Manchester United’s Bastian Schweinsteiger tops the team in a key area with his performances in the Champions League.
Manchester United’s Champions League form is certainly reason for concern, but with one game to go and qualification in their own hands there is no reason to panic yet.
One player who has been criticised lately is German international Bastian Schweinsteiger, who was singled out by former Red Devils star Paul Scholes.
The United hero felt Schweinsteiger should be offering more in attack, quoted by the Manchester Evening News: “You expect more from Schweinsteiger, a player who’s won the World Cup and the Champions League.
“The biggest art as a midfield player is to find space, not in your back four or left-back position, in the centre of the park where it’s most congested, and contribute to your forward players.
“There are too many passes before getting into the final third, which is why the forwards like Wayne Rooney have struggled. They don’t get the service.”
Expectations on the 31-year-old may simply be too high, for in the Champions League this season Schweinsteiger proves Scholes wrong.
He has made more successful passes in the final third than any United player in the competition, nearly double the amount from captain Wayne Rooney.
| Team | Successful Final Third Passes | |
|---|---|---|
| Bastian Schweinsteiger | Man Utd | 85 |
| Juan Mata | Man Utd | 71 |
| Jesse Lingard | Man Utd | 59 |
| Memphis Depay | Man Utd | 56 |
| Morgan Schneiderlin | Man Utd | 52 |
| Marcos Rojo | Man Utd | 50 |
| Ander Herrera | Man Utd | 49 |
| Wayne Rooney | Man Utd | 44 |
| Anthony Martial | Man Utd | 40 |
In comparison to the rest of the competition, Schweinsteiger ranks 18th overall, with players from Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea all above him – while Mathieu Valbuena of Lyon is most prolific with 166.
United’s failure to get a player without 100 final third passes speaks volumes about their form this season being less than dynamic, and Wayne Rooney’s 44 compared to Neymar’s 134 is an embarrassingly low amount.
What Schweinsteiger lacks, and needs in order to get more credit coming his way is to impact games even more by scoring or providing assists, but he also needs more help from those around him, for at 31 he is unable to do it all by himself.
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