You might be thinking to yourself, how does one choose one over the other? With Michael Carrick being a Manchester United legend, a Premier League winner and an anchor to the side for so many seasons one can’t picture the United midfield without him. Then you have Bastian Schweinsteiger, the new arrival who he himself has achieved so much, a 13 season veteran of the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich in which he achieved eight Bundesliga titles and of course a World Cup winner with Germany in 2014. Let us just agree that they are both pretty good at what they do!
Its times like this where I feel for managers, especially Louis van Gaal given Manchester United’s depth, which, of course, is very helpful, can also be the root of some migraines and sleepless nights.
This season van Gaal and his coaching staff are left with the mind-boggling task of choosing between Carrick and Schweinsteiger for their starting eleven.
Michael Carrick is one of the most pivotal players in the Manchester United squad and up until this year looked irreplaceable. Last season Carrick’s season ending injury looked to have United crumbling in both defence and attack. Even with Daley Blind putting in amazing efforts averaging 3.4 interceptions and successfully completing 2.5 tackles per game, the presence of Michael Carrick was missed, and this was evident with the results after his injury.
These included a loss to Chelsea, a 3-0 battering by Everton and an embarrassing 1-0 loss to West Brom at home.
Carrick has an ability to read the game and visualise plays and runs before the opposition can even start thinking about defending even they seem to know what is coming at them. It’s an uncanny skill that not even the Mythbusters would be able to provide the answers to. Manchester United had a 72% win ratio with Michael Carrick and a miserable 35% win ratio without him, in the 14/15 season.
Carrick made 18 total appearances for Manchester United in the 14/15 season, creating 8 chances and with a 90% average passing accuracy.
Bastian Schweinsteiger isn’t too shy of the midfield either.
His last season at Bayern Munich had a rough start with Bastian not making an appearance for Bayern until late November, however despite the late start to the season he was able to make 20 appearances and netted in 5 goals. He had a 88% average passing accuracy and a 44% win ratio of duels.
It is difficult to compare the two due to their injury-riddled seasons, however it is quite clear that are very similar in ability, despite being of different age and playing in different leagues. In my opinion the change of leagues for Bastian Schweinsteiger will have little effect on his performance, as long as all aspects of his game and personal life are sound.
Bastian recently spoke to MUTV revealing that he is “getting better and I hope I will be 100 per cent fit in the next week.” With this in mind Louis van Gaal may want to wait until he is fully fit to start him in a game. However, he proved he hadn’t lost his touch in his two previous outings with an 89% average passing accuracy so far. His level head and calmness was also amazing to witness as nothing seemed to worry him once he had the ball at his feet.
In my personal opinion however, disregarding fitness since we all know that these two footballers are amazing performers even during an injury surrounded season, I would at this current time prefer Michael Carrick over Bastian Schweinsteiger in the starting XI. I put this decision down to one main factor. Chemistry.
Michael Carrick has been part of the Manchester United team since 2006 and has built a strong relationship with every new player since, and this is obvious in his constant ability to provide goal scoring opportunities consistently since joining. I believe Bastian may need time to gel with the players around him, given his ability I don’t think this will take a long time, but in upcoming fixtures it could prove to be the difference between a win and a loss. Once Bastian has had time to build a relationship with fellow players on the pitch, Carrick’s position will be under fire, since Schweinsteiger is 3 years younger than Carrick.
The invaluable factor we must keep in mind is that Louis van Gaal knows both players very well, meaning he will be making the most judicious choice in starting either of them. So don’t take it from me. Who knows he could try and obliterate other teams by starting the both of them!
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