The difference in: Central midfielders
Football is and forever has been perpetually evolving, but things have really sped up over the last decade. Previously, roles were defined by positions. Everyone had a rough idea of what to expect from each area of the pitch. Now, though, one position can be, and regularly is, filled by a number of players all with different strengths and weaknesses.
There’s too much of a focus on positions when what really matters is how the player operates within their role.
We’ve already covered full-backs. In a detailed feature, we concentrated on Trent Alexander-Arnold, Reece James and Aaron Wan-Bissaka. Today, we’re focusing on central midfielders.
In recent years, the role of a midfielder has changed dramatically. With more teams adopting a high press, managers have started to use traditional attacking midfielders in deeper roles due to their press-resistance and ability on the ball.
During the 2016/17 campaign, Jürgen Klopp opted to use Gini Wijnaldum and Adam Lallana as part of a midfield three. Pep Guardiola moved David Silva and Kevin de Bruyne into deeper positions, too.
Initially, it was a shock. For many decades, the narrative was that if you won the midfield battle, you’d win the match. Teams would load the middle third up with powerful, physical players and there would be literal battles between the likes of Patrick Vieira, Steven Gerrard and Roy Keane.
The idea that this area of the pitch could be dominated by players with flair and guile was, well, odd. But it made complete sense. City, for example, would often dominate the ball so there was no need for three traditional midfielders.
Given Liverpool’s threat on the break, teams would sacrifice possession in the hope of controlling space. They’d sit deep and force the Reds into having the ball. Because of this, Klopp needed as many creative players in his team as possible so it made sense to load the midfield up with players of that ilk.
The big difference is the use of these players within their respective teams. This is why comparing midfielders is often pointless. As bizarre as it sounds, people see what De Bruyne is doing and wonder why Wijnaldum can’t post similar numbers.
They play the same position but the roles are dramatically different. The full-backs are the creative outlets for Liverpool. To free them from defensive responsibilities, the midfielders cover the wide areas. Wijnaldum’s the facilitator. The heat map above shows the majority of the Dutch international’s on-ball actions have been in the defensive-to-middle third. In the City system, while their full-backs are a lot of things, they aren’t creative hubs. De Bruyne makes them tick and the players around him facilitate that. It’s why the majority of his touches come in the middle-to-final third.
The Belgian can be far more expressive on the ball and he attempts riskier passes knowing the rewards are greater. Wijnaldum is the complete opposite to that. Since last season, the Dutchman has completed 93% of his passes. By comparison, De Bruyne has completed just 79%. On face value, that suggests the Man City man isn’t as good on the ball. In truth, it is just a consequence of his role.
You can’t really argue with the effectiveness, either. During the same period, no player can better De Bruyne’s expected assists (xA) per 90 average of 0.47. Both play centre-midfield in teams that dominate the ball. Both attempt around 50 passes per 90, yet Wijnaldum’s xA is just 0.04. This doesn’t mean he isn’t and can’t be creative, just that his role dictates he does other things with the ball. Hs pass map (below) shows that.
He ensures Liverpool retain possession and plays very few passes into the penalty area. Simply put, that isn’t his job.
Another player who dramatically differs from the former Newcastle attacker is Bruno Fernandes. Manchester United have set up to allow the ex-Sporting captain to be as adventurous and progressive as possible. In the Premier League match against Liverpool recently, the No.18 finished the match having completed just 55% of his passes.
Like with De Bruyne, Fernandes relies on volume to be at his best and he’s encouraged by the Red Devils to try pretty much everything. He attempts, on average, a similar number of passes as the aforementioned two but plays almost nine passes int the final third and 17 of his 50 are forward. For context, Wijnaldum plays nine and De Bruyne plays 12 forward. Fernandes is also averaging 3.5 shots per 90, a similar number to his City counterpart. The difference, however, is the Portugal international’s unpredictability.
Many teams look to work the ball into the area to increase their chances of scoring. United allow Fernandes the freedom to pretty much shoot from wherever. To really highlight how extreme the difference is, Wijnaldum averages a shot every 93 minutes and Fernandes averages one every 28 minutes.
Central midfielders should be judged on a case by case basis; there should be no blanket comparison.
More often than not, their roles in teams are so unique and specific that it makes it near impossible to compare them.
All the graphics and visualisations in this article use Wyscout data and were produced in the Twenty3 Toolbox.
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