One long year ago, the greatest manager hung up his hairdryer for the second and final time. It was the end of a season of hope, and the start of a season of belief and looking forward to the future. David Moyes was "The Chosen One," as was proudly proclaimed on the Stetford End. A tumultuous year later, after a season of more ups and downs than the Himalayas, a man jokingly referred to as "The Lederhosen One" is coming to take over. Indeed, Louis van Gaal has now stamped his authority over the club after the end of the World Cup in Brazil, replacing David Moyes and the interim manager Ryan Giggs. Nevertheless, this summer was always going to be one of change in the squad, and the one area that has the biggest need of repairs is none other than the midfield. With a Dutch manager and a bit of a Dutch presence in the squad, where else to look but the Netherlands themselves? First up, though, is the name on the lips of quite a few people as of late, Jordy Clasie, the 22 year old Dutch midfielder who currently plies his trade with Feyenoord, the former club of a certain Robin van Persie.
Likelihood: 5/10
Performance and Comparison
In the past season, Clasie was a pertinent and integral figure in the Feyenoord lineup as he helped the team to finish second in the Eredivisie, thereby giving the team an opportunity to play in the coming season's Champions League. He started 32 matches in the season gone by, out of a possible 34, while also having 1 goal and 7 assists to his name throughout that period. For comparison, Manchester United's midfield - consisting of Michael Carrick, Tom Cleverley, Darren Fletcher, and Marouane Fellaini - were part of an astounding and mind boggling 3 goals throughout the whole of last season, having 2 goals and 1 assist among them. In their defense, the person with the most appearances was Michael Carrick who started 26 matches and was substituted on in 3 more while Clasie started 32 matches in total. Tom Cleverley only started 18 matches with 4 substitute appearances, Darren Fletcher had 9 starts and 3 substitute appearances, and Marouane Fellaini who only started 12 league matches and was substituted in 4 more. Returning to Clasie, he made 57.3 passes per game in the past season, completing 84.6% of his passes, while also having 1.2 key passes per game. The only United player who was similar in terms of creating chances was Carrick, who had 1 key pass per game while also completing 70.7 passes with an accuracy of 88.6%. In addition, Clasie is also skilled at pulling the ball from side to side as he completes 4 long passes per game on average, but this does not particularly stand out, especially when compared to United's midfield as Tom Cleverley completes 3.8 per game, Darren Fletcher does 4.6 per game, and Michael Carrick does 6 per game. The biggest advantage to take from his passing is that while Clasie can hold onto the ball reasonably well, he is also able to provide an incisive threat to the opposition - something that Manchester United's midfielders have consistently failed to do over the season gone by.
Defensively, Clasie works like a bulldog in the midfield, constantly running and providing cover to the team's back line. He is not at all afraid to get stuck in and make challenges left and right as he won 3.2 tackles per game in the past season, more than any of United's midfielders - a fact made more impressive since he played more matches than any of the players from Manchester United's midfield. The only one who came close was Marouane Fellaini with 2.8 tackles per game but that was offset by him giving away 2.1 fouls per game, unlike Clasie who gave away 1.3 fouls per game. This tendency to give away fouls is somewhat troubling, but his ability to win tackles makes up for this. Furthermore, Clasie makes 1.9 interceptions per game, which is joint-second highest when compared to United's midfield, as he is level with Fellaini. The only person who makes more interceptions is Michael Carrick who made 2.8 interceptions per game.
Offensively, Clasie provides a decent outlet. As already stated, he provides 1.2 key passes per game, higher than any of Manchester United's current midfielders. In addition to this, he also takes 1.1 shots per game, second highest out of the current midfield options, beaten out only by Fellaini. But unlike Fellaini, Clasie actually has scored a goal and creates chances for his other teammates. Where Clasie makes 1.2 key passes per game, Fellaini makes 0.3. Clasie also is somewhat mobile, completing 0.5 dribbles per game, more than any of United's players except Marouane Fellani who made 0.6 dribbles per game in the league. However, Clasie was dispossessed 0.7 times per game, unlike Fellaini who was dispossessed 1.4 times per game. Not only does Clasie dribble more than any of United's midfielders, with the able to take the game and move it forward on his own. Cleverley is dispossessed 0.9 times per game while only having 0.2 dribbles per game. The one worry about Clasie is that he turns the ball over fairly often, giving away 0.9 passes per game, but this is somewhat vindicated by the fact that he is able to provide a consistent creative outlet, making chances for his teammates and taking risks, unlike the midfielders currently present at Manchester United.
In Game Performances:
To best understand Jordy Clasie may fit into Louis van Gaal's system, why not look into his 2 appearances in the FIFA World Cup, against Argentina and Brazil, where he actually played a role under the new Mancehster United manager? First, let's look at his performance against Argentina, where he came on as a substitute in the 62' minute.
Netherlands 0 - 0 Argentina:
What is interesting to note from the above graphic is how consistently Clasie was able to find an outlet to pass into in what was generally a very conservative match with both teams essentially grinding each other down for the better part of 120 minutes. A large majority of his passes were completed, with the major losses being when he tried to thread through his teammates either with a through ball or a long ball. With Javier Mascherano dominating the midfield as he did that day, it is unsurprising that they were lapped up by the Argentinians. Another thing to note is how he frequently spread the ball out side to side. This hints not only at what Clasie does but also what van Gaal might be up to with Manchester United. It might represent an evolution of Manchester United's traditional wingplay, with an emphasis on the wingbacks in van Gaal's oft-mentioned 3-4-1-2 system. This passing map also represents a slight worry as it might suggest that Clasie is not able to make the next step up to the level needed in Manchester United. A frequent accusation levelled at him is that he is essentially a Dutch Cleverley and this map only helps to provide support to that statement. Nearly all of his passes went sideways, and while that may be good for recycling the ball, there needs to be more positive passing. An equally important counterpoint is to note where his passes came from. Looking at that, one would notice that he is able to get both up and down the pitch and make positive movements. He represents the basic tenet of football: pass and move. That is precisely what he is doing here. He is able to make the passes consistently but he is also moving forward and adding numbers to threaten the opposition, something which the United midfielders consistently failed to do last season, with the team simply being too static in possession.
Netherlands 3 - 0 Brazil:
In this particular match, a different Clasie is on display. In the Argentina match he put on a display as a possession oriented man, able to recycle the ball endlessly and move forwards at the same time. Against Brazil, he worked as a midfield destroyer, helping to shut down the likes of Oscar - a player who, along with Cesc Fabregas, will very likely be Chelsea's main attacking outlet through the middle, providing through balls to Diego Costa - and Paulinho, a player who will likely pay a crucial role for Tottenham in the upcoming season. Not to mention, Fernandinho, an important piece in the Manchester City squad, was also shut down by Clasie after he came on in the 45th minute. As one can see above, Clasie completed 4 tackles and 4 interceptions, winning the ball back an astounding 8 times. Furthermore, he aided the defense with 3 completed clearances. Here, Clasie also realized that he might not be simply able to cut straight through the Brazilian midfield so he compensated by moving out towards the wings, just a little bit, thereby giving him some extra space and time to pick out his passes. Two major concerns come out from the above graphic. The first one is how little Clasie saw the ball throughout the 90 minutes that he played, but he can only pass as often as he receives the ball. He certainly put his stamp on the game in a defensive sense, but for the ideal game it would have been better if he was just able to dictate the flow of the match a little better. The other worry is that, while he most definitely was more positive in his play in this match, he still went sideways just a little too often, not aiding the image of him being the Dutch Cleverley.
Conclusion:
Overall, Clasie is a rather classy player. He is able to both create chances for his teammates and able to hold onto possession and recycle the ball constantly. When asked to, he can also provide a dominating defensive performance to shut down the opposition midfield. He is consistently better than Manchester United's midfielders on a variety of different metrics. In the little playing time he was able to scrounge up in the World Cup, he provided two very different performances in two very different styles. Against Argentina, he provided a consistent passing outlet for his teammates, while also constantly moving forwards, bringing positivity to the match. However, against Brazil, he put in a defensive shift, absolutely dominating Brazil's midfielders, constantly just stealing the ball from them. The worry from both his matches is the fact that he was consistently passing the ball sideways, just like a certain Tom Cleverley. Another worry that stemmed from the Brazil match was that he was unable to truly control the pace of the proceedings. He will, almost certainly, provide a bullish and strong presence in the United midfield, and he can grow into a truly great central midfielder, with the ability to both control the pace of the game and provide quality defensive cover to the team. He could become the Tom Cleverley that might have come out if he was never injured when playing against Bolton 3 long years ago.
Likelihood: 5/10
Impact: 8.5/10
All statistics via WhoScored and all graphics via FourFourTwo
