Xaver Schlager has been quietly impressive for Nottingham Forest this season but what was missing was that big moment. It came in the 3-1 win over Manchester City on Saturday when he dispossessed Elliot Anderson for Liam Delap’s first goal.
The free transfer from Leipzig nipped in ahead of the £116m man that he has replaced in Forest’s midfield and set Delap on the way to doubling the lead. Schlager is no Anderson but he has his own qualities and they made the difference at the weekend.
“It was a top team performance and it was a top performance by Xaver Schlager,” said Forest boss Oliver Glasner in the press conference afterwards. He pointed out that “it must have been a fantastic performance” because City’s midfielders are world-class.
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FREE TO WATCH: Highlights from the match between Nottingham Forest and Man City
Schlager was better. “He is so smart, anticipating and getting balls, one of the most for interceptions in the league. And he was physically so strong in his 50-50 balls. He always stayed on his feet and won these balls, because he can then play forward.”
In fact, despite only coming on as a late substitute in Forest’s opening defeat at home to Leeds, Schlager has made more tackles than any other player in the Premier League this season. It is a good illustration of the combative style that is his trademark.
Schlager has made more tackles than any other player in the Premier League
Not every supporter has been enamoured by Schlager and perhaps that is inevitable given the team’s underwhelming start to the season. When searching for explanations, new arrivals come under scrutiny and the 29-year-old Austrian is not one for the future.
But he has had a fine career. Before Leipzig, he worked with Glasner at Wolfsburg, having emerged at Red Bull Salzburg before that. Oscar Garcia spotted him in their feeder team Liefering, another of Glasner’s former clubs, and gave him his senior debut.
“He had very good potential,” Oscar tells Sky Sports. “Some players in midfield left and we wanted to give him the chance to play. In the structure of Red Bull there were other players ahead of him but we saw that he was a player who could do almost everything.”
Not that the self-deprecating Schlager would admit that. Speaking in the summer, he acknowledged his limitations, revealing that “you will not see me too much” as he keeps the game simple. “I do the dirty things you do not recognise but someone has to do it.”
Schlager joined Nottingham Forest on a free transfer in the summer
Aside from his standout moment that was impossible to miss, that was exactly what he did in the win over City. In what was a particularly intense game, Schlager was the only outfield player on either side to win possession of the ball more times than he lost it.
As a result, the player who in that amusing introduction to the fans admitted that he was “not the quickest” and “not as skilful as some” is actually crucial. Maybe this was the key line? “The most important thing is I want to make my teammates around me better.”
James McAtee, Schlager’s partner in midfield for much of the season so far, is enjoying the best form of his Premier League career. Ryan Yates took the plaudits on his return to the starting line-up on Saturday. Schlager is a facilitator, a true team player.
Speaking to his former coach Oscar about him, he remains a huge admirer. “In midfield, he can have the ball, he can make the last pass, he can play with the left, he can play with the right, and he can recover the ball very well when the team is gegenpressing.”
The passing aspect is not obvious but the statistics show that while his pass completion rate is 84.5 per cent, his expected completion rate is just 77.6 per cent given the difficulty of those passes under pressure. He is in the top 20 for overperformance on this metric.
In other words, Xaver Schlager is tidy on the ball and working incredibly hard off it. On Saturday, he ran 11.92 kilometres, more than anyone else on the pitch. He is not Elliot Anderson. But he is contributing. That big moment against City highlighted it perfectly.
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