Schweinsteiger Puts United's Title Hopes on the Flip of a Coin

This article originally appeared on VICE Sports UK.

It's amazing what a bit of personality can do. Perhaps the ultimate testament to how much sway Ferguson's legacy holds over the United support is that simply acting like him is enough to get by. Louis van Gaal's brand of arrogant stubbornness blew David Moyes' timid honest-working-man schtick out of the water comfortably. It follows, then, that the acquisition of two decent signings for United in Bastian Schweinsteiger and Morgan Schneiderlin is being touted as Van Gaal solving United's eternal midfield problem, achieving in one weekend what Ferguson failed to do for a decade.

Nobody really knows why Ferguson neglected United's midfield to the eventual point where almost any player in the league was an improvement. Paul Pogba was let go, Paul Scholes was brought out of retirement and legions of combative, goalscoring midfielders were allowed to move unmolested around Europe while United pissed millions up the wall on Phil Joneses and Ashley Youngs. Maybe he wouldn't even do things differently if he had his time again.

For now though, Van Gaal appears to have solved it. Yet since Ferguson retired, Fellaini, Mata, Schneiderlin, Schweinsteiger and Herrera have cost the club north of £120m as well as at least two very hefty contracts. The result is a midfield which is on a par with the best in the league on a good day, and a couple of classes below the top teams in Europe, a gap too large to be closed by form or luck. The problem that has been solved is that of getting outplayed in the centre by the likes of Ben Watson and Steven N'Zonzi; a return to anything like Giggs-Scholes-Keane-Beckham is as far away as ever.

Of course, having left it too late, it's hard to see where United could have done that much better. Pogba looks sewn up by Barcelona, with PSG second favourites, and anyone else suitable is already hoovered up by an elite club. Schweinsteiger, the most eye-catching signing, has arrived six years too late, but so did Van der Sar. So why can't this work out for United, too?

There's no question that Schweinsteiger ticks a lot of boxes for the club. He can fill almost any midfield role and slot into whatever weird combination of Ander Herrera, Marouane Fellaini, Michael Carrick, Juan Mata, Phil Jones or anyone else the Van Gaal selection tombola throws out. He can control a game, he's hugely experienced, and he's a great leader.

But it's that final point, his leadership, which offers a double-edged sword to this United team. The club have lacked leaders for a long, long time — Patrice Evra, Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand offered it to some degree, but were influential through popularity in the dressing-room rather than being inspirational Robson-esque figures. Some more wide-eyed theories suggest that after winning his war with Roy Keane, Ferguson strove to make sure that nobody would ever challenge him again, and so shied away from hiring vocal, dominant figures for the armband. Whether self-interested or not, there's little doubt that United have never been quite the same since.

So it may be six years too late, but have United at long last replaced Roy Keane? Schweini might not be about to grow a big beard and take a stroll through the Black Forest with his German Shepherd any time soon, but just as it was hard to imagine debacles like 6-1 against Man City or 3-3 against Everton if Keane was still around, it's difficult to see it happening under Schweinsteiger's stewardship as well.

The problem is, there's one key to all players like that, something they have to be above all things: reliable. And Schweinsteiger isn't. Not anymore. Not through any flaw in his character or ability, but age and injuries pose several problems. He might not be capable of playing his best marauding role every week. Three games in eight days, let alone navigating the often season-defining end of December is going to severely stretch him. And worst of all, United are putting a lot of chips on a player who might not be there when they need him most.

You'd think United would have learned their lesson here. For over a decade now, they've been building teams around individuals then failing to replace them, from Keane to Schmeichel to Scholes to Ronaldo. They've lost titles due to injuries to Rooney, and allowed a ridiculous over-dependency on Ronaldo domestically to brutally expose them in Europe. Despite all that, they're about to make the same mistake again

Zidane's old chestnut about putting another layer of gold paint on the Bentley when you've removed the engine doesn't even apply here. It's a weird, ad-hoc mini Galacticos project, but there's been no groundwork done. United didn't even have an engine to begin with, hadn't had one for years, and they've now bought one prone to breaking down.

On his day, there's not a better midfielder United could have bought. If he came with the midfield overhaul United have needed for years. But with a centre-back, goalkeeper, and at least one striker on the shopping list — all of whom need to be at least very, very good — it's unlikely to happen.

As it stands, Schneiderlin is going to be joining as a starter, which means we can expect to see a Christmas or March featuring Fellaini touching it out of play or wingers gleefully skipping past an ancient Carrick. United have made the type of signing that works best when it's either a cheap gamble or an expensive certainty — by fundamentally relying on Schweinsteiger, they've put their title hopes next season on the flip of a coin.

@callum_th