Shinji Kagawa-future uncertain: the debate continues

Shinji Kagawa has found opportunities limited with Wayne Rooney taking the playmaker’s role

In 2010, this player began his meteoric rise in the Borussia Dortmund ranks, where he cemented his place as a prolific attacking midfielder. His touch, his vision and his goal scoring appetite was there for the whole world to behold. Winning the player of the year over the likes of Ribery and Schweinsteiger set him on course to the theatre of dreams, snubbing an offer from the Spanish giants Real Madrid on the way. Everything was set in place for the diminutive Japanese to provide service for the likes of Wayne Rooney and Javier Hernandez. Then came the EPL title changing short sighted transfer of Van Persie who turned around the EPL title equilibrium just by becoming a Red Devil. With both Rooney and Van Persie in the same team, Kagawa got the short end of the stick, which was certainly not helped by the recurrent injuries that he suffered in his maiden season.

May 2013 – the legend of Manchester United finally retired passing on the reign to fellow Scotsman David Moyes, the then Everton manager. With him at the helm, Kagawa’s already diminished role became peripheral at most. It was only in the later months that he began to slot into the left wing more and more. His performance got more consistent and Moyes even acknowledged his presence. And finally comes his latest performances where he was handed some game time as a No. 10. After a great cameo on the German soil, he was totally ineffective against Tottenham, so much so that he was soon shunted to the left wing to allow Rooney into CAM position. With the winter transfer window opening soon, question marks have begun popping up about Shinji Kagawa’s future.

To answer this question let’s analyse his performances in 3 particular matches that would bring out different facets of his gameplay in conjugation with David Moyes’ system.

The Kagawa-Evra combo works maximizes Evra’s involvement in the play

Manchester United v/s Arsenal

Kagawa was played on the left wing, as he is used to playing, with both Rooney and Van Persie in the team. He played in close coordination with Evra not unlike the pair of Pienaar and Baines from Everton. Phil Jones and Michael Carrick played in the deep midfield with Wayne Rooney linking up play with Van Persie. Essentially, it was a winger based approach with the United midfield dropping deep to cancel out the talented Arsenal midfield. Kagawa is certainly not the kind of player who can take on his player 1-on-1 and has to depend on Evra to create 2-on-1 situations.

Rooney overlaps into the left wing ahead of Kagawa.

Even more interesting is the concentration of Rooney’s play from the left wing to provide the final crosses from the left. In synchronism with Kagawa and Evra, it becomes a potent combination.

Bayer Leverkusen v/s Manchester United

This was the first time that Kagawa was handed the No. 10 role from the start of the match. He produced a good display of a modern day trequartista linking up play from the midfield.

Kagawa plays more from the centre compared to Rooney who stays higher up the pitch

Notice his concentration of action in comparison to Rooney from the Arsenal match. In comparison to Rooney, Kagawa is a player who works better by making 1-2s and quick passes. The presence of Ryan Giggs in the midfield certainly helped him as the 40-year old legend took on the role of a creative midfielder and had a perfect understanding of Kagawa’s intentions.

Tottenham Hotspurs v/s Manchester United

The above pic shows the 40 minute period during which Kagawa played as CAM. Notice the lack of any penetrating passes.

Having played very well in the last match, Kagawa got another run at the No. 10 role with Rooney playing as the forward yet again. This time around he was completely anonymous without making any attacking pass at all. Compared to Leverkusen, Tottenham played a much higher line. What this meant was that the space between the defence and midfield, that Kagawa tends to exploit, was non-existent. Add in the physical superiority of the Tottenham midfield and Kagawa had to drop deep to collect passes but never was he able to carry the ball higher up the pitch. His situation was worsened by the lack of mobility of Tom Cleverly who was the complete opposite of how well Giggs played in his role last match. The result was that Kagawa was soon shunted to the left where he remained a mere passive supporter for Evra and Rooney.

Wayne Rooney v/s Shinji Kagawa

Ever since David Moyes took charge, Rooney has become the primary figure surpassing even the brief one year of Van Persie’s popularity. He has been scoring, providing assists, controlling the attack, making the pinpoint passes, basically everything individually. In David Moyes’ system the two midfielders actually sit deep and the CAM becomes a more individual player. He has to take on the opposition defenders himself and hold the ball up. With United having one of the highest number of clearances both in the Champions league as well as Premier League, the CAM has to win quite a few aerial duels, where Rooney excels. Wayne Rooney in other words is the ideal No. 10 for David Moyes.

Compared to Rooney, Kagawa is physically as well as aerially inferior. The one suite of the game where he is exceedingly strong is his intelligence of movement and clever gameplay. He needs players who can link up play with him by positioning themselves dynamically, something that is completely absent in the current system. When Valencia passes the ball to Kagawa, the Ecuadorian would never come inside to ask for a return let alone play complicated one touch passes. For all intents and purposes Kagawa will be a left winger as long as Rooney and Van Persie play together.

Verdict

With a complete lack of creative ball carrying midfielders, Kagawa would never play well in the No. 10. People have begun to say that his Dortmund days were a mirage, but how can the title of the best player of Bundesliga be a mirage, when he must have consistently performed well for a whole season to get that. With the current manager extolling a player who is individually superior, Kagawa will remain a left winger playing a role much like Steven Pienaar. He may get the game time from that position but he will never be able to capitalise on his own strengths. Already, his morale would be at an all-time low and his bad touches and delay in passes are straight consequences of that. Being a Red Devil supporter it pains me to say this but, for his own sake, the time is right to seek a transfer to another club.