This week Tom Cleverley gave an interview to a leading U.K. tabloid newspaper, to which he stated that he believed he was being made a “scapegoat” for Manchester United’s shortcomings this season. The interview has generated a lot of attention, particularly from the usual social media sites. Some fans have supported the column, written by Oliver Holt, whilst others have condemned it. Holt himself offers his own personal insight into the qualities of Cleverley’s game by praising him as a player who “keeps possession and moves the ball quickly and efficiently.” A closer look at the pros and cons of Cleverley’s game might reveal a little more about United’s number 23.
In terms of the qualities of Cleverley’s game, it has been mentioned by his supporters that he has good energy, can run and gets about the pitch well. However, these qualities are surely the minimum requirement for any midfield player to possess, particularly a Premier League midfielder and particularly a Manchester United midfield player. Likewise, an ability to “keep possession and move the ball quickly and efficiently” is also a minimum requirement of a central midfielder at one of the biggest clubs in world football. Cleverley can keep possession, a 90% pass completion rate this season proves that. However, with an average passing distance of just 17 metres, a mere eight chances created and not one single assist in 16 starts and five appearances from the bench show the real quality of the 90% pass completion rate. Frustratingly enough, these are statistics which Cleverley himself may be content with as he referred to Spanish football and how “if they pass the ball sideways but keep possession, the fans clap them.” Whilst there is a greater emphasis on retaining possession in La Liga, there is as much an emphasis on penetration of the play by the player in possession. Some of the most creative players in the Premier League have all plied their trade in La Liga with great success. For example, Silva, Cazorla, Mata, Ozil, Fabregas etc. All of whom have played in both La Liga and the Premier League and all of whom can retain possession not only by “passing sideways” but by being productive with it in an offensive capacity when the moment presents itself. If it’s goals you’re looking for, Cleverley’s return of one goal this season and three in 44 in his Manchester United career overall shows that goal scoring is not a quality he possesses either.
Cleverley admits “I am not a player who’s going to beat three or four people and stick it in the top corner or go round tackling people like Roy Keane.” There aren’t any Roy Keane type players left in the modern game and there are few who regularly beat three or four players and finish with a top corner strike. A look at Cleverley’s midfield teammates Michael Carrick and Darren Fletcher will show two players who are also incapable of producing such moments on a football field. However, Carrick has shown an ability to pass incisively with either foot, an ability to detect a threat and make interceptions, a brilliant reader of the game and a player who on occasions can even dictate the tempo of a game. Fletcher in his day was tenacious, albeit without the ferocity of Roy Keane but he also had the knack of scoring important goals in important games. These are qualities which have made both Carrick and Fletcher Manchester United footballers but it is difficult to find the qualities which have made Tom Cleverley a Manchester United footballer.
It is without question unfair to blame Tom Cleverley for all that has gone wrong at Old Trafford this season. However, the theory that United seem to do significantly better with him in the team than without him is also a flawed perception as a closer look shows that of United’s ten defeats in all competitons this season, Tom Cleverley has started in six. Of the four he missed, three of those were against Man City and Chelsea away and Everton at home. Three clubs all flying high in the Premier League. Tom Cleverley is not a scapegoat, he is a sheep in a Manchester United midfield which is desperately crying out for a wolf to lead them.