Master these game situations and people will call you N’golo Kante
A defensive midfielder is as the name says a midfielder that has to have the defensive side of football in his mind. Yes, there are types of players that are considered the creators of the team in this position, but even these players need to have a certain level defensively otherwise the team has no balance. Another defensive midfielder type is the pitbull type, he is selected mainly on his defensive skills. Teams who play with two defensive midfielders often combine these two together to have balance. But no matter the type of defensive midfielder, the game situations that defensive midfielders are getting in are the same. So in this chapter, we will discuss the most crucial defensive fundamentals for a defensive midfielder.
The first fundamental a defensive midfielder should master is duelling. This may sound like an obvious one, and it is. But there’s a lot more depth to it than you might think. Which area of the pitch, and what is the game situation are all things to be considered. Has the defensive midfielder team just lost the ball and is maybe caught off guard in an inferior situation, maybe the defensive midfielder has to make a foul to stop the opponent attack (to read more about this go to this article we wrote: https://www.tactalyse.com/the-wrong-versus-the-right-timing-of-making-a-foul/). But he at least should delay the attack so his teammates can come back into the structure. But how does one delay? Then on the other side, a defensive midfielder can have a high-pressing situation, the opponent center-back has the ball and is pressured, and tries to play to an attacking midfielder, this might be a really good opportunity to win the ball high up the pitch and start an attack. But on the other hand, you have the duel game situations on your own half and especially around the box for a defensive midfielder. These ask for a different approach to duelling. In these situations, it’s much more important to not get beat or get dragged out of the center. Because opening up here can directly result in a goal against. You see there are different types of situations in which a defensive midfielder has to master the fundamental duelling.
At Tactalyse we believe that a player should never gamble, all too often players think they can win the ball and they get dribbled passed or played out. As a defensive midfielder, this is one of the worst things you can do because you leave your defense exposed. Attackers that can run at full speed to defense and then get to pick the right timing to either pass, dribble or shoot are very difficult to defend. But adding only a defensive midfielder in front changes the whole dynamic. That’s why it’s so important for a defensive midfielder to not get played out when duelling and why we at Tactalyse believe that a player should never gamble to win the ball.
So how does a DM duel, one of the most important things is to break. This is also a big part of the gambling in duels, players that don’t break and just run passed an attacking midfielder, or they run into them and foul them. So by breaking at the right distance, the attacking midfielder has no opportunity to turn, but also not so tight that the attacking midfielder can play you out with a one-two or with a dribble. Being too tight actually gives an attacking player an advantage, these highly skilled players have amazing technique and change of direction, combine this with a body fake and it will be very difficult to follow them. That’s why it’s crucial to not be too tight, as this leaves the defensive midfielder vulnerable as well.
Another thing to think about is the angle of the duel, and this all depends on which side you want to force the attacking midfielder to. By thinking about this before going into the duel and stepping out in the right angle to the duel you severely limit the options for an attacking midfielder. This also increases the chances of winning the ball. The right angle is often to close the middle, as closing the middle severely limits the attacking player, as he only has one side to go to, on the contrary, if a player can go into the middle he has both sides to play too, which makes defending him a lot harder.
But we hear you ask, how can a defensive midfielder win the ball!? At Tactalyse we often see that patience results in more steals of the ball, than actually going for the win. Not being too tight in the duel (the player can’t feel you), having the right angle and having broken will result in the attacking midfielder being forced to either take a touch back and play back or he tries to turn away because he thinks the defensive midfielder is pressing him. If the attacking midfielder takes a touchback, that’s all right, the ball can’t be won, but the opponent also didn’t get anywhere. If the attacking midfielder feels the pressure and tries to turn away, it’s often in these moments they make a mistake and that the ball touches too far of their feet, this is the moment for a defensive midfielder to win the ball. So rather than going in for the duel and stealing it or winning it over the opponent, wait more when the ball is loose and there’s some space between the opponent and the ball. This is the moment to step in and win the ball, but again, don’t gamble. Again it feels counterintuitive for many defensive midfielders to be patient and not go for winning the ball as they’ve been taught to be aggressive and go for winning the ball. But we see in the factual data, that our defensive midfielders steal data and other defensive data go up enormously with this approach to duelling.
Something that’s not talked about often, is the risk of duelling the wrong way, a lot of injuries are the result of wrong duelling. A player steps out, and gambles to win the ball, he overreaches and this makes his body unbalanced or his muscles stretched out, which can result in an injury. So by duelling the right way, not gambling, you’re actually lowering the chance of getting injured. With the increasing physical demands of the game, both by the number of games played in a season and the increasing intensity, the number of big injuries, like knee injuries, ankle twists and/or muscle tears are increasing every year. So one can ask oneself, what is the value of forcing a steal in the middle of the field with a chance of a foul, a yellow card or an injury? This can cost a player a year of his career, and a team can lose one of their important players. If a defensive midfielder doesn’t let his player turn, and let him play back, he has done his task.
The second fundamental we will talk about is re-balancing. Re-balancing is the game situation where a defensive midfielder has to take over the position of a player that’s played out or not in his position. This often happens in counterattacks, where a full-back has been in attack and is not back in time, but can also happen when a center-back is dragged to the side and has to take over this position or when a full-back is dribbled past and the center-back is not able to cover.
The sooner a defensive midfielder recognizes this, the better because this closes the space for the opponent to attack in. If the defensive midfielder doesn’t recognize this, the opponent’s attackers can attack this space and create a chance to score. The difficulty with this fundamental lays in recognizing when to do it. So as talked about above, there are two types of re-balancing. Re-balance for a full-back, which is to the side, or re-balancing for a center-back, which is in the middle, but down into the defensive line. Generally, it’s more difficult to re-balance to the side, because this leaves an open space in the middle which can be exploited by the opponent. So a defensive midfielder has to be cautious about this and make sure he also doesn’t get played out, but when it’s needed he has to go.
The second re-balancing is taking over for a center-back. This one is easier as the player can stay in the middle, this is more natural for a defensive midfielder and it’s easier to go back to his normal position again. But again this has to be recognized when to do it and when not.
Sometimes, there’s no need for re-balancing, everyone is in his position. Then it’s key for a defensive midfielder to keep his position in the middle and don’t get lured out of the middle. A lot of defensive midfielders have the tendency to want to help out, they step out to where the ball is even though their teammates have full control. This leaves a space in the middle, the most dangerous area of the pitch. You then see attacking midfielders going into this space and from here they can create chances.
The third fundamental we will talk about is crosses. A defensive midfielder has a big responsibility with defending crosses. As soon as a crossing situation emerges, the defensive midfielder has to be alert and occupy the zone in front of the defensive line. For many this doesn’t come naturally, that’s why you see a lot of goals getting scored from crosses. Many defensive midfielders forget to drop to their zone in front of the defensive line when a cross comes, they watch the ball too much.
If an attacking midfielder is with him, then he of course has to mark the attacking midfielder. Sometimes an attacking midfielder is running so far into the 16m. That the defensive midfielder has to give the player over to the center-backs if possible and keep their own zone. This is only possible if the center-backs don’t have a player themself. Otherwise, the defensive midfielder has to keep marking his player. By occupying the zone in front of the central defenders, the DM can avoid a lot of goals from cutback crosses.
