Player Focus: Time For Morgan Schneiderlin To Earn International Recognition

Eleven games into the season and the Premier League is beginning to take some sort of shape. Five points may separate table toppers Arsenal and 7th placed Tottenham Hotspur, but the path is becoming clearer as to who will be in and around the top 4 come May. The likes of Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United sit between the north London duo, alongside Everton and high-flying Southampton.

Mauricio Pochettino’s side have made a barnstorming start to the season and are currently 3rd in the league heading into the international break. Conceding only 5 goals in the process, the fewest in England’s top tier, they've won a number of admirers leading to some star performers - Rickie Lambert, Adam Lallana and Jay Rodriguez - being rewarded with call-ups to the England national team recently as a result.

However, there is one Saints first-teamer that regularly sees his exploits go unnoticed by his national side. Morgan Schneiderlin, winner of both the player’s player and fan’s player of the year award last season, has again exhibited his impressive midfield ability for the south coast side this term, effectively breaking up play and recycling possession in the heart of the midfield.

He and Victor Wanyama have formed a dynamic and highly complimentary partnership in the middle of the park, with Schneiderlin exploiting his expansive reading of the game, while Wanyama utilises his high energy levels to win possession in the midfield third having done so 67 times this season, the most of every player. The levels of Schneiderlin’s performances mean his average WhoScored.com rating currently sits 7.4; only Dejan Lovren (7.71) and Lallana (7.44) have scored higher of every Saints player.

These displays for Saints have seen many suggest that he’s deserving of a place in the France set-up, regardless of the likes of Paul Pogba, Blaise Matuidi and Yohan Cabaye being available to head coach Didier Deschamps. While many tipped Saints to struggle upon their return to the Premier League last year, the club has continuously gone from strength-to-strength and Schneiderlin has been pivotal to that.

The 24-year-old showcased his impressive reading of the game on a consistent basis last term as he made the most combined tackles and interceptions (285) of every player, 69 more than his nearest competitor in that respect, Matthew Lowton (216). He’s begun the season in similar form, making a total of 65 tackles and interceptions combined; only Mile Jedinak (89), Lucas Leiva (76) and Youssuf Mulumbu (67) have made more.

Unsurprisingly, this has seen the Saints midfielder develop WhoScored strengths of ‘tackling’ and ‘interceptions’, both of which he’s deemed 'very strong' at, and rightly so. When compared to the aforementioned trio of Pogba, Matuidi and Cabaye, only Matuidi can match such WhoScored strengths and should Schneiderlin need to displace any player in the current France side it may well need to be the PSG ace.

The 26-year-old has become a prominent member of the PSG setup since signing from Saint-Étienne in 2011 and has been involved in all 13 of their Ligue 1 games this season, starting 11. His performances have helped the Parisian side rise to the top of the French league, with the defending champions the only team in France’s top tier yet to lose a domestic game.

Matuidi's distribution when in possession stands him in exceptional stead, with the midfielder’s pass success this season sitting at a notable 91.3% - a better figure than Schneiderlin’s 87.3%. However, while the former excels when finding a teammate, the latter has been breaking up play more regularly, averaging 3.9 tackles and 2 interceptions per game compared to Matuidi’s 2.8 tackles and 1.9 interceptions per league encounter.

Moreover, Schneiderlin is currently making more clearances (2.2) per game compared to Matuidi (0.9), highlighting his success in removing the ball from danger on a more consistent basis. However, this may be as a result of the quality of PSG’s squad being higher than that of Saints and their insistence on passing the ball out of defence, not to mention the differing style of management between Pochettino and Laurent Blanc.

Nevertheless, for a player in his position, the deep lying midfielder tasked with breaking up play, it’s Schneiderlin that shines brighter than Matuidi, with the latter having made fewer interceptions and tackles combined (61) despite making two more appearances. This is further highlighted in Matuidi’s average rating of 7.21, a drop from Schneiderlin’s 7.4.

The Southampton star man may have his fair share of competition within the France national team, and yet more outside the squad when taking into consideration that Etienne Capoue, Geoffrey Kondogbia and Joshua Guilavogui all haven’t been selected for Les Bleus’ upcoming double header with Ukraine. Yet, Schneiderlin has proven this season that he’s deserving of a place in Deschamps’ squad and many wouldn’t begrudge him a spot in the team.

His performances on the south coast have been excellent upon Saints’ return to England’s top tier, with the club winning the adulation of the fans after their start to the Premier League this season. On this form, Schneiderlin is deserving of following in the footsteps of teammates Lambert, Lallana and Rodriguez in earning international recognition and becoming the latest Southampton star to be called up by his country.

Do you think Morgan Schneiderlin deserves a spot in the France squad? Let us know in the comments below