Manchester United vs. Club Brugge: Bastian Schweinsteiger Must Be 1st Choice

The headline-grabbing performance of Memphis during Manchester United vs. Club Brugge rightly captured attention. He was the star of the show, scoring two of the goals and providing the assist for the third.

There were plenty of other positives for the Red Devils, too. The full-backs were superb once again, and Wayne Rooney displayed brief glimpses of quality—a marked improvement over his previous two games, although there is plenty of work yet to be done.

One shining positive from the season as a whole and last night in particular was the presence of Bastian Schweinsteiger. Now, the German must surely start against Newcastle United at the weekend and—fitness permitting—be elevated to "first name on the team sheet" status.

When Schweinsteiger came on against Aston Villa on Friday night, it looked, as Alex Shaw of ESPN FC put it on his Twitter feed, "like a Dad who turned up to a kids' game." That was a perfect simile for the improvement in quality he brought on to the pitch at Villa Park.

Tuesday night was different. Indeed, Schweinsteiger perhaps looked—hard as it is to countenance—a little nervous for the first few minutes of his second-half appearance. That soon passed, though, and he took command of his role and the game.

He replaced Michael Carrick at the break. After the game, Louis van Gaal confirmed he had made the switch for tactical reasons, saying, "I have to build up games for Schweinsteiger because we need a Schweinsteiger in our team."

Although Carrick managed to provide an assist for Memphis' first goal, he did not have a good half. There was the own goal, which was unfortunate rather than awful, but symbolic of his general underwhelming performance. As always, he kept the ball for his side far more often than he gave it away, completing 32 of his 36 attempted passes.

However, his passing was not particularly effective. Even the pass for the assist left Memphis with plenty to do, in spite of Michael Owen's bizarre claim during BT Sport commentary that it was "the pass of the season."

There are plenty of stylistic differences between Schweinsteiger's play and Carrick's, and they were very evident in the two halves of last night's game.

He is much more inclined to get upfield and join in the attack than Carrick. He is obviously more of an imposing physical presence than Carrick. His passing is as good, and his leadership is more pronounced. All in all, in a straight fight between the two, there should only be one winner.

United were almost entirely dominant in the second half. Schweinsteiger's statistics reflect that—his pass-completion percentage was the same as Carrick's, but he made almost 18 more pass attempts, meaning he saw much more of the ball.

Whether that was a function of United's dominance or part of the cause of it cannot be gauged from the statistics. But, subjectively, the Red Devils midfield looked a good deal more comfortable with Schweinsteiger at the heart of things.

Of course, football is a squad game, and Carrick will play a useful part this season. However, his place as a vital cog in United's midfield could be on the wane.

Matthew Ashton - AMA/Getty Images

Assuming Schweinsteiger can stay fit, his initial impact suggests he will be a pivotal part of any success United have this season. His presence has already been crucial three games into the new campaign.

There are challenging questions for Van Gaal to answer about the balance of his side and the makeup of his midfield. What is not a challenging question to answer, though, is "should Bastian Schweinsteiger be in the starting XI?"

If he is fit and not being rested for some important future encounter, the answer to that question must be a resounding yes.

All advanced statistics per UEFA.com.