Everton midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin has admitted he has been wrongly perceived by football fans in this country.
The French midfielder, who joined the Toffees in 2017 from Manchester United for a fee in the region of £20m, has done well under Marco Silva. However, there is a criticism against him that he prefers to play safe passes most of the time.
The 29-year-old feels that he performs the same job as Sergio Busquets does for Barcelona. Although he doesn’t want himself to be compared with the great Barcelona midfielder, he feels both of them are doing similar jobs in terms of spreading passes to teammates.
“That’s the perception of people and what they say but I would love to watch a game with them,” Schneriderlin said to BBC Sport.
“If you are in midfield, you are 1-0 down and your team has run after the ball for a minute and I try a long pass and miss it, people might clap because it is an attacking move, but my team-mates might have to for another two minutes to get the ball back.
“If we are winning 1-0 and I make a short pass that allows the team to breathe, people think it is clever.
“Some people say I pass square but I don’t see it. Look at [Sergio] Busquets at Barcelona. I don’t compare myself to him but tell me the passes he does that I don’t? Because they win games everyone says he’s the cleverest midfielder in football. I don’t compare myself to Busquets.”
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Schneirdelin has made six starts out of nine Premier League games this season under Silva. He is a compact and reliable midfielder and doesn’t make too many errors.
However, the comparison made with Busquets is not apt. Busquets is fundamental to the way Barcelona operates – it has been the case since he broke into the side under Pep Guardiola.
Schenriderlin, who was superb during his time at Southampton, hasn’t been able to match the standards he set during his time at the Saints.
Everton have struggled badly this season, and find themselves 15th in the league table.
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