The Defensive Midfielder - The Death of Top Level Association Football?

[Барбоса]

As money pours its way into top level, particularly European, football, the fundamental need to win seems to be being replaced by a need to not lose. Rather than trying to score goals, teams are focusing more preventing the other team not only from scoring but from playing any kind of entertaining football. This was something born in the 1970s mostly by Italian and German teams to confront skillful and good passing sides such as Johan Cryuff's Ajax or Bill Shankly's Liverpool and Pele's Brazil on the world stage.

However, at that time, the ultra-negativity had not yet been born as players such as Franz Beckenbauer not only had defensive duties but also offensive ones too. The modern game may have advanced leaps and bounds since the days of Pele, Moore, Cruyff and Rossi but not always for the better and in the realm of defensive football, I think it has taken a giant step backwards.

The main problem in this has been the rise to prominence of the defensive midfielder, a player assigned to protect the centrebacks by breaking up or slowing the oppositions attacks through harrying them in possession or tough tackling. Now there is a certain art to it and when it is done well, it can be great to watch as long as the team builds upon such an individuals hard work. Players like Claude Makelele and Roy Keane stand out in my mind as exponents of this art in a 4-5-1 formation

However, a recent development that has appeared in European football and has made it to the EPL is the deploying of two such defensively minded players, sometimes even more. All last year, my own team Liverpool, consistently played with Lucas Leiva and Javier Mascherano defending the back four, leaving our central striking lacking support in a bastardisation of the 4-5-1 that looked more like a 4-2-3-1

Mascherano is particularly good at this kind of play, slowing the oppositions attack allowing his defense to get into position or winning the ball outright. Two seasons ago, he would then give the ball to Xabi Alonso, who although playing deep in the formation would always look to play the ball forward and quickly. Lucas on the other hand is not an offensive threat. Therefore, while we could be difficult to score against, we did not score many goals and found it difficult to chase a game if we conceded first.

Other teams have been infected by this. Just this passed week I saw Manchester City playing the same way with two, sometimes three, men protecting the defence while even the great passers of Xavi and Iniesta at Barcelona play very deep alongside Sergio Busquets, making them very hard on the eye at times.

Indeed, the 2010 World Cup in South Africa was almost completely ruined by many of the leading teams deploying this kind of 4-2-2-1-1 formation.

Spain had the aforementioned Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets along with Xabi Alonso and Fabregas and while their ability to hold onto the ball was incredible, they were difficult to watch so packed was the midfield.

The Dutch were by far the worst exponents of this negative football as De Jong and Van Bommel set about not only disrupting their opponents but at times resorting to kicking. The Final itself was a testament to this and it would have been a travesty had they won the competition.

Even the expansionist Brazilians played incredibly negatively at times, seen most clearly in their quarter-final with the Dutch where they tried to rely on defending despite their attack carving the Dutch apart for the first half.

If this trend continues then it will not just be the World Cup but the EPL and European football in general that become a very poor advertisement for a sport looking to break into the North American market.

 

[LUFC HBK]

Great read and I really agree with what you are saying. Defensive formations ruin the spectacle of football and I believe that for some teams it hampers their potential. Germany throughtout the world cup used the 4 2 3 1 formation you spoke about and I believe it stopped them beating Spain. They had the form going into that match and many brilliant players yet they only had 5 shots to Spain's 13 and only 39% of possession because they played defensively and let Spain come on to them.

The opposite of this is New Zealand's world cup campaign. New Zealand played a very attacking 3 4 3 formation throughout the torunament.

Now of course New Zealand aren't the strongest footballing nation, yet we went to the greatest football tournament in the world and didn't lose a game. I strongly believe that this is because we were attacking and took the game to our opponents. We never stopped attacking our opponents and that meant we came back to draw against Slovakia and take the lead against former World Champions Italy. Had we have followed the direction of European football and the defensive mentality we would have experienced disaster.

Again Great Thread

 

[newc868]

Have to say great thread and I agree with you that the modern game sees a large reliance on the DM due to try and nulify the attacking midfield threat.

Claude Makelele was the greatest exponent of this for me and was probably one of the best signings they've made in the Chelski era so far - right up there with Carvalho and Drogba.

When Makelele showed the true effectiveness and dominance this role could have, we've been witness to rise in the DM role. Now a team isn't really a team until they have a DM, and now it's recommended you carry TWO of them. As you pointed out with Barcelona - they're a great example of this. Also, Liverpool and Real Madrid our examples of this.

Gone are the days that 2 strikers upfront was the norm and now you've got a greater focus on wingers. This means 4-5-1, 4-3-2-1, 4-1-2-2-1, etc. and the lack of the classic 4-4-2... which is reserved in the Modern game by teams like Machester United and England.

Great thread - loved to read it - and I while I agree that the defensive midfield situation is a problem - it's a fad. One that will hopefully be gone in 10 years.

 

[Miko]

To me, seeing a team defend well can be as, if not more entertaining than seeing a team attack well, probably because I can relate to it.

On the other hand, I can see why people dont like it, Man City have gone the worst possible route for this type of thing, often their formation looks more like 4-6-0 and their lack of going forward is pretty shocking for a team that expensive. It's an idea that only really works if you have real threats going forward.

Yeah, playing too defensively will kill the game, I like the idea of having one guy in front defending the defence as it were, it helps stop counter attacks, it shows what a tactical game football can be, but teams playing too defensively can drag the game down, as the last world cup showed. At the end of the day, football is about scoring goals, and Man City are seriously struggling with that part of the game.

 

[Dum Dum Dudley]

I just want to start off by saying great thread. After spending so long in the wrestling forums, i was glad to see this section of the forums highlighting football so expect me to go to town on this section!

And i have to agree with you, the increased importance of the defensive midfielder has certainly changed the game, but i think rightly so. As important as it is to score goals, you have to make sure you don't concede them either. Claude Makélelé is a good example of how important the role is. Read what Steve McManaman had to say about Makélelé's time at Real Madrid.

I think Claude has this kind of gift – he's been the best player in the team for years but people just don't notice him, don't notice what he does. But you ask anyone at Real Madrid during the years we were talking about and they will tell you he was the best player at Real. We all knew, the players all knew he was the most important. The loss of Makélelé was the beginning of the end for Los Galacticos… You can see that it was also the beginning of a new dawn for Chelsea. He was the base, the key and I think he is the same to Chelsea now.

As important as the Galacticos such as Ronaldo, Figo, Raul and Roberto Carlos were, you need that anchor to shore up the defence and i think a lot of teams have realised this, but at the cost of over-inflated transfer fees and contracts. I still can't fathom how Yaya Touré can earn £220k a week for such a role when Man City already have Barry, De Jong and Kompany. I think you're right; teams have become far more negative with their use of the defensive midfielder at the expense of a second striker.