It's hilarious how MW has convinced himself Kagawa was doing great under Ferguson.
I've never used the word "great". At least as far as I can remember. "Good" is the word I've used almost the entire time.
Kagawa had nearly 90% passing accuracy, the highest number of successful through-balls per game, created many chances, worked harder than most, and had the 4th best goals/assist ratio in the team by quite a large margin, if we go by minutes played. In my book, that should be considered a good season. Very good for being the first season in the PL. You'd have to be blind or retarded to think that Kagawa is roughly around the same level this season. And he's not been
bad this season either. Just mediocre.
The point is, MW has spent a fair amount of time trying to argue that Kagawa is a central player, not versatile and ought to be played centrally. He's now 4th in the queue for that central spot and suddenly it's about how just having the right player in the centre will make him a better winger.
This just shows that you read what you want to read. You wouldn't happen to be a Liverpool supporter?
I've always said that Kagawa can't play on the left in
our style and setup, but he's more than capable of doing it for Japan in
their setup. Yes, Kagawa is better centrally, even in Japan's setup, but his level doesn't drop so significantly on the left there as it has been doing for us under Moyes.
Last season, Fergie's standard first XI consisted of RVP, Rooney and Kagawa. We won almost every game in this setup, and we never lost. I think we played 10-12 games with that starting XI, and drew only once. When RVP or Rooney was out, Kagawa was the first name on the sheet for the AM position. And we never lost then either. As you can see, it was no point fixing anything, because we were winning and playing good football(imo). I've made countless posts in this forum where I defend our football last season. It's under Moyes I've turned into a critic.
We haven't been able to try out the RVP/Rooney/Kagawa combo that much under Moyes, so there's no telling if it will be a success or not. The key problem for me, is that not only isn't Kagawa playing in the AM position, despite RVP or Rooney(or BOTH!) being out. He doesn't even play nearly as much, regardless of position. Only half as often as he did under Fergie. And that pisses me off, because that's the only main difference in our starting lineup under Moyes. And it has clearly not worked out.
I'm happy that we signed Mata, because at the end of the day, it's the football I care about. Not the players. We now have 2 proper
AMs in the team! Even Moyes wont be able to dogde both of them. And if he does, then you'll see me just as often in the Mata thread. I guess that makes me a Mata fanboy as well then? Or maybe, just maybe, I want us to play good football. Crazy, I know...