Men in the Middle Part I

Over the past few weeks, we've seen one striker reach a hundred goals for his side, two hit the headlines for reacting angrily after being substituted, another refusing to come on, one score and get sent off, one failing to score after promising he would, and another miss a game through an injury revealed via his wife's Twitter account.

This week, Frank Lampard scored a hattrick.

Not too long ago, I was examining the case of the (soon-to-be-former?) England international and how his days may be numbered at Stamford Bridge. It seemed he had lost his verve, his energy, and his ability to command a place in Andre Villas-Boas' interesting 4-3-3 gameplan. At the Reebok a few days ago though, Harry Redknapp's nephew reminded us all of what he still had to offer.

Or did he?

Lampard scored 3 of Chelsea's 5 against a hapless and helpless Bolton side that had not won since an opening day trouncing of QPR (who just conceded six against Fulham). They've been hammered by Liverpool, Manchester United, and - perhaps most tellingly - Arsenal since then, and have even managed to engineer a loss to Norwich City (no disrespect to Paul Lambert's side). One can't read too much into scoring a bunch of goals against a side that looks as poor as any I've seen in a long time. Darron Gibson starred against Schalke in the Champions League last season, but he was never touted as the future of United's midfield.

And it's United's midfield, rather than a single Chelsea midfielder, that I'd like to turn my attentions to today.

It seems an awful long time ago now that Manchester United were playing fluent, fluid football and people were already pencilling them to face Barcelona in the Champions League final once again (Real Madrid and Bayern Munich might have something to say about that). With the likes of Wayne Rooney, Ashley Young and Nani ruthlessly leading the line, United had looked dangerous since the second half of the Community Shield. Then on September 10th, one reckless tackle sent a spanner in the works.

A certain Kevin Davies slid in late and hard on a Man Utd midfielder, forcing him off the pitch with a foot/ankle injury. United still scored five that day, but then again, we've already looked at how incompetant Bolton seem to be this season, especially without Stu Holden.

With a last name like that, Tom Cleverley might be a football writer's dream subject (second only to Eden Hazard?), especially looking at his intelligent use of the ball and space. Analyzing his stats and passes in the league games he played fit (West Brom, Spurs, Arsenal), a quite fascinating conclusion can be drawn.

Manchester United play that much better with Tom Cleverley in their side.

In those three games, his passing rate did not drop below 88%. That's even more impressive when you consider that the majority of his passes are positive, forward ones, Long diagonals searching for a winger (Young was his main beneficiary) or intricate threaded balls to the forwards. He also made a tremendous amount of passes (and challenges) in the middle third of the pitch, which might sound strange to point out, but when a similar analytic gaze is placed

on Darren Fletcher or (oh no) Michael Carrick, the differences are glaringly obvious.

Fletcher has bundles of energy, but tends to only stay on the right side of the pitch. He started his United career as a right-sided midfielder (opposite Kieran Richardson on the left) and so he does that naturally, and to good effect of course. Michael Carrick, on the other hand, plays a disturbingly large number of passes very short to his own defenders, or long to his keeper David De Gea. It frustrates me as a fan, and recently it has come to my attention that it frustrates his own team-mates as well! If you can, take a look at Michael Carrick's backpass in the 71st minute against Chelsea.

Tom Cleverley's work-rate and passing also lead to another indirect, but hugely significant, benefit for United. His attributes contribute to the early-season performance of Wayne Rooney as well. With Fletcher's hesitance to drift to the left side of the pitch and Carrick's lack of confidence to look for the forward pass, the "Roonatic" often drifts very deep and United lack another attacking body up front. While dropping deep has been a hallmark of Rooney's career thus far, it can be observed that without Cleverley, he is forced to do that to such an extent that United sacrifice potency in attack. You wouldn't expect Carrick of Fletcher to roam ahead when Rooney invariably drops deep anyway, but Cleverley starred in such a capacity in his loan spells at Leicester, Watford, and Wigan, being named Watford's Player of the Year.

Much was made about Paul Scholes retirement in the summer, with eager eyes looking towards the San Siro as Wesley Sneijder's move to United was said to be the way to fill the void. Indeed, fans and pundits have been saying for ages, it seems, that United lack creativity in midfield. I've always felt they were right, and right now, more than at any point in this fledgling season, that charge seems poignant and prudent. It remains to be seen if Ferguson can find a quick solution for the games against Liverpool and City to come, and he will do it as he has always done.

Cleverly.