In this day and age, with a focus on data and analysis, it's easy to lose sight of the value of reliable and diligent midfielders. However, even among the most expensive and ornamental giants, they still have players such as Kante, Busquets and Makelele.
Nemanja Matic is one of the most underrated players in the Premier League, with a strong technical and tactical quality and a perfect sense of position.
You can't carry a team alone, but one player is enough to change the situation. Last weekend, our team (Brighton) visited Old Trafford and although they played well, they ended up empty-handed, and I came to the above conclusion after watching the game. Ashley Young scored the winning goal for United and he received the accolades and praise he deserved; there was another player in their squad who repeatedly blocked our threatening counter-attacks without being taken seriously and appreciated at all.
He doesn't have super-fast speed and skilful footwork like Paul Pogba, Marcus Rashford, Romelu Lukaku or Anthony Martial, but he never loses position in the game, contains our attack from the source, and uses simple and decisive short passes to help United launch an attack and give his teammates the freedom to play up front. Manchester United took down the crucial three points and continued to follow Premier League leaders Manchester City, who played the role of key man in the team.
I got on the team bus after the game and heard Brighton's teammates talking about some of the top players the team had met. However, his name was not mentioned, so I began to think about the importance people attached to the "waterman" players. Such players do dirty work, helping star teammates in the front court shine on the offensive end, while ensuring that the backline is not exposed to opposing fire.
Nemanja Matic is perhaps one of the most underrated players in the Premier League, but if you look back at the most successful teams in modern football, which club doesn't have a dynamic, tactically literate, selfless style and perfect sense of position to drag the midfielders? Such players can maintain the balance of the defensive end and launch a threatening counterattack from the backcourt, playing a crucial interface role for the team.
Think of iconic powerhouses of the past few decades: Pep Guardiola's Barcelona, Sir Alex Alex Ferguson's "Treble" Manchester United, Arsena Wenger's "unbeaten division" Arsenal, Jose Mourinho's Chelsea, and even the miraculous Leicester City. Without players like Sergio Busquets, Roy Keane, Patrick Vieira, Claude Makelele and Ngolo Kante, the team may not be able to function smoothly, and they are the cornerstones of their respective teams' success.
Fernandinho is a key link in Manchester City's squad.
My concern is that in our day and age, where analysis and data are more relied upon to quantify the performance of a team or player, the terms "key passes", "expected goals" and "coverage distance" are becoming more common, while the strength of such key players is being overlooked. These players are of unquantifiable value, and we can count the successful steals or completed passes of the players, but many contributions cannot be described numerically: they bring positional balance to the team, prevent the opponent from sending direct passes with the correct defensive position, and send the timing, speed and vision of the pass for teammates.
City have played eye-catching performances this season, and the focus has naturally been on the brilliant attacking performances of Kevin De Bruyne, Leroys Sane, Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus. However, I dare to guarantee that if you ask these players or Pep Guardiola and Fernandinho how important they are in the team's 4-3-3 formation, they will certainly praise the midfielder for his key role in the team: his discipline, tactical awareness, organization and support liberate the attackers in the frontcourt, allowing these skilled players to create all kinds of threats in the front. Without the presence of the Brazil international, City's system would have been greatly compromised.
Our opponents in this round are Liverpool, a team that has played exciting offensive football this season, but their backline has always been a bit fragile, and many defenders have been criticized by the media for their poor performances. I want to make it clear that these defenders always seem to be defending in isolation, lacking a top back in front of them to provide a barrier and prevent the opponent from counterattacking.
Jordan Clarkson, Emre Jan and Gini Wijnaldum are all excellent midfielders with their own characteristics, but none of them can be called midfield hubs, not the kind of players who are willing to give up their offensive talents to protect the back line, so they can't help the team suppress the opponent's counterattack.
Players are now at an all-time high in the transfer market, and all teams are looking to find a striker who can score 20 goals in a season, or a winger or attacking midfielder who can contribute 15 assists in a season, or a goalkeeper who can keep 20 clean sheets in a season. However, the impact of the midfielders who have a selfless style, high technical and tactical literacy and a good sense of position on the game cannot be described in numbers, and their true value is sometimes overlooked.
Article source: The Guardian