[Still ill]

Morgan looked like a big fish in a small pond tonight. Could not cope with the pressure of needing to win at this level. The moment where he dawdled with two players open to receive passes, which led to him losing the ball and us conceding a dangerous free kick, typified his night. It was like having an average centre back in midfield.

Small fish. Big pond. Otherwise, yep, agreed.

 

[saivet]

Poor game. No where near as concerned as some in here, should still be in the starting xi alongside Schweini imo

 

[fallengt]

His performance in the cL has been average so far.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Disappointing tonight. He's never played CL football before and it showed. Just needs to start playing with a bit more belief. He'll improve. Give him time.

 

[Sied]

He looked a lot worse once Schweinsteiger went off imo.

 

[El Zoido]

He's been fine this season overall. He had a poor game tonight but that's okay. The CL experience and playing alongside Bastian will do him wonders in the long run.

 

[Devil may care]

Poor tonight, he doesn't offer a lot on the ball as it is but he looked flustered defensively as well.

 

[Kag]

He really struggled tonight.

But it was his first match at this level and I'm willing to let it slide somewhat due to nerves. I expect he'll improve. He seems like the type.

 

[Kag]

The 'not showing for the ball' rhetoric doesn't ring true at all, mind you. He was offering for Smalling a lot more than Schweinsteiger was, albeit I acknowledge the latter plays more to the left.

With Rooney resembling more of a rounded ornament it makes the midfield's job that little bit harder.

 

[Attila]

I hope he doesn't have the Southampton curse as well

 

[Floyd]

Owen Hargreavesesque.

And he wasn't even good defensively. His involvement was awful at their goal.

 

[izec]

I hope he doesn't have the Southampton curse as well

Which curse? Shaw was/is magnificent.

 

[Borys]

Overawed by the occasion?

He would benefit from having another midfielder making himself available for passes.

 

[Attila]

Which curse? Shaw was/is magnificent.

And he broke his leg....(I forgot about Shaw)

 

[PvsNP]

He's a Gattuso, or so I've always thought. Very solid and occasionally brilliant if he has a game controller playing besides him, leaving him to do all the donkey work, but ask him to play and he fell to pieces.

Early days though, he'll improve.

He shone in a box to box role last season at Southampton.

He'll probably need this season for settling in.

 

[Sir A1ex]

Owen Hargreavesesque.

What, injured? Owen was a decent player on the odd occasion he made it onto the pitch.

Anyway, MS has generally been decent too, but was shit today.

 

[goin4glory]

He shone in a box to box role last season at Southampton.

He'll probably need this season for settling in.

No he didn't he played a holding mf in a partnership with Wanyama and was never box to box, was highlight in the league for interceptions/tackles but with much less output going forward.

He made a number of good tackles/blocks/interceptions tonight which seem to go unnoticed. We are excellent in defensive and statistically allow the least amount of passes completed in their defensive zone by a substantially large margin in comparison to every other side in the premier league. It's no huge surprise that he comes along and Smalling/Blind look like a great partnership.

 

[izec]

And he broke his leg....(I forgot about Shaw)

Clyne is doing well fro Liverpool. Nothing to do with curse, shit happens and Schneiderlin needs time. The others were never good enough.

 

[PvsNP]

No he didn't he played a holding mf in a partnership with Wanyama and was never box to box, was highlight in the league for interceptions/tackles but with much less output going forward.

Are you sure? The times I saw him play last season, he definitely seemed more of a box to box midfielder.

 

[2mufc0]

He was OK thought he was going to get sent off. First time playing in the champions league so deserves some slack.

 

[Ayush_reddevil]

Julien Laurens (french journo) was on the game podcast this week and he talked about his chat with Morgan during the last international break where Morgan had told him that LVG was different to any other manager & how training sessions are full of giving a lot of information to players about minor things. So I think he will take some time

 

[Lu Tze]

Are you sure? The times I saw him play last season, he definitely seemed more of a box to box midfielder.

That is because he definitely was.

 

[Santiago_KinderBueno]

I think today for me was his best performance in a purely judgmental self improvement way.

Whenever ive seen him play; he has lacked passing ability and is the only player who slows the tempo of the ball down.

Today was different and he was a bit more confident with the ball and played some nice cross field passes.

 

[Santiago_KinderBueno]

IMO he isnt a box to box as much as makalele wasnt. Though this formation and tactics cant handle one player like makelele who waits for trouble.

 

[podurban2]

I think today for me was his best performance in a purely judgmental self improvement way.

Whenever ive seen him play; he has lacked passing ability and is the only player who slows the tempo of the ball down.

Today was different and he was a bit more confident with the ball and played some nice cross field passes.

He had some excellent cross field passes.

 

[Santiago_KinderBueno]

He had some excellent cross field passes.

Yep i kept thinkong it was schweinsteiger!

 

[goin4glory]

Are you sure? The times I saw him play last season, he definitely seemed more of a box to box midfielder.

That is because he definitely was.

No he wasn't. http://www.squawka.com/news/lovren-...-been-the-true-catalyst-for-southampton/26621

Go look on whoscored or Opta, he led the league in tackles and was number 1 or 2 in interceptions along with being all round excellent defensively. Take a look at his offensive work and how low the number of passes in final 3rd/key passes along with goals and assists. He was never a box to box midfielder.

 

[NoPace]

Are you sure? The times I saw him play last season, he definitely seemed more of a box to box midfielder.

It depended on the game and opponent. Koeman switched things around a fair bit everywhere. I saw games where MS held and others where he had a bit more license. Some games Wanyama was a DM and others he pressed aggressively. Sometimes they had a 3rd man helping them and other times the 10 was a striker who didn't do much.

 

[NoPace]

He's a Gattuso, or so I've always thought. Very solid and occasionally brilliant if he has a game controller playing besides him, leaving him to do all the donkey work, but ask him to play and he fell to pieces.

Early days though, he'll improve.

In some ways, disappointing as it may sound, MS may end up being a decent signing as a role player.

Gattuso played with Pirlo and Seedorf at his best. We have one player of that quality in Schweinsteiger (and Carrick filling in to keep him rested) and will need to find another. If we are aggressive in the transfer market and sign another top CM we will have Schneiderlin to spell 2 top CMs, at times play together and otherwise gets lots of playing time and hurting our passing but improving our energy and work rate.

Assuming we progress well and play 58 games (38 + 12CL + 8 Cup) a year, that's 116 starts. 40 for Schweinsteiger (coming off Euros, too), 30 for Schneiderlin and 16 for Carrick next year would still leave 30 for one more CM adjusting in his first year and then another 16 for a full time season with Carrick presumably being in his final season in 16-17. Seems fine to me.

The question is if that's Herrera or if that's a new player.

 

[CG1010]

Atleast he seems to be self-aware unlike our captain:

“Yeah it was a big game and a game where I and we can improve. It was a big game against a big team from Europe and we are very happy to play in this stage of football and we want to go through to keep our dream alive. We want to see how far we can go. If we can keep this team spirit and if we keep improving like we have done since the start of the season, then why not?”

 

[fatboy]

A tough night for him, but I'm hopeful he can make the step up.

 

[Lu Tze]

No he wasn't. http://www.squawka.com/news/lovren-...-been-the-true-catalyst-for-southampton/26621

Go look on whoscored or Opta, he led the league in tackles and was number 1 or 2 in interceptions along with being all round excellent defensively. Take a look at his offensive work and how low the number of passes in final 3rd/key passes along with goals and assists. He was never a box to box midfielder.

That's a pretty reductive way to look at things. He was definitely excellent defensively, but that doesn't mean he was not a B2B player. Of the two Southampton midfielders he had more of a license to operate forwards - just google Schneiderlin Box to Box and you'll come across loads of articles noting his transition from a DM to a box to box player in his final year at Soton. He had 4 goals and 1 key pass a game last year, which is quite a lot for a supposed pure DM.

 

[SATA]

Is he actually abit over-rated? I remember a lot here wanted the club to pay the money to get him here and sees him as a perfect number 6 before he even signed. So far he hasn't showed the qualities

 

[bucky]

Is he actually abit over-rated? I remember a lot here wanted the club to pay the money to get him here and sees him as a perfect number 6 before he even signed. So far he hasn't showed the qualities

Worth remembering where he's coming from and that he'll probably need more time to adapt. Playing for Southampton isn't the same thing as playing for United and Southampton's support rate him more highly than most people on here probably do. He has improved throughout his career at different levels and recently he's said that he's still getting used to van Gaal philosophy. Not everyone is settling in like van Persie or Schweinsteiger and Schneiderlin isn't as talented as them, so he'll probably need longer. And he has shown some of his qualities, but he should be doing better in possession.

 

[Ekeke]

Is he actually abit over-rated? I remember a lot here wanted the club to pay the money to get him here and sees him as a perfect number 6 before he even signed. So far he hasn't showed the qualities

I thought he did in his first game but since then he hasnt looked like he's settled properly yet. It might take a little time to get a proper understanding with one of his partners in midfield, and he seems to have a different one each time which might be delaying things as well. But he can definitely do more than he's shown so far. At the moment he's winning the ball plenty (the most of all our players) but just moving the ball fairly averagely. When he really gets going he will show more on the ball and do a better job plugging the gaps

 

[ottosec]

Started well, but he was terrible towards the end. Probably should have been sent of too.

 

[Welsh Wonder]

There were too risky challenged toward the end that put my heart in mouth. The one on Draxler and a lunge in a similar position moments earlier - luckily their lad had played the ball and moved because if he'd caught him he'd have been off.

 

[goin4glory]

That's a pretty reductive way to look at things. He was definitely excellent defensively, but that doesn't mean he was not a B2B player. Of the two Southampton midfielders he had more of a license to operate forwards - just google Schneiderlin Box to Box and you'll come across loads of articles noting his transition from a DM to a box to box player in his final year at Soton. He had 4 goals and 1 key pass a game last year, which is quite a lot for a supposed pure DM.

In last 3 years at Southampton he managed 9 goals and 2 assists and His stats on whoscored show less than 1 key pass per game in all of those years. His offensive numbers pale in comparison to his defensive output which was arguably best in the entire league. He never was or is a box to box CM.

 

[pseudo_canadian]

Off game for him yesterday, was facing the brunt of the pressure since we decided to sit incredibly deep for a majority of the second half. Schweinsteiger going off didn't help matters either.

But we all know the quality that he brings to the team, so it's nothing to get worried about in my opinion. He'll be causing Arsenal trouble on Sunday.

 

[Lu Tze]

In last 3 years at Southampton he managed 9 goals and 2 assists and His stats on whoscored show less than 1 key pass per game in all of those years. His offensive numbers pale in comparison to his defensive output which was arguably best in the entire league. He never was or is a box to box CM.

Stats aren't everything. Just because he didn't score 15 goals or rack up loads of assists doesn't mean he was not a box to box player. Of the Wanyama-Schneiderlin pairing he was the one with significantly more license to go forward and his transition to a box to box player was repeatedly noted throughout his final year at Southampton.

A limited selection of articles that mention Schneiderlin as a B2B player.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...anchester-Uniteds-most-important-signing.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...on-midfielder-pushing-for-a-move-9643136.html

http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2014/05/1...n-schneiderlin-may-be-ready-to-leave-southam/