For me the centre midfield is the most interesting part of a football team. Perhaps that’s because it’s the brain of all football teams. It’s the make or break area on a football pitch. Or maybe it’s juts because I myself am a centre midfielder.
Chelsea play with a 4-2-3-1 formation meaning they use two centre midfielders. This is known as a double pivot. Nowadays an ideal double pivot consists of a defensive midfielder (DM) and a deep lying playmaker (DLP). The DM screens the back four, holds and finds the DLP who proceeds to start attacks and dictate play.
The reason a DLP operating alongside a DM works is because most teams in modern day football have an extremely packed midfield area usually with three attacking midfielders and two centre midfielders. This is why it is more preferable to use a player that starts attacks from a deeper position. This provides him with more space to create.
At Chelsea we have a very decent DM in John Obi Mikel but currently we have no proper regista. Both Oscar and Kevin De Bruyne have the potential to play as DLP’s but this is a role that requires a ton of intelligence and therefore a lot of experience. A solution would be to buy a DLP of course. Preferably someone who has experience at top clubs and can teach our youngsters a thing or two.
Who would be the perfect buy to solve our double pivot problem in my opinion?
Luka Modric.
Why Luka Modric you may ask?
Important qualities in a good DLP are a high number of passes attempted per game, a high pass completion accuracy, a high number of long balls attempted per game, a high number of key passes per game and a high number of interceptions per game.
Let’s statistically compare Modric with two of the world’s top ten DLP’s i.e Pirlo and Alonso and also with the closest player the English Premier League has to a DLP i.e Michael Carrick based on the above mentioned attributes in their respective leagues.
| Player Name | Number of Passes Per Game | Pass Completion Accuracy | Number Of Long Balls Per Game | Number Of Key Passes Per Game | Number Of Interceptions Per Game |
| Luka Modric | 46.1 | 87.7% | 3.5 | 1.7 | 1.4 |
| Xabi Alonso | 65.7 | 83% | 6.3 | 1.8 | 1.9 |
| Andrea Pirlo | 78.7 | 87.3% | 10.6 | 3 | 1.2 |
| Michael Carrick | 77.1 | 88.1% | 5.8 | 1 | 2.1 |
I have often said that stats are overrated. This is because they hardly ever show the whole story. This is another such case. According to these statistics Modric attempts the fewest passes and long balls from these four players. But this is understandable considering that a lot of Modric’s appearances have been as a substitute and has played less minutes than both Pirlo and Carrick. But still, statistically speaking we can see that Modric is almost up there with the best.
What about technically speaking? Modric is an extremely intelligent player. Both off and on the ball. A team requires a DLP to be a dictator and Modric does this perfectly. He is a player who demands the ball, rarely gives it away and helps his teammates play better. Despite his small frame Modric is very good at holding on to the ball and shielding it from opponents. He has incredibly good balance due to a low centre of gravity. He also has very good positional awareness and vision.
Modric may have had a rough start at Real Madrid but he is still a quality player who would be a great addition to our squad and possibly a solution to our double pivot problem.
This was a guest article written by @CasperChelsea. Leave him your thoughts in the comment section below!
So Ramirez is no longer good enough ?must we even buy ?is it wrong to develop our modric?plz u guys should stop ds articles requiring us to buy already established players n start writing something on nurturing what we already have ,if modric was @ Chelsea wen growing up he wouldn’t b d player u r writing about tday.let’s exercise patience,give d young ones a chance ,every player is talented ,time brings experience
henderson I don’t think Ramirez is dlp?
Stop hating brah
good view but I’m not entirely agree especially for signing Modric. If we’re looking to sign DLP, I hope this time we’re sign a DLP or normal CAM with better defensive attributes. That’s why we’re linked with De Rossi who can distribute the ball very well too. Modric isn’t great defensively so that signing him would be only waste of money since he’s not gonna available in cheap and we already have Ramires and Lampard who can provide box-to-box play. And it’s difficult for De Bruyne + Oscar to start learning to play deeper if Modric joins us.
If he’s available below 20m then I’d be fine.
we have lampard who can play as DLP
nope
wat of essien,he cn also play as dlp
errrrrrrrr……..nope ess isnt a dlp and will never be one
Buying!buying!and buying always! Wen ar we gona stop buying? Chelsea has most players who plays im midfied,wy shud we buy 4ds area again, 4crying out loud, we only nid strikers. Ds kind of articles ar nt helping maters. What do d writer mean by saying ‘but currently we hav no proper register’? Rubbish!
We dont have any players suiting the pivot other than mikel, rami and lamps are both definitely not suited to play this role as they are box to box midfielders. being a midfielder does not mean to be able to play in a pivot.
And if we stick to the 4231 formation next season we definitely need a new CM.
Mikel can play DLP with Ramires playing as DM. Simple
thank bro u re too much mikel can do even better modric
Is micheal essien not part of the chelsea team anymore?
Did you guyz watch Mikel at the confederations cup?if you did then i think you already know he can be used in other better areas in the middle………….he was great going forward and i really hope Jose converts him
As there aren’t any young world-class DMs available that would provide an instant impact we should rather search a proper CM to partner Mikel.
Mikel wasnt able to play this advanced role as he knew that neither lamps nor rami would cover space for him as they are not disciplined enough. With a disciplined CM as his partner he could stay our DM while also being a little bit more adventurous in his passing and movement.
de rossi, bitch!!!