http://www.soccerfootball.co.uk/2013/11/29/dm-today-will-make-team-play/ [HR][/HR] In this article I am going to look at the role and importance of a defensive midfielder in a team. I will begin by looking at the composition of a team before going on to what I consider the importance of a defensive midfielder in the team. I will end by looking at a few defensive midfielders across Europe and give my take on their strengths and weaknesses and how they could benefit some teams. Composition of the Team I am going to be a little humorous here and I shall be looking at the composition of a team in comparison to building a car. I will begin with the manager. The manager would be your designer; he decides the shape and size (form). In this case, the manager would also decide how he would like the car to run (horsepower etc.). The goalkeeper is what I would define as the braking system. A better way to put it would be as the stopper. A car requires brakes in order to stop and avoid getting into accidents. The goalkeeper’s role is similar to that, he is the last line of defence and his job is to prevent any accidents (opposition goal). The defence is what I consider the tyres/wheels. Without the tyres, you cannot break the car. Therefore it is important to have the tyres so the break will actually work. I have said wheels because the defence is also the place where you begin the movement (playing out from the back). You have your central midfielders; they take you forward and help you move forwards towards the goal. This would be the accelerator, without the accelerator you will be stuck in one place with the inability to move forward. The central midfielders provide this surge forward. Then there are your attacking midfield (flair) and wide players. These are the gloss of the team, in other words the exterior of the car. What everyone looks at and thinks this is good (or bad). They provide the flair and tricks to the team as well as everything else that you can see from the outside. Then we have the strikers, they are what complete the team, put the finishing touches and give you the end product. I will compare them to the interiors of the car. When you buy your car, you expect an end product. That end product is best satisfied once you sit inside your car and think, “yes I like this one”. The strikers are the end product in a football team, providing the goals and the feeling that, “yes we have scored”. You will probably be looking at my team and thinking,” well you have completed the team and there is no defensive midfielder, but the team looks perfectly fine to me”. However, you are forgetting a few key things that would complete the composition of a car. Those things are the steering wheel, the engine, and the fuel. Some of these things are generally what people ignore the most, but are in fact the most important aspect of the car. I am going to use a quote that I have seen before (not sure if it’s real, but it’s apt), used by a great man. “Why put another layer of gold paint on the Bentley when you are losing the entire engine?” This great man was Zinedine Zidane. I am kind of stealing his thunder in the way I have come up with my composition, however I think it is only apt that I use the great man as my inspiration for this as he was also the reason for my love of football as it is in its current form today. The Zidane quote was in reference to Claude Makelele’s departure and David Beckham’s arrival at Real Madrid. Through the quote we can see the importance a defensive midfielder plays in the composition of a team. The same way by which without an engine/petrol etc. you cannot start you and without a steering wheel you cannot guide it where you want it to go for a car, the same way, without a defensive midfielder you will lose the engine and power to get your team going and encouraging the players to move forward and attack. Importance of the Defensive Midfielder When you begin talking about a defensive midfielder, it is impossible to actually tell you exactly what their role should be. I would like to use a few phrases I have seen in the past that have described a defensive midfielder that show just how hard it is to really put a role down on paper. Phrases such as: “The one man wall”, “The invisible wall”, “The last man standing”, and “The Engine room” are some that I have seen used to describe the role of a defensive midfielder. Looking at those terms, it would be hard to pinpoint what attributes are required in your defensive midfielder. However, I will give it a go. For me, the main role of the defensive midfielder is simply to allow your creative midfielders to play the attacking football required to get your team goals and encouraging runners to run the channels. That being said, it is easy to just say this but to put it into practice is much harder. For the lack of a better word, I shall call that attribute channelling. Channelling because you encourage your attacking players to go further forward and contribute to the attack and encouraging players to run into the channels, Channelling because you are telling them: “I have got this, you go forward and get us the end product”. Now although this is an attribute that is never really placed upon a player, it is an extremely important one. Moving on, the next attribute(s) that are extremely important are those that involve a player’s ability to read the game. This includes their positioning and anticipation. A defensive midfielder, as I have mentioned above, is often considered ‘the one man wall’, therefore it is important that he positions that wall effectively in order to stop the attacker from successfully going over/past the wall. Anticipation is another important attribute, it means that you have the intelligence to know when to break out of position and take the ball or tackle your man. If your anticipation is even a couple of seconds either side, the player will either be past you or have enough time and space to pass to his team-mate. The next attribute that I consider to be important is the recycling of the ball. You can view it literally as either trash it (kick into touch) or recycle it (give it to a teammate). By recycling the ball you are not only keeping the possession for your team (instead of kicking it out and giving the opposition possession), you are also then ‘Channelling’ (in a limited sense), which as I said before I consider the most important attribute to have in a defensive midfielder. The next attribute I consider important would be composure. It may not be your typical attribute for a defensive midfielder; however it is very important for a player who acts as your last man before the defence. By having a composed head and not sometimes making rash decisions, it will help the decision making of the player and allow the other attributes to be looked at in a better light. Finally, the last attribute I consider important for a defensive midfielder to have is tackling. As you can see, this is the least important attribute in my opinion; however, I do consider it an attribute that a defensive midfielder requires. I say least important because if the anticipation and positioning of a defensive midfielder is spot on, then there will be little need to actually tackle the opponent. However, that being said, there are times where he will need to tackle, therefore it is an important attribute. The importance of tackling or the art of tackling should I say, is extremely important. The ideal defensive midfielder would do it in a way where he does not go all out, but does it in a manner in which he can begin the recycling process of his game. The perfect execution of a tackle is not easy, but when done well it is the most beneficial. Here I am not trying to say that do not slide while tackling, or do not lunge into tackles. What I am merely trying to say that the true art is in doing it in a manner by which you can win the ball back and recycle possession. That was my attempt in trying to define the roles I feel are most important in a defensive midfielder. If I had to give them an order of importance it would go: ‘Channelling’, ‘Reading’, ‘Recycling’, ‘Composure’, ‘Tackling’.
I am now going to continue to and point out 3 of my favourite defensive midfielders that I have actually watched play. By doing this I can then go on and explain what terms I use while describing a defensive midfielder. The first player is Gennaro Gattuso. This is probably a controversial one as there are probably better defensive midfielders out there that fit my criteria much better, in fact there is very little Gattuso does to fall into my criteria’s, however during his Milan days Gennaro Gattuso, for me, was just great fun to watch. You can call him what you want, ‘Pitbull’, ‘Bulldog’, ‘Mad man’, or anything else. The man was a legend. If you asked me to name one player who, for me, fulfils everything I would want in the destroyer role, I would say Gattuso. Nowadays there are many defensive midfielders who tend to go box to box and are eventually used as a partner to a defensive midfielder. Gattuso was used in the center of midfield for Milan; however he did not go box to box, he went side to side. Milan played a diamond formation with Pirlo at the base and Seedorf and Gattuso in the Center. Out of those three, Gattuso was your defensive midfielder. Pirlo being the playmaker had license to roam. Gattuso would hold the fort in midfield, and would he do it well. He was not really interested in parading forward like your typical box to box; he was more interested in taking out his man if he dared to cross the boundary that belonged to Gattuso. A true destroyer, I have extreme love for Gattuso and therefore he takes position 3 in my top 3 defensive midfielders that I have seen. The final two players are really hard for me to give a rank to; however they will both be players that fall in line with my criteria. In number 2 I would probably put Claude Makelele. There are many people out there who now call the defensive midfielder ‘the Makelele role’. They would not be wrong in doing so. As I have mentioned before, Zidane labelled Makelele as being the most important player of Madrid and his departure could not be justified. Makelele was the anchor to Madrid’s team between 2000 and 2003, and that was followed by Chelsea till 2008. I have chosen these two spells, as they were his most successful and probably the reason why the role is now called ‘The Makelele Role’. The reason Makelele takes up 2nd position and not first position because for me the thing he was not so good at is what I consider the most important attribute for a defensive midfielder, and therefore it would be hypocritical for me to rate him number 1. That attribute of course is the channelling. Makelele was a fairly limited passer and mainly performed the ‘Recycling’ role fairly adequately as he was able to pass it on to a team mate with ease, however his ability to get his attackers to push forward and channel them forward was not a real part of his game. Going through the attributes I deem most important. Makelele’s reading of the game was unparalleled, exceptional and just phenomenal. He was brilliant. This is probably where the term ‘The Makelele Role’ has come, because if there was anyone you would consider to read, anticipate and position themselves well it would be Claude Makelele. His composure on the ball and off the ball is another commendable attribute of his. Very calm and composed player Makelele should be the benchmark for most young defensive midfielders. My number 1 defensive midfielder would be Gilberto Silva. Most people probably remember him from the days he played at Arsenal and was part of the famous ‘invincibles’ team that won the Premier League in the 2003/2004 season. The reason Gilberto Silva is my number 1 defensive midfielder is because he ticks all the boxes that I laid out. He is great at channelling the forward players and will encourage the attackers to go forward and get the goal. His reading of the game is excellent, he positions himself well, he is a great anticipator very composed and like Makelele his tackling is almost flawless. His recycling comes without being said; by being a channeller he is automatically a recycler. Gilberto Silva, for me, is the epitome of a phenomenal defensive midfielder. Not only that, what is more impressive is that he is still playing football in Brazil. I think, but I am not sure, that he has won something in every team he has played for at least 1 whole season minimum. This is not including his World Cup win in 2002. Gilberto Silva is everything that I would want in my defensive midfielder, and his loss has been sorely missed for Arsenal. I would like to add, that if there is anyone currently who comes the closest to Gilberto Silva, for me that would be Sergio Busquets. He is another player who ticks all my boxes and performs his role at a much higher level than anyone else in football today. In the final part of the ‘importance of a defensive midfielder’ section I will be commenting on the terms that I use to define a defensive midfielder today. I have heard many people talk about the destroyer, the regista and the volante as being the most common ways to describe a defensive midfielder. Out of these terms, the true defensive midfielder would be the ‘volante’, which if we translate it would mean ‘steering wheel’. As I mentioned in the beginning, for me the defensive midfielder is aptly compared to the steering wheel in the car. If you want a perfect defensive midfielder, he would be your volante.
From the other two, a regista is nothing like a defensive midfielder, a regista is a deep lying playmaker whose attributes go hand in hand with playing as part of the attacking side of the game. Although the regista sits in front of the defence, he is seen as the playmaker. The destroyer would be more like a defensive midfielder; however they are viewed very much as box-to-box players. There are rarely times that you find a destroyer such as Gattuso that goes side to side as opposed to box to box. Currently, with the role of the defensive midfielder seemingly becoming less important I have broken the role into two terms that I will use to define the current defensive midfielder. These two terms are: Stopper-Destroyer and Controller-Shielder. Keeping in mind my criteria, you will notice that the roles I have given may not fulfil all the criteria that I have mentioned; however, I also said that fulfilling those criteria’s would make you the perfect defensive midfielder. Using these two terms I will go on to identify a few defensive midfielders that are probably available on the market and where I would categorize them. Current Defensive Midfielder Options Now I will be looking at a few options that are available for teams to buy during the January transfer window. If you are a supporter of Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United or even Real Madrid (since Khedira’s injury), you will probably agree that your team requires an improvement or upgrade on your current defensive midfielder. Fernando Reges Fernando Reges is a 26-year-old Brazilian footballer who plays for Porto. He moved to Porto in 2007 and has not looked back since. His contract currently runs out this summer and has decided that he will not renew it and will be moving on after 7 years at Porto. The reasons I have chosen to begin with Fernando is not only because he is an exceptional player, but also because he could probably fulfil both the roles of stopper-destroyer and controller-shielder. Personally, I see him more as the destroyer type than the shielder type of defensive midfielder, but having said that, I think he can perform exceptionally if asked just to shield the defence and not roam out and destroy the opposition players. Fernando has most if not all the qualities I would like to see in a defensive midfielder, therefore in my eyes he is one of the most talented, as well as under-appreciated defensive midfielders in Europe today. Going through his attributes, I will begin with his ‘Channeling’. Although I don’t see him in the Gilberto Silva mould as much as I think the Makelele mould, I think Fernando does channel his players somewhat. However, if I were to be asked would he tick that box, I would probably end up replying that he doesn’t. Next is his reading of the game. In my opinion, he reads the game very well and his positioning and anticipation are both very good. Next is his passing, having said that I do not consider him a ‘channeler’, I do think he is a fantastic passer of the ball. There are moments where he shows some brilliance in creativity but in most cases it is simply the ‘recycling’ and continuing the attacking play that he does with ease. Fernando is a very composed player, although I have said I could see him in the destroyer role, for me Fernando is a great player who does not make rash decisions or anything that would show lack of composure. Fernando’s tackling would probably be part of the reason I see him more as a destroyer rather than a shielder. Fernando likes to go into his tackles, but he does not tackle just to ensure the attacker cannot go further in attack, he does it in a way in which he can win the ball back and then proceed to recycle the ball once possession is won back. If I had to give Fernando a score out of 5 based on all my criteria’s I would want to give him a 4.5, however, I am not an advocate of 0.5 ratings and would therefore end up rounding it down to a 4. The reason I have said that I consider him to be a destroyer more than a shielder is because he is an excellent ball winner that would thrive in a role that allowed him to press higher up the pitch without having to worry about shielding the back four. However, Fernando is a very tactically astute player and he understands both aspects of the game. If you look at the midfield in triangles (I am not a big fan of this term) then you can look at either the 1-2 or the 2-1. It is here where you can see the different roles of these defensive midfielders. In the former, the player who occupies the ‘1’ would be seen more as a shielder-controller as he is expected to maintain the tactical awareness in order to shield the defence. In the latter, you can play your defensive midfield player as being a destroyer-stopper as part of the ‘2’. In my opinion, Fernando can play both those roles. He is a talented player and would be an extremely useful player for any team to pursue. Maxime Gonalons Maxime Gonalons is a 24-year-old defensive midfielder who plays for Lyon. He has been at Lyon since the age of 10 and has progressed through their youth ranks before finally making the step up to the first team during the 2009/2010 season. Eventually being broken in to the Lyon team he made steady appearances during that seasons and the following season. His real breakout season, where he solidified his place as starting player for Lyon was the 2011/2012 season. If I were to go with my two roles that I have given the defensive midfielder, I would place Gonalons in the Shielder-Controller role. My reasoning behind this lies purely with Gonalons’ positioning and reading of the game. Although he is a touch tackler and probably could do the role of a destroyer, Gonalons has extremely good positioning and would act as a great shield for our defence. If we go back to the triangles, Gonalons would be the ideal ‘1’ in a 1-2 midfield triangle. If we go back to my commonly used terms for defensive midfielder, Gonalons would act as a perfect ‘One man wall’. His positioning is excellent that whenever an attacker charges at the midfield, Gonalons would know exactly where to position him so that he can block the player and stop their attack. Going to my criteria for defensive midfielders again, Gonalons would fit the ‘channeler’ category. His passing is sublime; he understands the spaces on the pitch extremely well and is a very vocal player on the pitch as well. All these attributes combined have shown Gonalons ability to get his runners to go down the channel as well as encourage his attacking players to go forward while he controls and shields the back line. As I have mentioned before, Gonalons is a great reader of the game and would function brilliantly as the ‘one man wall’. His anticipation as well is excellent and is a lot of the reason he is seen as one of the best defensive midfielders in France. Moving on, Gonalons is a fantastic passer. He actually attempts a lot of long balls forward and some of them are accurate. Besides that he is more than a ‘recycler’ so he would tick that box. One aspect where I think Gonalons is not quite there yet is his composure. He is fairly composed during his passing; however, while going into tackles he seems a bit rash and acts a bit prematurely. Therefore although his tackling is fantastic, the composure does not put this in a good light. Finally, his tackling is great. He makes a lot of successful tackles and at times he can destroy his opponents with his tackles. Again, if I were to give him a score out of 5 based on all the criteria I have listed, he would merit a 4/5 like Fernando. What Gonalons does really well, that does not directly fall into my categories, but would most likely fall into the positioning category is the fact that he can set a high line and a good platform for both the defence and midfield to press higher up the pitch. This is all to do with his positioning and this is why he is perfectly suited to be the shielder defensive midfielder. With modern football containing several attacking full backs and the center backs being split wide Gonalons’ positioning and the platform that he sets is almost ideal for these systems. He is able to drop in between the split center backs in order to act as a shield to protect his team’s defence when the full backs have gone forwards. Gonalons is an excellent prospect. If he works on his composure he can definitely flourish and be mentioned amongst the great defensive midfielders.
Gave up reading after a few lines when it was clear that he didn't have a clue what the braking system of a car was all about and hence his analogy was a load of tosh!
Sven Bender Sven Bender is a 24-year-old German defensive midfielder who plays for Borussia Dortmund. He spent his youth at 1860 Munchen and at the age of 20 he moved to Dortmund. His first season as Dortmund he was used more in rotation and as an understudy to the club captain Sebastian Kehl. However, in the seasons that followed he began to cement is place in the first team. Out of the two roles that I have used to describe the defensive midfielders, Sven would fall under the shielder-controller category. His positional sense is extremely good and would act perfectly as the ‘one man wall’. He has also been deployed as a CB at times when Dortmund have lacked numbers in the back and he performs exceptionally well in this role due to his understanding of the game and knowing when to stop out and when to sit back. Going back to the great midfield triangle talk, Sven is best suited as playing in a 1-2 triangle as the ‘1’ shielding the defence and recycling possession and allowing his team to attack. He can also play in a 2-1 midfield next to a deep lying playmaker, which would allow him to shield, and the playmaker to start the attack from the deeper midfield position. Going through my criteria of the perfect defensive midfielder, I will begin with the ‘channelling’. I would say that Sven does not fit this criterion. Although he is a good passer, it is more in a recycling fashion than one to encourage runners down the channel or encourage attackers to go forward and attack. His passing is more limited and he gives it to a playmaker, either deep or further forward to build the play for the attack. Sven’s reading of the game is sublime. He is extremely good at positioning himself and his anticipation and knowing when to step out is also another great aspect of his game. He is very adept at keeping a high line allowing his defence to maintain a high line that allows Dortmund to successfully press further up the pitch and quickly win back possession in order to build an attack. As I have already mentioned above, Sven is an extremely good passer and barely makes a mistake in his passing. However, this is less to do with long balls and key passes and more to do with the recycling aspect of the game. As soon as he gets the ball, either through a tackle or interception, he recycles the ball well in order for his team to build their attack from there. Sven has great composure when he is on the ball as well as when he is making his tackles. He does go into his tackles aggressively, however they are not rash tackles and he often tackles to win back possession and build attacks from the midfield. Finally, Sven is a great tackler. He aims to tackle to win the ball as opposed to tackling to stop the opposition player from going forward. Giving him a score out of 5, I would give Sven a 4/5, similar to both Fernando and Gonalons. His ability to play, as both CB and DM are great signs that he is a fantastic player and his reading of the game and intelligence would be useful to any team in need of a defensive midfielder. The only downside to Sven is his injury problems that have had him on the side lines consistently over the past few years. If he is able to stay fit and avoid these injuries he can be a great acquisition for any top club looking to sign a defensive midfielder. Yann M’Vila Yann M’Vila is a 23-year-old French defensive midfielder who plays for Rubin Kazan. He began his youth football at the age of 9 for Amiens before moving to Rennes at the age of 14. He developed in the Rennes youth academy before making the step up to first team football at the age of 19. He was almost immediately drafted into the first team squad at Rennes following his performances for France U-19. He ended playing the whole season as a starter. The following season he was instrumental in helping Rennes qualify for the Europa league. Such were his performances that he was being linked with a move to Real Madrid. He was named in the team of the year and lost came second to Sakho for the Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year. M’Vila was subject to several off-field issues during his time at France and was subsequently banned from the French national team. His ban means that he will be unable to play for France in the World Cup in Brazil. Since his move to Russia, M’Vila has gotten over the issues that he dealt with in the past and has settled down mentally. M’Vila is a great player both on and off the ball. Typically a holding midfielder, M’Vila also has incredible energy and can carry the ball forward with great ease. Passing is another one of his strong points. He is good at playing long balls, through balls and simple passes to recycle the possession. M’Vila is suited in both midfield triangles due to his fantastic positioning and great energy. In the 1-2 he can act as the shield and in the 2-1 he could act as both the shield and destroyer or shield and playmaker. Although naturally M’Vila is a defensive midfielder he can easily be deployed further forward and given more playmaking responsibilities. It is due to this reason that I would find it hard to actually place him in one of the shielder-controller or destroyer-stopper categories. I feel he is capable of playing both roles with great ease. Moving on to my criterion for the perfect defensive midfielder, I will begin with channelling. What M’Vila understands the best, is space. With this understanding it is easy to see his willingness and ability to send runners down channels as well as split defences with his passes. Not only that but he can also keep it simple and play the ball to an attacking playmaker if there is no other space available. His great understanding of space, his ability to provide the ball for runners to move into space is the reason why I can say that M’Vila is very apt at the channelling criteria. The next category would be his reading of the game. Both his positioning and anticipation are sublime. He understands the game very well and is extremely capable of acting as the ‘one man wall’. As a shield he would know when to step out and when to remain in position. As a destroyer he knows how to position himself as a platform to allow players to press higher up the field and win the ball in the best possible place for the team to build an attack. As I have already mentioned, his passing is sublime. Not only does he possess great vision due to his understanding of space, his accuracy of those passes is also great. Not only is he able to play defence splitting passes, he is also able to keep it simple and recycle the ball. Possibly the only downside to M’Vila’s passing is the few assists that he has manager. However, that has got nothing to do with his inability to pass. On the composure front, we can see that M’Vila is a composed passer and even a composed passer. What would have made me say no to this category was if he still had the mental troubles off-field that could potentially see them in play on field. However, following his move and since he has calmed down he is a much more composed man both on and off the field. That being said, M’Vila was always concentrated when he played football, he never let any mental issues show when he was on the pitch and therefore he would fulfil this criteria as well. Finally, I will get to the tackling side of his game. If you go try and find stats of M’Vila you will probably think that he does not tackle well or that he does not like to tackle. Neither of those is true. Yann M’Vila is a very tidy tackler. Not only that, he rarely gets carded or sent off. He not only knows when to tackle, he also knows when not to tackle. This is a trait that I would want in my defensive midfielder and this is largely down to his great positioning and reading of the game. The reason tackling is last in the list of priorities for a defensive midfielder for me is because it is important for a defensive midfielder to be able to read the game very well and avoid making tackles that could either commit fouls or expose the defence. In that, M’Vila shines. If I were to give him a rating out of 5 I am sure all of you have noticed that he would get a 5/5. I have left M’Vila for last because he is currently my favourite defensive midfielder and I am certain that if he is able to get a move away from Russia he will impress for whichever club he plays for. M’Vila is not only the brightest defensive midfield prospect; he is also suited to play in several roles and is very much a team player. He would be a coup for any team that buys him.
We need someone, to say Lucas has no competition is absolutely criminal and thats been the case for far too long
I think someone hit the nail on the head - Lucas is only good when we have 60% of the possession and don't do a lot of chasing.
Yeah i saw that cant rem who posted it. He does seem to struggle when teams come at us and like you say, dont have majority of possession
One of the Bender's would be good, think the one at Bayer is better than the one at Dortmund but would love to have Didi MK II at the club.
Makelele gets a bit too much praise, in my opinion. Very good player, but limited. His passing/distribution was poor. I remember watching him often play it sideways to the fullbacks when they had nowhere to go or no other option on and had to lump it forward instead. He got the credit for the interception and moving it on and they got slammed for wasting possession. Great tackler and at intercepting, but poor at starting attacks or building from the back. I think Biscuits over at Barca is incredibly under rated. Very intelligent player, great feet and good in possession, always looking forward and brilliant off the ball movement. He isn't half bad at defending either. You lose that physicality but gain more flair and technique. M'Vila would be a good signing and bulk out our midfield a bit, he's also a reasonable target for where we're at. I'm still a big Lucas fan and believe he's good enough to be a top four player, but he needs better around him. I think even M'vila would struggle alongside Henderson and Gerrard. One defensive midfielder isn't going to solve many problems. Our flanks are weak, our wide forward options are limited and we've little creativity in the centre of the pitch. It's a start though, being a position we need more depth.
Funnily enough, I was thinking those exact words when I saw the OP + posts #1, #2. #3, #4 & #5 Summary anyone...?
Didn't read past the first post, saw it was from the same person and assumed it was a continuation of one article?
If you can't be arsed to read it, go to another thread tbh instead of coming across like an attention deficient spambot. (intended for anyone, not aimed at one in particular btw) I thought it was a good read, Jimmy, although I disagree with some parts
superb article jimmy. unfortunately i don't agree on gattuso.. as a player... donkey. i am glad you called out the regista role as well as the defensive one. I still maintain "defensive" is another word for donkey. somples simly in my view have to contribute positively when we have the ball
