Tactics: Paul Scholes back in the hole

I know what you're thinking.

"Scholes doesn't have the energy to play in the hole."

"Scholes doesn't have the pace to play in the hole."

"Scholes is our best midfielder, why would you take him out of there?"

"Rooney and Kagawa are better in that position."

"Scholes can't dribble."

In this post I'll answer all of these questions and prove why playing Paul Scholes back in his original position would be a masterstroke from Ferguson.

First off, this is the system that I'm suggesting:


1. "Scholes doesn't have the energy to play in the hole."

This is a misconception that comes from Scholes not being able to get in the box as much as he used to in a central midfield position. Scholes used to be a box to box midfielder, primarily, and when he stopped scoring lots of goals and stopped being involved in the creation of every chance we made, we just accepted it, really. We had Wayne Rooney to do that now. However, Rooney has never lived up to the potential that we saw in him, he's more of a goalscorer now than a creative player, and playing through Rooney in the hole last season, we weren't that creative side that we were when everything was going through Scholes.

Playing in the hole requires less energy than playing in central midfield, like he does now. When you don't have the ball, you don't have to do much in that position. Certainly not when you're surrounded by Young, Welbeck, Carrick and Anderson, who all do lots of defensive work. So it's fair to say that Scholes could rest more often playing ahead of the midfield as opposed to playing in it. Furthermore, he wouldn't have to move very far, such is the intelligence of his movement and the energy of the players surrounding him. The quality of his passing also makes a difference. Because we would be playing with three central midfielders, we'd be much better at keeping possession, so as a team, we would have to do less chasing after the ball. He also has a wide range of passing, so he wouldn't have to move towards the wingers in order to link up with them.

So there, his lack of energy is not an issue.

2. "Scholes doesn't have the pace to play in the hole."

Again, the intelligence of Scholes' movement, and the sharpness with which he passes and moves makes up for the lack of pace. He's always been a great goalscorer and he wouldn't have to sprint into the box to get on the end of things. All it takes is one subtle bit of movement, one drop of the shoulder to get on the end of a cross. And he wouldn't have to move from one side of the pitch to the other all the time because the range of his passing is so good.

3. "Scholes is our best midfielder, why would you take him out of there?"

He can't defend. Next.

4. "Rooney and Kagawa are better in that position."

Kagawa's short pass accuracy - 84%
Rooney's short pass accuracy - 82%
Welbeck's short pass accuracy - 87%
Scholes' short pass accuracy - 94%

Kagawa's long pass accuracy - 81%
Rooney's long pass accuracy - 79%
Welbeck's long pass accuracy - 84%
Scholes' long pass accuracy - 88%

Kagawa's dribble success - 44%
Rooney's dribble success - 36%
Welbeck's dribble success - 29%
Scholes' dribble success - 35%

Kagawa's shot accuracy - 45%
Rooney's shot accuracy - 43%
Welbeck's shot accuracy - 44%
Scholes' shot accuracy - 25% (most of them were long shots though)

Kagawa's through ball accuracy - 58%
Rooney's through ball accuracy - 20%
Welbeck's through ball accuracy - 100% (didn't do many, but shows intelligence to know when to risk it)
Scholes' through ball accuracy - 50%

Welbeck's defensive action success - 67%
Rooney's defensive action success - 48%
Kagawa's defensive action success - 43%
Scholes' defensive action success - 66%

Obviously Scholes played deeper last season so you have to take the stats with a pinch of salt, but anyone who's seen all three play knows that Scholes has move intelligent movement, is a more accurate passer and can shoot and head the ball better than either of them.

Even if you don't trust stats, it's a no brainer really that the accuracy, passing range and sharpness of Scholes' one and two touch play is possibly unsurpassed in the history of football, and that he's incredibly creative when he plays higher up the pitch.

5. "Scholes can't dribble."

As above, the accuracy, passing range and sharpness of his one and two touch play more than makes up for his poor dribbling ability. At least he's intelligent enough to know not to attempt to dribble, unlike Rooney and Kagawa, who while better at it, still lose possession more often than not when they do go for a dribble, and for some reason they keep attempting it when they know they'd be better off playing a simple pass.

So that's it. I look forward to hearing what you think.

I like how you think outside the box. But tactics/formations you post tend to be tactical failures in my eyes.