Ask most what a DM in football is and they most will reply
you "defensive midfielder". This is true on the surface of it, but
what most mean when they say defensive midfielder is a destroyer. Football is
like a science. It evolves. From a tactical stand point, things change from
time to time and can also be recycled from years gone into use in the present.
Now the "destroyer" or "Makelele role" as some would say is
from an era gone. We are in the era of a DM not necessarily being a bruiser who
intercepts, tackles, hassle and does the work in the defensive phase or defensive
transition, we are now in an era of a deep lying player maker or a mediocentro
or regista (as they are known in Spain and Italy respectively).
It is for a fact that
most top clubs in Europe (class A and B) employ a player of this profile.
Barcelona (Sergio Busquets), Bayern Munich (Xabi Alonso), PSG (Thiago Motta),
Juventus (before his ACL injury Marchisio). Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and
Manchester City are the only other clubs not mentioned here. Pep Guardiola will
surely implement that with Fernandinho/Ilkay Gündogan. Atleti have a
"special" way of playing so they are exempted from this. This leaves
the current European champions, Real Madrid. It is a strange case. The club
adopted the idea of having a mediocentro with Xabi Alonso contrary to popular
opinion that the club hasn't had a "dm" since Makelele. Then after
the Spaniard left, Toni Kroos was drafted into the role. The German is a
cerebral player and he took to that role slowly and steadily. He played the
role for a year under Carlo Ancelotti, played there a few times under Rafa
Benitez. The other times he didn't play there under the Spaniard, Casemiro, a
destroyer in every sense of the word, was drafted in. Under Zidane, Kroos
returned to the dm role again, but after the Madrid derby defeat in late
February, Casemiro became a starter for the club whenever he was available. At
the time it was seen as Zidane trying to give the team shield while he worked
on other aspects. The off season has come and gone, Real Madrid made no real
efforts to sign a box to box or another mediocentro. Zidane was interested in
Paul Pogba, but Florentino Perez wasn't willing to pay the asking price and
that was that. It now seems that Zidane has planned for this season with the
Casemiro has the holder. Most would agree that it is okay considering the club
won the champions league with him as holder. This is true, but it is also true
the club had a rather easy route through to the final. You could argue that,
there's no 3rd midfielder in the current squad, but James Rodriguez performed
that role well under Carlo Ancelotti. Isco started playing the role under the
aforementioned Ancelotti and still plays there well enough. Mateo Kovacic
although he doesn't play there often those have the attributes of one who will
excel there. The issue now is, what type of DM Real Madrid should play with. A
destroyer (Casemiro) or a mediocentro (Kroos). A club of Real Madrid's nature,
it is essential, a mediocentro is occupying the deeper midfield role. Now I'll
describe the basic responsibilities it takes to play the role.
* Build up: The player in the role must take charge of this phase and know
when, to whom and at what pace to pass the ball to a teammate in order to
advance the play in an organised manner. Merely passing it or hitting diagonals
is not enough. Each pass must carry a meaning and an idea.
* Offensively: The player must offer/create a consistent
passing lane to his teammates in order to add ball circulation at various
points of the build-up
* Defensively: The player must be able to do what a typical destroyer would,
intercept, tackle (when needed), hassle and also form part of the defence when
it becomes necessary to do so.
From the above description, most destroyers carry out only the defensive phase
and do very little when it comes to the build-up & attack phase. This
reason on the surface explains why most teams who play with a mediocentro play
better aesthetically pleasing football, because they have one more player to
facilitate and essentially be the brain of the 1st phase of the build-up.
Using the two players used as case study, we apply their attributes to the
role.
* Casemiro: Getting this out of the way, the Brazilian
exhibits most the traits you expect of a player of his profile. The player most
times is over zealous and goes in for the ball aggressively which will tend to
recover balls for his team as much as giving away free kicks. The Brazilian
lacks the positional awareness to anticipate where the ball will likely be
played and how best to place his body in order to win possession without going
to ground. In the attacking phase and build up phase, lies the major problem
with Casemiro and this position. Basic understanding of how to start or indeed
facilitate the build-up in the first phase and at any other phase do not exist.
Ability to also use the ball with or without pressure is also minimal for the
player. You can see it in his game, that he avoids having the ball as much as
possible. Although when forced to, he can pass it but there lies a sense of
nervousness with the ball.
The graphic here shows Kroos deeper, after passing it to
Casemiro, the Brazilian immediately knocks it backwards towards the centre
backs
 |
| The graphic here shows Kroos deeper, after passing it to Casemiro, the Brazilian immediately knocks it backwards towards the centre backs |
* Kroos: Toni in one word. Cerebral. He understands every
phase of the pitch through years of playing as a number 10, a normal central
midfielder and the times he played deepest. Match this to his incredible
ability to give a pass from any area of the pitch to another to precise
accuracy. Always trying to involve team mates as much as possible. From side to
side, vertically, into the final 3rd. Left or right. Defensively is where the
problem comes with the German. There exist a myth that when pressed, he loses
possession easily. This isn't necessarily true, he has an excellent body shield
on him which results in him winning fouls most times or finding an angle to
pass off the ball whilst protecting the ball from the opponent. The defensive
good traits of Kroos, is his pressing and interceptions (this is severely
underrated). The German will barely go in for a slide tackle and his pressing
comes off as passive at times. He also isn't fast nor is he aggressive and for
this reason can easily be beaten in a 1v1 which could leave his back line
exposed.
At Real Madrid currently, there is a myth that Casemiro
brings balance and frees up Luka Modric & Toni Kroos. This is true in the
defensive phase only, but outside that, the Brazilian offers next to nothing in
the build-up phase and offensive phase. It is clear at this point that in the face
the does not offer the balance and freedom to his midfield partner but rather
handicaps them as they drop often to perform duties meant for the
Brazilian.
 |
| The image shows how the two interiors (Kroos and Modric are deeper than the actual “dm”) |
This problem seems clear to team as a whole, as the defenders now see to ignore
the Brazilian in the build-up phase and try finding other team mates
 |
| Notice Kroos trying to help Sergio Ramos dictate by pointing to Casemiro, but he is ignored with the defender preferring the longer ball forward which is lost as shown below |
The graphics used to describe these two issues may have been from one game, but
this has been a reoccurring occurrence in the game play of Real Madrid. A lack
of confidence from the team and the player himself to gain possession is a
problem as much as having him in the team is "solution".
An argument
could be made it is better to play Casemiro as the safety measure as his flaws
in the role are less harmful to the team as is Kroos' flaw in the position.
This argument is not necessarily true because, in time, teams will notice this
issue and try to offset it by applying a press in the their attacking and
midfield zone which as shown by Real Sociedad & Celta vigo in the first two
games, will need to be seen through by either dribbling or passing through,
both of which instantly nullifies Casemeiro and makes Real Madrid handicap,
with ones less player in such tight situations. Real Madrid won those 2 games,
but neither would be called a vintage Real performance. Clearly the quality of
players at the club mean games will be won regardless of this tactical handicap
but there also will be days when the quality will have off days or the quality
of players on the opposing side will be on par whilst having similar knowledge
of how to stop this Real Madrid team. Those are the days when the club could
suffer most by dropping points on off days or failing to beat teams that could
harm them with quality too (in CL for instance)
To conclude this piece, the demands of the roles have been explained. Also,
defending is not exclusive to the defenders and the DM. Football is a team
sport should be done as a team. Not one position or more is limited to specific
duties. Defending should be done as a team, as unit, with each player knowing
doing their part for the collective good. Therefore, it is in my opinion that
in this era, where the elite clubs want to play aesthetically pleasing football
as well as win games,S having a mediocentro over a destroyer as your
"DM" is absolutely paramount.
