holding midfielder

[derek1872 548]

Chatting with a guy in the pub on Saturday and he pipped up with "the holding midfielder in a team is 9/10 a shite player" at first I thought wtf are you talking about? He then went on to explain "the holding midfielder is usually a guy not good enough to play as playmaker and too shite to put in a decent tackle. He normally isnt amazing in the air either". I still wasnt sold until he pointed out the players who are holding midfielders. He might have had a point.

Any thoughts on this?

[KBOO72 4,372]

Chatting with a guy in the pub on Saturday and he pipped up with "the holding midfielder in a team is 9/10 a shite player" at first I thought wtf are you talking about? He then went on to explain "the holding midfielder is usually a guy not good enough to play as playmaker and too shite to put in a decent tackle. He normally isnt amazing in the air either". I still wasnt sold until he pointed out the players who are holding midfielders. He might have had a point.

Any thoughts on this?

Lee mcculloch .

Your mates correct .

[derek1872 548]

He's talking shit.

Makelele was a holding midfielder and a fantastic footballer, could name many others....

9 times out of ten. An obvious exageration but think about the amount of good ones and compare it to the shite ones in teams.

Makelele was a definite good one. Roy keane pre Celtic another. Many more?

[4MenHadADream 122]

The best "holding midfielders" are fantastic footballers and are great at that role. You only need to look at the likes of Makelele or Cambiasso to see that they can be talented footballers. However, below the top level, the duty of holding midfielders is generally given to the less talented members who are willing to run about a lot and achieve no obvious end result.

[JamieD 18,932]

To be a decent holding midfield player you need above-average intelligence, positioning sense, ball-retention and athleticism. When they don't have these, you've got yourself a Lee McCulloch.

[RFC55 108,841]

Fernando Redondo. Even Guardiola and Hierro were fantastic at it.

Makelele, Essien, Carrick, Gattuso, Pirlo all play it well

[JamieD 18,932]

Busquets, Cambiasso, Alonso, Albelda, De Rossi, Toure, Mascherano that's just at the moment who are far from poor players.

It's hilarious how many people think Busquets is just some chancer who fell into the Barcelona team through luck/nepotism and has no technical ability. Sometimes, when he gets bored of keeping it simple, he'll play a defence-splitting pass that makes you think "was that Xavi? oops, no, it's just Biscuits getting bored of two yard passes for a change".

[JamieD 18,932]

Fernando Redondo. Even Guardiola and Hierro were fantastic at it.

Makelele, Essien, Carrick, Gattuso, Pirlo all play it well

Guardiola and Pirlo are more deep-lying playmakers really. Although I suppose if you combine Pirlo and Gattuso (in their prime) you get one supreme holding midfielder.

[KBOO72 4,372]

Busquets, Cambiasso, Alonso, Albelda, De Rossi, Toure, Mascherano that's just at the moment who are far from poor players.

I wouldn't class de Rossi or toure as dms , certainly not on the conventional mould . If they were fair examples I'd also throw in schweinsteiger , inler and parker .

[RFC55 108,841]

Guardiola and Pirlo are more deep-lying playmakers really. Although I suppose if you combine Pirlo and Gattuso (in their prime) you get one supreme holding midfielder.

Thinking more of his time with Brecsia and the role he played with them mate. Rather than his younger years at Barca. Although he was such a good footballer that he could play a holding roll whilst being creative

[KBOO72 4,372]

Toure and De Rossi are certainly DMs in their own right, both just have the ability to play further forward.

Yes , but if were talking about holding midfielders ala makelele , I wouldn't put either in that category .

[derek1872 548]

Busquets, Cambiasso, Alonso, Albelda, De Rossi, Toure, Mascherano that's just at the moment who are far from poor players.

Alonso, De Rossi, Toure and mascherona are not holding midfielders.

[Creampuff 22,628]

They all certainly played in that role for significant periods of their career.

The reason you can't name 25 brilliant holding mids the same way you can goalkeepers or strikers is quite simply that not every team play one.

[King Jela 20,361]

Nonsense.

[MasterD 7,435]

I don't agree, it's quite an unglamorous role and probably an under-rated one IMO

[waltzer83 27]

Scott parker is one of the best holding midfielders around imo his energy and ability to break up the play has been one of the reasons for spurs success this season.

[Gid 46]

Agree with all apart from athleticism.

I think the other attributes can go a long way to covering a lack of athleticism (within reason obviously).

You often see holding players able to play well into their 30's, because a good holding player doesn't need to run about wild, or dive into tackles, etc. You can be small and slow, but still a good holding mid.

Although you tend to get two distinct types of holding players. As example former Rangers player Thomson and Hemdani being the two flavours of the same position.

Badger is spot on. It's all about reading the game. You don't need to be quick because you can anticipate where the ball is going and can get there before the fastest guy on the pitch.

Players who are good at this ... the Makelele's, Busquets' and Bob Malcolms of this world ... are vastly underrated.

[kaiser1041 9,088]

Dunga'matthaus,viera,even souness played there at 1 point

[ScottBF2 3,540]

McCulloch isn't a holding midfieder, although we sometimes try to make him one..... with disastrous results.

He isn't being made into a holding midfielder, he's being made into a juggernaut, he's in there purely for his aerial ability... that, or Ally's went loopy.

[docspiderman 1,225]

I am old school and think that midfielders should be box to box players on the move all the time.There is also the argument about the "second striker or plays just off the striker" being the guy who will not take responsibility of being a striker or a midfield player; was it Souness who called it the spiv position?

[the goal machine 7,801]

Just because someone plays deep, it doesn't mean that they are a holding midfielder. Guys like Pirlo, Pizarro, Busquets start attacks from deep but they are not conventional holding midfielders like Keane, Mascherano or even someone like Lennon. They make more interceptions rather than relying on thunderous challenges and stopping attacks by committing fouls.

[jafrfc 614]

Completely disagree with your mate. To name but a few Matthaus, Claude Makelele, Redondo, Tardelli, Dunga, Deschamps and Simeone.

[StuartM6 279]

Another that was over looked at the time was flamini in his final season with arsenal.

[Clemdog 39,389]

Another that was over looked at the time was flamini in his final season with arsenal.

Outstanding that Season.

[the goal machine 7,801]

A holding midfielder's job consist's of many things, such as the following;

*Protecting the defenders from the opposition which can be in the way of harrying, tackling or screening

*Covering full-backs, defenders etc when the opposition are on the counter attack

*Retaining possession in-front of the back four

*Making the simple passes to other midfielders, CB's and full-backs

*Directing the opposition distribution to the flanks or deeper down their end, where they are less effective.

*Often go out to the flanks to cover wingers who often cut inside

Nobody can surely suggest Sergio Busquets does not posses many of those traits consisting on a 'holding midfielder' same goes for Toure, Mascherano and De Rossi. Yes they have attacking qualities and in Toure's case he's played more forward at City, but they've all played in that holding position regularly.

Deep-lying playmakers often have a 'defensive midfielder' next to them for protection, Pirlo/Gattuso, Pizarro/De Rossi, Alonso/Mascherano. Just because some players don't fly into challenges non-stop does not mean their not holding midfielders! Pirlo was a deep lying play-maker but he was not asked to do much defensive work, which is certainly not the case for Busquets/Alonso which is why they can be classed as a holding midfielder IMO.

I agree to an extent but there is so much more to Busquets and Alonso's games. They play in that position but Khedira or Diarra usually do most of the defensive work whilst Alonso is much more creative than the average holding midfielder. Busquets holds but also dictates play in the oppositions half which is why I'd class them as deep-lying playmakers.