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Could Jordy Clasie Have More In His Locker Than Schneiderlin Wednesday, 15th Jul 2015 11:30
Saints fans worried that Morgan Schneiderlin could leave too big a void to fill could be pleasnatly surprised by Jordy Clasie who seems to be a more all round player.
Morgan Schneiderlin was a great player for Saints, of that there can be no doubt, but if he had a flaw in his game it was his inability to turn defence into attack quickly and that is why Jordy Clasie could well turn out to be an upgrade on the now Manchester United player.
Claise like Schneiderlin is best when he sits in front of the central defenders and is superb at anchoring the area in front of them and cutting out attacks before they can stretch the defence, Schneiderlin was a master of this and that showed in Saints defensive record last season and much of that was down to Schneiderlin.
But going forward the Frenchman lacked the ability to turn defence into attack quickly, yes he could hit a nice pass, but rarely was it decisive, he needed that extra second on the ball to control it and assess where to pass it and although his accuracy was normally impeccable with those passes, they usually kept Saints in possession moving forward rather than stretching the opposition.
Reports from Holland suggest that Clasie has that same defensive ability, however what might make this an upgrade is that he is able to turn defence into attack quickly, he can pick a through ball into dangerous areas from deep quickly and accurately.
This was something we lacked at times last season, we attacked quickly down the wings but sometimes found it hard to get strikers one on one with a defence splitting pass.
In fairness Pelle is not that sort of player, but Sadio Mane was and showed that side of his game to full effect in the final home game of the season and it is this pace we will loo to utilise more if Claise as expected signs.
It will give Ronald Koeman a lot more options, last season as things got tough he suddenly found that he had to keep playing Pelle due to his options being limited with firstly mane off to the African cup of nations and then an injury to Shane Long.
This meant that Pelle had to soldier on when he clearly needed a rest and when the team clearly needed a different approach.
Late in the season we were able to change that approach but the problem was that we had no one in the central midfield that could pass from deep, both Wanyama and Schneiderlin as good as they were at winning the ball did not have that knack of moving the ball quickly that was lost after Jack Cork departed.
It was no coincidence that Cork's departure coincided with goals suddenly drying up, Cork could move the ball quickly in a way that no one else in the midfield could do, perhaps he didnt hit the balls to the jugular, but he could catch teams on the break by getting the ball out wide quickly.
Now we have in Clasie's arrival a player who can do this, but not only the quick short balls but something a little more longer as well.
Ironically perhaps Saints most successful piece of transfer dealing last summer was £30 million from United followed by signing Ryan Bertrand for an eventual £10 million, this was a definite upgrade and it could be that this scenario is repeated with Schneiderlin replaced by Clasie.
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Totally agree. Going out on a limb here, I think Clasie will be a better fit in our midfield than Morgan. Of course, MS is a great player but sometimes our midfield was a little too defensively minded with him and Vic together. When I've seen Clasie play he's played further forward than MS tends to, while still being excellent at retrieving the ball and breaking down attacks. His range of passing is excellent (for one example, see - RvP's finish ain't too shabby either). He also seems tenacious and committed, which MS wasn't always in my opinion. Please let us sign him!
Anyone who thinks Morgan can't play a defence splitting ball watch goal number 4. This sticks in my mind as I was watching it in Bolivia. Absolutely orgasmic.
My opinion is that if he was asked to play higher up the pitch he could but was asked to play a certain way so did.
Spider is better defensively,Clasie is better attacking so we will see.Wayama maybe will balance ,Its nice to see everybody talking up our great club.and great to read good things,keep up the good work guys, i just read another nice article in shoot here :
One of the reasons that Morgan’s pass completion was so good was because he did have good vision AND he took a fraction of a second longer to assess options. He could afford to do this because he was so good on the ball. I don’t think that slowing the game down at the expense of ball possession is a weakness at all. It depends who you are playing I guess.
The thing that surprises me is that they have exchanged like for like and not gone for a player that has got potential goals. I know they both play a defensive role but still Morgan got 5 last year and we still lacked goals from centre midfield
Slowing the game down at the expense of ball possession is not a weakness, but sometimes you have to be able to speed things up and i think that is Morgan's weakness we couldnt turn defence into attack quick enough and catch teams on the back foot when we needed too, which is why we struggled against teams who got everyone behind the ball for large periods of the game
How defensive minded a midfield is, is up to RK. Morgan was a No.10 in his younger years and certainly could have played a more offensive role, but that was not what was expected of him. Wanyama couldn't do that, but Morgan would have been very capable - but it has been our tactics not to concede and hope to score somehow. With Morgan the possibilty not conceding AND of scoring was a lot higher than with any other DM in the Team as he is one of the few able to contribute to both things... So thinking of an upgrade... Well, in contrast to Shaw Morgan absolutely was a vital member of the Team as we differed from making 1.8 Points per game with him to 1 without him (or just lost 25% with him to 57% without him)... Let's just hope Clasie will sign and maybe will come somewhere near to what Morgan offered to us...
Clasie has averaged 1.5 goals per season in the Eredivisie. I don't think he's as good an attacking players as Schneiderlin. He reminds me more of Harrison Reed.
As my previous posts will confirm, I'm a massive fan of Clasie, he will bring a whole new dimension to our game. Okay it may come at the slight cost of defensive stability, but counter that with a better attacking threat. As you rightly pointed out Nick his eye for the quick ball will suit, Mane, Long and now The biggest addition to our squad this season JayRod.
I also believe it will see Wanyama play a much more pivotal role in midfiled. From his Celtic days he was much more attack minded and played the number 10 role. I think a slight problem was Morgan and Victor were too similar.
Now bring me Virgil Van Dijk and I'll be happy with our squad
I don't think the squad is significantly improved yet this transfer window aside from the return of JR with inevitably a big IF about his form after such a devastating injury. If we get Clasie and Van Dijk, then ok we have perhaps managed to catch up with the overall strength of the squad at the end of last season. But as to purchases that take us forward I still can't see that we will accomplish that unless we recruit a playmaker at No. 10 who can contribute up to 10 goals per season, and a striker able to challenge Pelle's position, and a winger who can genuinely cross the ball from wide and chip in with half a dozen goals or so per season. That would count as progress
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