Michael Carrick and Bastian Schweinsteiger started the game versus Arsenal at the Emirates on Sunday during Manchester United's 3-0 defeat. The game highlighted a few things that United need to work on and one big one is that Schweinsteiger and Carrick cannot play together in a big game like Arsenal.
Schweinsteiger and Carrick lack the legs for the big games
There are many reasons for the two of them struggling but one main one is 'legs' as during the match on Sunday Arsenal's midfield ran through United's midfield far too easily, especially in the first twenty minutes when all of the damage was done. It only improved in the second half when Louis van Gaal decided to change the formation to 4-3-3 when Marouane Fellaini came on to replace Memphis Depay.
Louis van Gaal needs to take the Arsenal match and learn from it as you have a perfectly good central midfielder sitting on the bench Morgan Schneiderlin who has more legs to get around midfield than Schweinsteiger and Carrick. Schweinsteiger and Carrick are very good players but against a youthful Arsenal midfield both should never start together as you will get the situation that happened at the weekend.
Schweinsteiger and Carrick tried to the same pressing move leaving the team exposed
Schweinsteiger's problem which was highlighted during the game was his pressing which meant he left a huge whole behind him which gave the Arsenal midfielders so much freedom to do the damage. Carrick then followed suit and tried pressing and against the bigger clubs they will pick you off and cause you so much unnecessary problems.
United have massive games coming up after the International break away to Everton, Crystal Palace and at home to Manchester City , and if the same that happened versus Arsenal happens in them matches, then United will be looking at three more defeats to follow. United went into the month of October knowing rightly the big tests that followed and to be the cause of their own downfall was very bad and now the hope is they can bounce back from it.
Therefore from now on Van Gaal should employ a 4-3-3 formation as that suits United's style of play down to the ground, and especially if Schweinsteiger and Carrick do play then you just have to put in a third midfielder to cover. Ander Herrera and Schneiderlin are very good players so there is real depth for United to use, so there are no excuses to have to play your two oldest central midfielders.
Schweinsteiger and Carrick have the experience at United
United have the experience and guile to win big games and especially by having a World Cup winner in Schweinsteiger, but at 31 years of age you need younger and fresher legs to cover if he's caught up field and this is the same for Carrick as well. Arsenal were the first big test this season for United and they failed it and now they need to show some nerve going forward.
Carrick's injury problems is another big thing which is concerning for United as he seems to be picking up a lot of niggling injuries, and at 34 years of age he needs to not pick up as many. Carrick missed the game against Wolfsburg through injury, but then came back and played the whole game against Arsenal and maybe that was not the right thing to do. Schweinsteiger is also known to have his injury problems from last year and so far this season he has had to be managed.
Carrick and Schweinsteiger have so far this season been substituted for one another after the 60th-minute mark, so why did that change at the weekend against Arsenal? These kind of questions is something that really needs to be answered by Van Gaal, but maybe it was because Schneiderlin had a bad game against Wolfsburg, and if that was the reason then that's concerning.
Carrick and Schweinsteiger are too predictable and slow
Carrick was United's best midfielder last season but has struggled this season and another reason for not having him and Schweinsteiger together in the same team is because they are too similar and too predictable. United need a mixture in midfield not what they had in the game against Arsenal, and the quicker Van Gaal sees this the better. Schweinsteiger is a world class player but he needs a player that will break up play for him to do what he is best at and Carrick is not the player to do this, unfortunately.
Overall Van Gaal needs to analyse the game at the weekend and see that Carrick and Schweinsteiger cannot start together, and even more specific in the bigger games especially, and he needs to think about trying to go with the younger legs in midfield to cope with other teams that have the real pace in their side. Another thing is now Van Gaal has seen that United were much better with three midfielders he needs to keep using it, as that formation suits United much better than the one he is currently using.