The imminent transfer of Kagawa to Manchester United has triggered this question in many a football fan's mind. Where will Kagawa play?
SHINJI KAGAWA
Shinji Kagawa, as many already know, played for Borussia Dortmund the past couple of seasons, arriving there at a measly 350,000 euros from the J-League team Cerezo Osaka and setting the Bundesliga on fire, becoming a fan favourite at Dortmund along the way.
His playing style was utilised well by the new blue eyed boy in the coaching world, Jürgen Klopp. A tricky player with a good eye for through balls and clever passes and also a good knack of scoring goals. He was correctly deployed at the position called by various names - second striker, attacking mid, "in the hole", or what I prefer - a media punta. His clever runs and positional interchanges with the attacking wide men who cut in more often to link up with him, his distribution to the attacking fullbacks were all taken advantage of. So were his weaknesses in defending covered by deploying 2 midfielders - Kehl and Sahin/Gündogan behind him. He was a perfect fit in the 4-2-3-1 formation of Borussia Dortmund.
Although my words here sound as though the Dortmund team was built around Kagawa, it couldn't be further from the truth. It just so happened that Jürgen Klopp assembled the right players to play his style and fielded the right formation where his players as well as his preferred playing style both fit in - and therein lies one of the major reasons why many, including yours truly, consider him to be a genius. And even now, when Kagawa leaves Dortmund, he has more than enough replacements - thanks to the rise of Kuba in the right wing position, which would allow Klopp to play Götze as the media punta. Then, there's also Marco Reus who has been signed from Borussia Monchengladbach who can fill in any of the attacking roles with ease. I daresay, if there's ever going to be a loser in this Kagawa to Manchester United deal, it will definitely not be Borussia Dortmund.
THE QUESTION
Now, coming to the question in hand, where will Kagawa play? As we all know, Sir Alex's favourite formation has been 4-4-2, with pacy/effective wingers and deadly striker(s) deployed. He has always played with this formation throughout his managerial career at United, except for the Cristiano Ronaldo days, where he rightly recognised the genius of Ronaldo and gave him a free rein in the attacking role. Even the present United team depends on service from wings, from the excellent Nani and Valencia, from the effective Giggs, tireless Park (though he has been woefully off colour of late) and the tricky Young. Their central midfielders' job are more of defence shielding, linking between attacking players and the defence, distribution to wide men. Chance creation through the centre has never been much of a forte of any United team (except for more than an occasional genius of Scholes), and the same holds true even today. In this traditional 4-4-2 formation, where exactly will Kagawa fit in?
Many say Kagawa would be taking up the central midfield role - he would be the successor of Paul Scholes. But, my concern is that Kagawa is not a central midfielder, the box to box midfielder that Scholes is - atleast not yet. Nor is he the kind of winger Nani and Valencia are. But given the 2 positions, I think Kagawa would make a better winger than a central mid. But then again, United are not short of options in that position for them to go out and buy somebody worth around 22 million euros as a backup.
You could expect United to change their formation to 4-2-3-1. They are very much capable of playing that way. But, in this case who will play the second striker role? One can argue that Rooney is more effective as a support striker than as a main striker. He has showed his prowess playing as a withdrawn sriker, and proved he is very much lethal in there. In this case, it obviously makes sense for Rooney to play in the second striker role, than Kagawa. Moreover, as seen throughout the season, Welbeck and Rooney work well together and it would not be a good idea to break up this blossoming, exciting partnership. Even in this formation, Kagawa does not find a place for himself.
MY OPINION
As has been opined and observed by many, and rightly so, the weakness of this United squad is their central midfield. Scholes is not getting any younger, and no player is even a quarter as good as him to fill in his boots. So, it makes sense to develop Kagawa as a central midfielder, rather than a winger or second striker. But, as pointed out earlier, he is not a natural box to box midfielder. He likes to operate further up the pitch, likes to get into the box, likes to be in a more attacking role. So, it could take time to develop him as a traditional central midfielder - and there's no guarantee that given that time, he would actually become good. There's considerable risk involved in this deal.
In my opinion, rather than Kagawa, if United had gone in for Wesley Sneijder, or even Christian Eriksen, they would have fit into their system more seamlessly. But, given the financial advantages that would follow signing up a Japanese player, probably this reason has been a major factor in this deal.
Nevertheless, personally, it has been a heartbreak seeing a player I admire going to a team I hate, but I've seen this all before (cue Alonso, Torres, Ozil) to affect my judgement much. But, it is really not good to see an up and coming, exciting player go to a team which does not fit his playing style. Then again, he could re-invent himself and do a Modric and be an instant hit in the new postition he would be played in, though I hope he doesn't. Hell, I hope he sticks with Borussia Dortmund for the rest of his life - surely Jurgen Klopp's project is too interesting a proposition to let go for an ill advised switch to a fancy team in EPL?
SHINJI KAGAWA
Shinji Kagawa, as many already know, played for Borussia Dortmund the past couple of seasons, arriving there at a measly 350,000 euros from the J-League team Cerezo Osaka and setting the Bundesliga on fire, becoming a fan favourite at Dortmund along the way.
His playing style was utilised well by the new blue eyed boy in the coaching world, Jürgen Klopp. A tricky player with a good eye for through balls and clever passes and also a good knack of scoring goals. He was correctly deployed at the position called by various names - second striker, attacking mid, "in the hole", or what I prefer - a media punta. His clever runs and positional interchanges with the attacking wide men who cut in more often to link up with him, his distribution to the attacking fullbacks were all taken advantage of. So were his weaknesses in defending covered by deploying 2 midfielders - Kehl and Sahin/Gündogan behind him. He was a perfect fit in the 4-2-3-1 formation of Borussia Dortmund.
Although my words here sound as though the Dortmund team was built around Kagawa, it couldn't be further from the truth. It just so happened that Jürgen Klopp assembled the right players to play his style and fielded the right formation where his players as well as his preferred playing style both fit in - and therein lies one of the major reasons why many, including yours truly, consider him to be a genius. And even now, when Kagawa leaves Dortmund, he has more than enough replacements - thanks to the rise of Kuba in the right wing position, which would allow Klopp to play Götze as the media punta. Then, there's also Marco Reus who has been signed from Borussia Monchengladbach who can fill in any of the attacking roles with ease. I daresay, if there's ever going to be a loser in this Kagawa to Manchester United deal, it will definitely not be Borussia Dortmund.
THE QUESTION
Now, coming to the question in hand, where will Kagawa play? As we all know, Sir Alex's favourite formation has been 4-4-2, with pacy/effective wingers and deadly striker(s) deployed. He has always played with this formation throughout his managerial career at United, except for the Cristiano Ronaldo days, where he rightly recognised the genius of Ronaldo and gave him a free rein in the attacking role. Even the present United team depends on service from wings, from the excellent Nani and Valencia, from the effective Giggs, tireless Park (though he has been woefully off colour of late) and the tricky Young. Their central midfielders' job are more of defence shielding, linking between attacking players and the defence, distribution to wide men. Chance creation through the centre has never been much of a forte of any United team (except for more than an occasional genius of Scholes), and the same holds true even today. In this traditional 4-4-2 formation, where exactly will Kagawa fit in?
Many say Kagawa would be taking up the central midfield role - he would be the successor of Paul Scholes. But, my concern is that Kagawa is not a central midfielder, the box to box midfielder that Scholes is - atleast not yet. Nor is he the kind of winger Nani and Valencia are. But given the 2 positions, I think Kagawa would make a better winger than a central mid. But then again, United are not short of options in that position for them to go out and buy somebody worth around 22 million euros as a backup.
You could expect United to change their formation to 4-2-3-1. They are very much capable of playing that way. But, in this case who will play the second striker role? One can argue that Rooney is more effective as a support striker than as a main striker. He has showed his prowess playing as a withdrawn sriker, and proved he is very much lethal in there. In this case, it obviously makes sense for Rooney to play in the second striker role, than Kagawa. Moreover, as seen throughout the season, Welbeck and Rooney work well together and it would not be a good idea to break up this blossoming, exciting partnership. Even in this formation, Kagawa does not find a place for himself.
MY OPINION
As has been opined and observed by many, and rightly so, the weakness of this United squad is their central midfield. Scholes is not getting any younger, and no player is even a quarter as good as him to fill in his boots. So, it makes sense to develop Kagawa as a central midfielder, rather than a winger or second striker. But, as pointed out earlier, he is not a natural box to box midfielder. He likes to operate further up the pitch, likes to get into the box, likes to be in a more attacking role. So, it could take time to develop him as a traditional central midfielder - and there's no guarantee that given that time, he would actually become good. There's considerable risk involved in this deal.
In my opinion, rather than Kagawa, if United had gone in for Wesley Sneijder, or even Christian Eriksen, they would have fit into their system more seamlessly. But, given the financial advantages that would follow signing up a Japanese player, probably this reason has been a major factor in this deal.
Nevertheless, personally, it has been a heartbreak seeing a player I admire going to a team I hate, but I've seen this all before (cue Alonso, Torres, Ozil) to affect my judgement much. But, it is really not good to see an up and coming, exciting player go to a team which does not fit his playing style. Then again, he could re-invent himself and do a Modric and be an instant hit in the new postition he would be played in, though I hope he doesn't. Hell, I hope he sticks with Borussia Dortmund for the rest of his life - surely Jurgen Klopp's project is too interesting a proposition to let go for an ill advised switch to a fancy team in EPL?
