Scholes Could be the Key

Paul Scholes will have to show every bit of his experience to help Manchester United to any first leg advantage against Chelsea.

Paul Scholes has not had his best season in a Manchester United shirt by any means. However, despite this he has been praised by some of the best current players in the world as being the one individual that they wished they’d had the chance to play with.

The basis of this quality comes from Scholes’ ability to perform in big match, high pressure situations. The quarter-final Champions League contest against Chelsea is one such example of this situation.

Scholes will be placed in the heart of a five man United midfield which Chelsea will have to get through in order to score. Scholes is also going to be one of the main players used when the side counter attacks, looking for an away goal to take back to Old Trafford.

Scholes is a good bet to score a goal against Chelsea because he ghosts from one area of the pitch to another and is difficult to pick up. He will often appear on the edge of the opposition penalty area on a counter attack which provides another option in terms of playing the ball back for him to shoot.

Scholes also gets himself into key positions on the field for set pieces. He is never going to win the ball in the air against big central defenders, so he hovers on the edge of an area waiting for any knocks downs. The time a goalkeeper is at his most vulnerable is in the seconds during and just after a set piece situation.

The midfield maestro has played in dozens of games like this during his time at United. He will know the exact patterns that Chelsea are likely to attack with and will know how to exploit the pockets of space that they leave in behind. If he’s not scoring a goal himself then it’s a sure fire bet he’ll be setting up someone else to do so.