Shinji Kagawa: Samurai Or Sidekick

Shinji Kagawa has divided United supporters like few before him. While some are his staunchest defenders and consider his every touch of the football as manna from heaven, others consider him so poor in performance that nothing will please them more than to see him being offloaded in the next possible transfer window.

Shinji Kagawa completed his high-profile transfer from Borussia Dortmund to Manchester United in the summer of 2012. Since then hisAi??first-team action, or the lack of it, has been a sore point for not only him but also his supporters, including previous manager Juergen Klopp. Klopp was famously quoted as saying ‘My heart breaks. Really, there are tears in my eyes‘ with reference to the utilization of Kagawa part-time on the left wing.

Sir Alex was convinced that this was the best position for the Japanese play-maker. It is unclear, however, whether it was due to something he saw in the player or because Wayne Rooney was operating in a deeper role that prevented Kagawa from playing his favoured position in the hole behind the striker.

Moyes’ regime did not do much in the way of this situation as Kagawa continues to spend extended periods on the sidelines, sometimes not even making the match-day squad. Clearly Kagawa is not so mediocre a player who would struggle to even get on to the bench let alone the playing 11 for every match. This is even more striking when we consider the abject performances that the United midfield has been turning out match after match. Extended injury periods have not helped Kagawa’s cause either and overall it has been a dreary 18 months at Old Trafford for the Japanese International.

In the match against Swansea, with Rooney unavailable due to injury, and most of the midfield still under-firing or injured, Moyes was practically forced to play Kagawa. Young sensation Januzaj claimed Rooney’s position for himself and Kagawa was again played in the left wing where he was largely ineffective. As the teams went into half-time goalless, Moyes tried to shuffle things around. The United dugout had obviously noticed the problems Evra was causing to Angel Rangel down the left flank and to add more bite in this wing, Moyes shifted Januzaj into the left flank.

This meant that Kagawa swapped into Januzaj’s central role. The change had its desired effect as Januzaj immediately created all sorts of problems for the wing-back and two minutes into the second half Rangel failed to stay with his man allowing Januzaj to cross into the box for Valencia to open the score for Manchester United. At the hour mark Januzaj’s interception from a loose clearance by Tremmel lead up to United’s second goal. Januzaj was clearly the star of the evening. However, a fact that many United fans may have missed was Kagawa’s contribution in the second half. Since the cameras follow the action (read ball), Kagawa’s off-the-ball play was largely unseen but the statistics and heat maps bear witness to the sea change in the player’s performance over the two halves. In the first half, Kagawa attempted 15 passes completing 12 of them. In the second half, he attempted more than double that number, completing 28 of the attempted 31 passes.

Kagawa - Heat Maps vs Swansea — Kagawa – Heat Maps vs Swansea

His heat maps for the two halves are also starkly different. While the first half heat map shows him restricted to sporadic bursts in the left flank, in the second half Kagawa was all over the Swansea half, even making runs into the final third, something that was missing in the first half. This gave United an extra addition in their attacks and the Swansea defense an additional headache.

Kagawa - Action Areas vs Swansea — Kagawa – Action Areas vs Swansea

The following action area charts highlight the marked increase in his activity in the final third. Considering that he spent almost a third of his time in central midfield in both the halves, it also means that he tends to cut in into a central position more often rather than staying on the flanks and providing width to the attack. Januzaj, in the second half, often stayed at the touchline thus drawing defenders to himself and affording the United players in the box more space to create scoring opportunities.

This performance by Kagawa was in no way a spectacular one. Januzaj was clearly the best player of the evening. At best we would be judging Kagawa on one good half of football. What the performance does however do is shed some light on what Sir Alex had seen in him in the first place to bring him to Old Trafford.

It gives a beleaguered Moyes a midfield option that could be utilized, especially in the absence of Wayne Rooney. Kagawa still has a decent work rate especially off-the-ball and he still loves playing football in central midfield. He is young enough to put the last two years behind him and still have many good years at the Theater of Dreams. He can be used as the perfect rotational foil for Wayne Rooney as well. While the Rooney-RVP pairing up front is clearly the best United currently have, a partnership is developing between Januzaj, Welbeck and Kagawa now. The three almost instinctively know where the other is and have had some exciting snippets of action in the last few games with the aforementioned big guns out injured.

Like the United teams of yore managed by Matt Busby and Alex Ferguson, it may be time for Moyes to put his trust in the younger squad members and start building his own team from there. Januzaj, Welbeck and Kagawa most certainly have the potential to form the core of this young squad along with other bright stars like Jones and David de Gea.

Shinji Kagawa: Samurai Or Sidekick

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