The Importance of a Balanced Midfield

While the article below speaks more to the efficacy and prudence of one player (Essien), it is the midfield trio that I found of even more intrest.

It is long understood that football games are won and lost in the midfield, and establishing a solid presence there (as we apparently did vs PSV, but just didnt capitalise) is fundamental for victory (in most cases).

I will post more on this after some further reflection, but not getting Essien, or a player like him, may ultimately prove costly for us. On the other hand, Vogel is the kind of player (though aquired specifically to spell Pirlo) that we could utilize in an "Essien" type role.

The bold section of the article is where I would like readers to pay particular attention.

Your comments are appreciated.



From The Gaurdian:http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_...596316,00.html

The very model of a modern midfield general

Jon Brodkin at Stamford Bridge
Thursday October 20, 2005
The Guardian

A rerun of Saturday's game against Bolton must have made for nervous viewing for Michael Essien until Fifa saved him from an almost certain three-match suspension for a bad tackle, but the Chelsea midfielder can watch replays of last night's game with nothing more than satisfaction. Not only did Chelsea cruise past Real Betis but the former Lyon player demonstrated why the club went to such lengths and expense to sign him.

Utterly disciplined after last weekend's let-off for a dangerous challenge on Tal Ben Haim, Essien set up two Chelsea goals and defended and attacked excellently as part of what, with Frank Lampard and Claude Makelele, is arguably Europe's best midfield at the moment. His strength, eye for a pass and ability to burst forward stood out as Chelsea scored more than three goals for the third successive game.

If a player can possibly be termed a bargain at more than £24m, Essien looked that. No Chelsea fans will be pining for Steven Gerrard if he continues in this form and it is not just Essien's varied collection of talents which makes him so impressive but the way he complements those around him.

The blend of Chelsea's midfield trio looks ideal. When Manchester United stood at their peak under Sir Alex Ferguson it was often suggested that David Beckham, Roy Keane, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs were unmatched across the continent as a unit. Now perhaps only Juventus, with Patrick Vieira, Emerson, Pavel Nedved and Mauro Camoranesi, can match Chelsea in that department.

Essien showed here that his reliability in possession, capacity to spot a killer pass and ability to run powerfully with the ball - allied to his defensive qualities - make him an ideal foil for the ever-reliable Makelele and Lampard. Between them the three can do everything. Makelele's selfless work at the base of midfield, where he cleans up so much defensively and triggers moves with his quick passing, was again evident. It was his winning of the ball and pass to Hernán Crespo that culminated in Chelsea's sweeping third goal as Essien's vision put in Joe Cole for a fine finish.

Lampard, meanwhile, has a scoring habit unmatched by his midfield partners which has already brought him eight goals for Chelsea this season, and possesses a range of passing that marks him out. His perfect crossfield pass that cleared the Betis left-back and allowed Shaun Wright-Phillips to cross for Crespo's goal exemplified that.

Essien's driving runs bring a different element, his ball-winning adds to the solidity and his passes, which rarely leave the floor, can be devastating. His instinct for knowing when to run with the ball and when to release it stands out. That was demonstrated when he intercepted a loose Betis pass in the first half, surged forward past a floundering defender and picked out Drogba to put Chelsea ahead before anyone could challenge.

Here Essien, who linked well with Wright-Phillips several times, was usually the most advanced of the three midfielders but never ignored his defensive duties. The first-half minute during which he blocked a Betis shot near his own box and then helped his team almost score summed up his value. If Makelele is ever missing Chelsea have an ideal stand-in. A wild late shot over the crossbar when he might have passed was a rare aberration.

Mourinho has been generous in saying that Essien "has an incredibly clean record on disciplinary issues" given that has was sent off twice for Lyon this year. A dismissal in July's Peace Cup for catching an opponent in the thigh with his studs came after February's expulsion against Monaco for two cautions, a late tackle and then an elbow. But his foul on Ben Haim has been a rare loss of discipline here and this performance demonstrated why Chelsea will be grateful not to have lost him even for three matches.

I told you Guardian is bullsh!te. They never use to think with head. They only see victories - final results but do not pay attention to playing quality. Our midfield is even better than gobbi's IMO. But we lost and drawed some mathces so that's why they do not appreciate us so high....

Forza Milan

For us it gets into the possession game we have and despite all thats happened we are the best in that. That doesn't mean its balanced or even that it creates enough chances for the forwards.
In terms of having clearly defined roles in our midfield (like a holding mid) it is no surprise to me that we are not mentioned in articles like this.

Essien could've had 2 red cards in his last 2 games, the Bolton one in particular was rediculous (and came at a time when Bolton were still 1-0 up ) and the busybodies at FIFA shouldnt have interfered with the FA's plan to suspend him.

Chelsea's midfield, in fact their entire team, is almost perfect now. Mourinho came in with a style of play he wanted to use and Essien and SWP were the final pieces of the jigsaw, they now have a world class player performing a very specific role in every position. In saying that, they can still be beaten

rezag, while Pirlo is our creative hub just in front of the defense, doesnt he ultimately, (in conjunction with Rino of course) play this role to some extent?

I mean, Milan dont have a traditional holding midfielder per se, unless we consider Rino to be that, but the gulf that separates Rino and Essien with regard to all round talent is for me, a huge problem.

As the article, and Chelsea matches this term have shown, Makelele and Essien both contribute to the attacks, and lets not leave Lampard out here either. Lampard may now do less traking back than the two aformentionded midfielders, but he previously was in charge of this area of the middle, if memory serves me correctly.

I dont want this discussion to turn into yet another attack on poor Rino, ( )who despite his shortcomings offensively, is the heart of our middle, its just unfortunate that he doesnt contribute very often in a positive way in our attacking moves.

Hence my suggestion (the thought came to me during the wonderful game Vogel played vs Cagliari) that Vogel be used to spell Rino, especially in games we are dominating.

Originally Posted by Stezagud

Chelsea's midfield, in fact their entire team, is almost perfect now. Mourinho came in with a style of play he wanted to use and Essien and SWP were the final pieces of the jigsaw, they now have a world class player performing a very specific role in every position. In saying that, they can still be beaten

Let me add to that, two world class players for every position...and yes, (for all those who accuse me of an overabundance of negativity) WE CAN BEAT THEM, of that, I remain convinced.

Originally Posted by Warro Bantan

rezag, while Pirlo is our creative hub just in front of the defense, doesnt he ultimately, (in conjunction with Rino of course) play this role to some extent?

I mean, Milan dont have a traditional holding midfielder per se, unless we consider Rino to be that, but the gulf that separates Rino and Essien with regard to all round talent is for me, a huge problem.

In my opinion, if football or a formation dictates a holding role it is best that one (or for a defensive coach two players ) player completely shoulder that responsibility ... Pirlo+Rino does not equal one Essien (for example) in terms of performing a role to protect the defense.

i think the best midfield ive ever seen and this doesnt include sentiments is the milan midfield from the season we won the scudetto, its still the same today but i still believe were different becuase we lack the determination to win the way we did that season... it was soooo successful that u see so many teams immitating us, i consider positioning pirlo infront of the defence as a tactical revolution in football and certainly it represents a change in the game the way herrera used cattenacio to change football back in the 60's. our midfield was soo perfect yet soo risky, it was the ultimate balanced midfield u can find, u had everything, it wasnt 50% attack and 50% defence, it was 75% attack and 75% defence... because we had 3 out of 4 players having an attacking duty when we did attack (pirlo, kaka, and seedorf) and we also had 3 midfielders defending when we did defend (gattuso, pirlo and seedorf), kaka was the perfect playmaker, he took perfect shots from around the box and he formed a perfect understanding with everyone on the team, he had a great pairup with sheva, cafu, pirlo, seedorf... everyone. seedorf was the key player in out formation back then, he could attack just as good as he could defend, he had amazing shooting and beautiful passing and there was no one better at holding the ball than he did, he also didnt slow down the play the way he does these last 2 seasons, defensivly he and kaladze were a riddle for the right side of all opposition, i especially loved his contribution in attack because he had the best and most powerfull shots in the world and excellent instinct on passing, with very important goals vs inter and juve twice and really accurate passes vs roma and lazio and when it came to the big games he always stole the show.

as for gattuso, he was the dream DM for all clubs, he was crazy, he always ran like a tazmanian devil and in his mind he had to get the ball, i loved it how he used to run to the crowd to pump them up, thats what made him special, moreover, i dont care if people agree or not but that season ive seen him improve so much offensivly where he could actually dribble with the ball and complete passes and more importantly he could send the ball into the box, he was not the best at those but he could do it and its much better than nothing, i recall his pass for a sheva header away to chievo, that was sweet. as for pirlo, he too was what everyone was looking for, he too improved where he was weak the season before, he became much better defensivly, and he took n players with ease and his passing are second to none, he also started to shoot from outside the box like vs chievo at home and he also started joining the attack more.

some people may argue that we didnt have wingers back then, but i cant find a better idea than to play the midfield we had and use our fullbacks as wingers, cafu and kaladze perfected this, and its not like they both went up at the same time, one would drop back incase of a counter attack while the other would aid the midfield by going up, mainly cafu.

what also made that formation so special is that we had toooo many key players, and too many go to guys, we had players that are so unique that others would dream about having... these are seedorf, pirlo and gattuso (u could see players similar to kaka and sheva and cafu only not as good in other teams but those three were 100% unique)

we had too many go to guys like pirlo, kaka, cafu, sheva, seedorf... and anyone of those could kill the game off with one chance, up until we drew away to chievo pirlo was our go to guy and only del neri saw that. when this was exploited, u could see seedorf and kaka and mainly cafu getting bigger attacking roles and it was made impossble for any opposition to shut us down, if they wanted to get points off us then they would have to play a perfect game and have perfect luck.

if it werent for that day at the raiazor which was the only game of the season where we thought we were in the semi's of the CL .. then the double would have been very easy to win because we had the league in out hands at that period.

that side was the best side ive ever seen, we perfected the game of football both defensivly and offensivly

it was Pancaro, not Kaladze, in our scudetto winning season.

ah yeah.. kaladze was in the season before that

I think Milan has ONE OF THE best midfields in the world right now. I would agree that Chelsea has a pretty sick midfield, but I would give the accolade to Barcelona in this case, at least in terms of creativity, with the presence of Ronaldinho, Xavi, Deco, Messi, and Iniesta... Actually one can even say it is balanced, as that seems like the ultimate locomotive of the team, as they have only one striker, and their defence is not creating wonders or something(I mean it is good but it is not the ultimate driving factor)!

Originally Posted by Warro Bantan

Let me add to that, two world class players for every position...and yes, (for all those who accuse me of an overabundance of negativity) WE CAN BEAT THEM, of that, I remain convinced.

of course we can, but the fact remains that against them I'd have to be realistic and say we would be the underdogs.

Originally Posted by meazza

of course we can, but the fact remains that against them I'd have to be realistic and say we would be the underdogs.

Which honestly meazza, its a postition I dont mind being in. It should result in our players being more focused, and not taking the opposition for granted....

i think we are the only team chelsea are actually scared of………

i agree with mk18....if seedorf finds his touch again, our midfield will be awesome!!...with gattuso, if he cant or wont play, ambro will be good enough to play his position....also im sick of hearing about chelsea this and chelsea that, f*ck chelsea!!