'mistake' when we signed Di Maria. Angel had the best season of his entire career in Madrid when he had the role of the wing man to the other star players Real had up front. We broke the bank and expected him to become the focal point in our attacking plays which is something he's not comfortable with. Now he's at PSG and he's providing a shitload of assists and through balls for all the quality players who consist PSG's attacking force.

Same thing with Bastian. What we truly need in our midfield is a b2b midfielder with ball carrying and play making abilities, someone like Modric. A player who would link the midfield with offense and become the 'extra man' on both sides of the pitch. The days when Schweinsteiger could do that at top level are behind him. We saw it in the WC that he can still offer some world class performances in a deeper role, more like a holding midfielder. That's why Pep let him go, he would have to bench him a lot because at Bayern the role of the more creative midfielder is reserved for Alcantara and Alonso is the first choice holding player (with Martinez also back from injury).

In 2015 Schweinsteiger is much 'heavier' player on the pitch, less mobile and aggressive, a player who needs more time on the ball than usual and therefore a liability when given instructions to influence the play from more advanced positions. We saw that against Barca last season and we've seen it during his time at OT too with yesterday's game being a fine example.

When he's playing next to Carrick, it's like having two players occupying the same spaces and trying the same things. When he's playing alongside Scheneiderlin, Morgan operates as a defensive midfielder in our half and leaves all the play making to Bastian. Herrera could be utilized there but LvG doesn't trust his passing and positioning in deeper areas (one of the things the manager actually has a point) plus Ander's a pass n' move player more than a ball carrier or a deep lying play maker. The 'Fellaini experiment' is one of the reasons we haven't won a single match all this time and we have lost the defensive stability we had.

Bastian can give us two more quality seasons as a holding player now that Carrick's probably retiring but we need to sort out the rest of the midfield in order to put his abilities and leadership skills to good use.