He [Van Gaal] said: "He (Carrick) is a player who can read the game - and that is what I am looking for, players who can read the game.

"Not only individually, but also for the team, because the team is more important.

"All the players can read the game individually, their own role, that is not so difficult.

"But to see it for the team is more difficult and not so many players can read the game for the team (like Carrick can)."

Schweinsteiger is also a superb reader of the game and has scored spectacularly due to his good positioning. He has been called "the brain" of the German national team by his coach Joachim Löw.[31]

“He is the head of the [our] team,” Jupp Heynckes, the Bayern coach, told Reuters. “He gives the tempo, he steers our game and is very hard to replace. When he is not there, then both our offensive and defensive game is affected.”