The unsung position: The Makelele role

If you thought a Defensive Midfielder (DMF) is the one who sits in front of the back four, making two-footed challenges on everything that is near the ball, then, I must say, you better start following a sport which you actually understand. To put it in simple terms – He is the linchpin of a team; He is like cog in the wheel. A good team always flourishes on the back of a steady DMF. The recent case in point is much-discussed performances of Senna and Busquets in the Spanish success at Euro’08 and World Cup’ 10 respectively. Even most of the world beating Brazilian sides always had a dependable Defensive Midfielder.

At the hindsight, everyone realises that these players are not as celebrated as other superstars.  This is what Zidane had to say about Claudio Makelele, considered to be the best defensive midfielder ever, when he got transferred to Chelsea from 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

There are reasons why these players do not receive the appreciation they truly deserve. I have tried my best to list some of them.

Value for money:

In the world of inflated transfer market, the investments that seem little reasonable are the ones made on DMFs. This is simply because most of the time the person responsible for approval of the investment (usually the chairman/the board) does not understand the importance of these players. Thus, ruling out exorbitant money being splashed on these positions like those on strikers/ playmakers. This is how Club president Florentino Perez jeered when Makelele handed over the transfer request after his demand for improved contract terms was turned down.

“We will not miss Makélelé. His technique is average; he lacks the speed and skill to take the ball past opponents, and ninety percent of his distribution either goes backwards or sideways. He wasn’t a header of the ball and he rarely passed the ball more than three meters. Younger players will arrive who will cause Makélelé to be forgotten.”

-Perfect description of a Defensive Midfielder by a layman.

So if you are to prepare a list of world’s best players based on the transfer money, you probably would run out of paper to list these players.

Subtle Artistry:

Viewers are so much subjected to the dirty side of these workhorses; they reason about the lack of artistry in these players, which is otherwise found aplenty in creative forwards and play makers. This is like I going to an art gallery, looking at a weird painting and saying – ‘What is so great about this??’ (Yes! when it comes to art/painting I am at the bottom of the ocean).

The greatest asset of a DMF is his positioning. This skill is an art in itself.  A good DMF positions himself in most pivotal positions during an onslaught from the opposition. This cancels out any possibility of clever through balls. DMF is also an intelligent game reader. He closely monitors movements of both the ball as well as players off-ball moments and has innate knowledge about the timing of the interception. The fact that most of the art in him is expressed, when not in possession of the ball is probably the reason viewers fail to appreciate them. (If you had had enough of football watching a thing to add here – Don’t just concentrate on the action. Try to watch off-ball movements of the players. It would be refreshing)

‘Inception’-ists (Nope! this has nothing do with dreams)

 

Today is the age of final actors. They get all the accolades, praises, and awards. Men behind the scenes are left behind for good. In football it’s no different. Only the goal scorer and the goal saving defender gets the recognition. The fact that DMF is the last link in either chain, keeps him under no limelight. But ask any manager, they would concede that DM is the ‘Inceptionist’ (Please don’t search for the word in the dictionary) of the moves which ultimately create goal scoring opportunities.  Most of the threatening attacks start from him. Likewise, you can almost always track back a goal conceding move, to a slip up from the DMF.
 

KISS- Keep it short and simple (That’s what managers tell them)

Another hallmark of a DMF is to keep the game as short and simple as possible. Because most of his play happens in his own half, it is imperative that he keeps his game, bereft of any errors. So you always find him playing simple and short seemingly innocuous passes. Thus, eliciting responses like the one stated above (from Real Madrid President). At the same time, he also possess in his armory, those unique little turns and twists. These may not be those flashy moves which leave your mouth wide open, but they certainly are quite effective in opening up the spaces.

The list just goes on. These are just few of my observations. I guess, many of you here will have lot more to share.