Mousa Dembele v Morgan Schneiderlin: The key battle in Tottenham v Manchester United
By Matt Cheetham
Last Updated: 06/04/16 9:24pm
Two midfield all-rounders could decide Tottenham's game against Manchester United at White Hart Lane this Sunday, live on Sky Sports.
Tottenham host Manchester United with both sides keen to keep pressure on the sides above them. Mousa Dembele and Morgan Schneiderlin are two players enjoying strong seasons in midfield and both will play crucial roles in this match.
Tottenham vs Man Utd
April 10, 2016, 3:30pm
Live on
The presence of several key English players often generates attention at Spurs, but Dembele's return to form and full fitness has arguably been as integral to their fine season as anything else.
The Belgium international has generally partnered Eric Dier in midfield, augmenting much of what Ryan Mason and Nabil Bentaleb produced last year.
Spurs midfield comparison
| Stats per 90 mins | Dembele - PL 2015/16 | Mason - PL 2014/15 | Bentaleb - 2014/15 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tackles | 4.5 | 3.3 | 2.4 |
| Interceptions | 2.3 | 2.0 | 2.4 |
| Successful dribbles | 3.4 | 0.7 | 1.1 |
| Chances created (open play) | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.7 |
| Successful passes | 51.2 | 52.1 | 56.4 |
| Passing accuracy | 90% | 84% | 87% |
| Sprints | 49.4 | 44.9 | 47.2 |
| Distance covered | 10.8km | 11.6km | 11.2km |
Dembele's major strength is his tackling; only three players have recorded more tackles in the Premier League this season and only four average more than the Belgian's 4.5 per 90 minutes.
Most tackles
| PL 2015/16 | Tackles | Tackles per 90 mins |
|---|---|---|
| N'Golo Kante (Leicester) | 139 | 5.0 |
| Idrissa Gueye (Aston Villa) | 123 | 4.4 |
| Erik Pieters (Stoke) | 108 | 3.5 |
| Mousa Dembele (Tottenham) | 96 | 4.5 |
| Cesar Azpilicueta (Chelsea) | 94 | 3.3 |
While this is impressive enough, and a platform from which Tottenham have sprung many attacks this season, it's the midfielder's actual proficiency in this department that stands out further.
Tackles won and lost are easily accessible stats, but they don't reveal a player's actual tackling ability. Lost tackles are still successful actions, just ones where the opposing team maintains possession. Therefore, Opta's 'dribbled past' category, a stat highlighting when a player is beaten, can be used to explore this better.
Challenge success
| PL 2015/16 | Tackles | Dribbled past | Challenge success |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mousa Dembele (Tottenham) | 96 | 8 | 92.3 |
| Gabriel Paulista (Arsenal) | 32 | 3 | 91.4% |
| Virgil van Dijk (Southampton) | 55 | 6 | 90.2% |
| Angelo Ogbonna (West Ham) | 37 | 5 | 88.1% |
| Wes Morgan (Leicester) | 39 | 6 | 86.7% |
Dembele has only been dribbled past eight times while making 96 tackles this season, giving him a 92 per cent success rate which officially classes him as the Premier League's hardest man to beat.
Furthermore, those near Dembele's ratio haven't made anywhere near as many tackles. No player with more than 55 tackles maintains a ratio higher than 85 per cent and the vast majority have been dribbled past at least twice as many times.
For example, N'Golo Kante leads the way with 139 tackles, but he's been dribbled past on 45 occasions, the tenth most in the division. Similarly, Idrissa Gueye (26 times), Erik Pieters (35) and Cesar Azpilicueta (24) have all been beaten on at least three times as many occasions as Dembele.
The Spurs man is not just one of the Premier League's most frequent tacklers this season; more importantly, he's been the best.
Schneiderlin has similar disruptive responsibilities for Manchester United. While his stats don't quite match up to Dembele's, he still offers the most to his side in this department.
Man Utd tackles and interceptions
| PL 2015/16 | Tackles per 90 | Interceptions per 90 | Tackles and interceptions per 90 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Morgan Schneiderlin | 3.1 | 2.9 | 6.0 |
| Matteo Darmian | 3.8 | 2.0 | 5.8 |
| Marcos Rojo | 2.7 | 2.7 | 5.4 |
| Daley Blind | 2.8 | 2.4 | 5.2 |
| Chris Smalling | 1.8 | 2.9 | 4.6 |
United's inconsistencies in attack often detract from the fact they have one of the Premier League's best defensive records and Schneiderlin has played his part in that. With the Frenchman involved, United win 54 per cent of games, taking 1.92 points per game, compared to just 29 per cent and one point without him.
While United appear more compact with Schneiderlin protecting the defence, he's yet to offer as much in the final third as he did while at Southampton. Given his side's publicised struggles to get shots on target this season, one can understand Louis van Gaal's occasional urge to leave the midfielder out in favour of more attacking combinations.
Schneiderlin year-on-year
| Premier League only | Man Utd 2015/16 | Southampton 2014/15 |
|---|---|---|
| Goals | 1 | 4 |
| Assists | 0 | 1 |
| Shots | 10 | 30 |
| Chances created | 9 | 20 |
In a similar amount of time on the pitch, Schneiderlin's been directly involved in just one league goal at United, shooting and creating chances far less often than at Southampton, though he took positive steps in this direction against Everton on Sunday.
Although Marcos Rashford's back-heel, Timothy Fosu-Mensah's cross and Anthony Martial scoring took the headlines in the move for the only goal of the game, it was Schneiderlin's long, defence-splitting pass that prompted the move.
This more rounded involvement is what Van Gaal and Manchester United fans will hope to see more of from their summer signing over the next few seasons.
While Schneiderlin and Dembele won't always be head-to-head on Sunday, charged with screening their respective defences, each man will look to disrupt opposing attackers and switch defence into attack. The player who is more successful at doing that will provide his side with the better platform from which to take the points.