How Manchester United’s £17m enigma gave Moyes food for thought vs Swansea

There are divisive players and there are divisive players. Shinji Kagawa, it would seem, belongs firmly in the latter category, the Japanese playmaker still inciting furious arguments among Manchester United fans 18 months into his Old Trafford career.

To his defenders, he is a natural technician, a creator and scorer of chances who would light up the Premier League if only he was granted a regular berth in the much-vaunted no.10 role. His time at Dortmund proved beyond doubt his status as an elite-level performer, and he is being unappreciated, wasted, by the United coaches in the same way that Juan Veron, another silk-booted underwhelmist, was, over a decade ago.

His detractors counter that no player should require their entire team to be built around them simply to be able to affect games, and that similarly non-physical technicians like Juan Mata and David Silva have flourished in the Premier League despite being shunted out wide and being forced to weave their magic from the flanks. Kagawa’s failings, they argue, are a product of character as much as they are of tactics or technique.

Is has become a circular argument, of which no party has emerged as convincingly right or wrong. There can be little doubt, though, that Kagawa possess genuine talent, genuine pedigree, and David Moyes, in his current predicament, could do with the midfielder showing glimpses of his better form.

On Saturday, as the visit of Swansea ended the club’s string of defeats since the start of the year, Kagawa displayed such glimpses. His display wasn’t one of game-changing brilliance or even one of steady, screw-turning control – indeed, he was thoroughly overshadowed in both these senses by fellow support-attacker Adnan Januzaj – but it caught the eye nonetheless.

Shinji Kagawa First Half Heat Map vs Swansea

Moyes’ tactics against Swansea suited Kagawa . In the absence of his two top-billing strikers, the Scot setting his side up in four bands, in a 4-2-3-1 formation, as opposed to the usual three (and a 4-4-2). Kagawa began the game on the left-hand side of Danny Welbeck’s supporting trio and his effect on the game was familiarly minimal, offering little in the way of incisive ball-playing and unable to muster an attempt at goal in a first half in which United exerted general dominance but lacked any real cutting edge.

After the interval, though, Moyes sent Kagawa out in his preferred position, the Japan international switching places with Januzaj, who was shifted from the centre to the flank, presumably to exploit the perceived (and very real) weakness of Angel Rangel at full-back.

Shinji Kagawa Heat Map vs Swansea (Second Half)

At this point, Kagawa’s general involvement soared. The number of passes he made doubled (moving from 15 to 31) and he did his best to halt his side’s sterility, his passes not exactly splitting the opposition defence but certainly prompting intelligence in United’s attacking moves.

Shinji Kagawa Second Half Passes vs Swansea (90% Pass Success)This screenshot was taken from the Squawka Football App – Download it here

It was far from a performance to silence all his critics – indeed, it was only, essentially, half a performance – but it nonetheless showed hints of promise. It should have been rewarded with a goal at the game’s death – and such a reward would not have been unjust – only for Leon Britton hurtle back to his own goal-line to intercept Kagawa’s goal-bound prod.

The point is, though, that his quality was on show in a way that hadn’t been the case in recent weeks – if only in the second half. It was far from comprehensive, far from decisive, but it was enough to at least ensure that The Great Shinji Kagawa Debate will rumble steadily on.

Overrated, gutless lightweight, or undervalued, oppressed genius? The truth, as it tends to do, probably lies somewhere in between, but you wouldn’t know it from listening to those on each side. Saturday’s showing – easily contained in the first half; elegant, rhythmic and yet lacking tangible product in thereafter – gave just enough evidence on both sides for each party to convince themselves that they are most definitely right. And that, if nothing else, takes some doing.