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.