Players Of The Week 23/24 November

Phillip Wollscheid                 Hertha Berlin 0-1 LEVERKUSEN

Hertha Berlin had 63% of possession, 12 attempts but with only two on target. Leverkusen's excellent defensive organization and counter attacking ability secured all three points for them at the Olympiastadion. Crucial to Leverkusen was Phillip Wollscheid. The towering 6'5 inch German centre back made an astonishing 20 clearances throughout the game including 12 headers, keeping Berlin at bay.

Antonio Cassano                  Napoli 0-1 PARMA

Like the above mentioned game, the home side (In this case Napoli) had 63% of possession but still lost by a solitary goal. Parma had to play for majority of the game without the ball so when they had it they had to keep it. Antonio Cassano was crucial to this. He was an excellent outball for Parma, receiving the ball on 52 occasions and making 36 successful passes bringing others into the game. He was also fouled 5 times winning his side free-kicks, bringing them higher up the pitch. In addition to this he managed to create 4 chances for his side and scored the all important winner, inflicting Napoli's first league defeat under Rafa Benitez.

Jon Flanagan                      Everton 3-3 LIVERPOOL

Liverpool's stand out performer in the derby at the weekend. Unlucky to be beaten in the air for Everton's third but this in no way reflected badly on his overall performance. Normally a right back, Flanagan coped very well on Liverpool's left up against a very good winger in Kevin Mirallas. He made 9 tackles throughout the game which was the highest of any player, and also made 4 interceptions. Not long back from serious injury, Flanagan will surely now experience a run in the team following the news that  Luis Enrique will be out for up to 10 weeks.


Arturo Vidal                     Livorno 0-2 JUVENTUS

Juventus manager Conte has had a little bit of a midfield conundrum this season. He plays 3 midfielders across the middle usually Pirlo anchoring behind the more advanced pair. Marchisio's injury at the start of the season put Pogba into the starting XI and the Frenchman has done superbly to retain his place. Now that Marchisio is fit again Conte has to relegate one of his 4 midfield stars to the bench or play Marchisio wider where he is less effective on the game. At the weekend however he went with the Chilean Arturo Vidal in the centre of a three man defence. In short, he was excellent. When in possession of the ball Vidal would become the Libero. Moving out of defence and conducting play. He completed a staggering 100  out of 106 attempted passes and was one of the reasons Juventus where in complete control of the game. Livorno managed just 30% possession and had one attempt on target. Defensively he also done a good job making 5 tackles, 4 interceptions and 3 clearances.

Jesus Navas                      MANCHESTER CITY 6-0 Tottenham

Last season in the Premiership Jan Vertongen was the best centre back. He was played at left back on Sunday and even though that is not his most comfortable position, nobody could have imagine how poorly he would have played. This was down to the efforts of Jesus Navas. He opened the scoring with a lovely finish after 14 seconds and finished the game getting the 6th in the last minute. His first start since the 4-1 mauling of United in September Navas tortured Spurs, he managed to get 2 for himself, and set up Aguero for the 3rd.

Will a real English Number 10 please stand up?

Guest Blog (@NultyDave

Before the last round of internationals, Jack Wilshire was praised and vilified in equal measure for comments he made regarding who should be eligible to play for England, the Arsenal midfielder taking to Twitter to explain his comments. However, he also gave a view on what an English identity was and his view of how England plays, “We have to remember what we are. We are English. We tackle hard, are tough on the pitch and are hard to beat. We have great characters. You think of Spain and you think technical but you think of England and you think they are brave and they tackle hard. We have to remember that.”

Xabi Alonso famously commented that he didn’t view tackling as a skill but as a last resort and saw it worrying that many people found tackling to be a skill to be proud of. In many match day programmes, youth and reserve team players get interviewed and list tackling as one of their strengths.

In today’s internationals and Champions League matches the emphasis on technical ability overshadows all others. It’s no surprise that the teams that win the Champions League are gifted with the best technical players. Last year’s final between the German heavy weights of Bayern Munich and Borrussia Dortmund served up a final of fascinating technique with plenty of players operating at the peak of their powers.

Even when Chelsea were victors, with a style many saw as defensive, there was no denying the number of technical players within that Chelsea team.

But with today’s emphasis on technique and technical players, the emergence of the Number 10 as the key player in many teams’ formations has become more prominent.  Does England need to unearth such a player in order to become competitive at International level?

Look around the top teams in the Premier League, the vast majority of teams are utilising a 4-2-3-1 formation.  The player behind the striker, the number 10, the free role, in between the lines, the playmaker – whatever you want to call it, needs to be a certain type of player. A player who dictates the tempo and links the midfield with the attack. Coutinho, Kagawa, Ozil, Oscar, Mata, Eriksen the list goes on and these are the ones that play in the Premier League. Does England possess such a player? Maybe it is against the English mentality to play this way.

When Wilshire described tackling hard, fighting and battling on a pitch it could be seen in a negative light. Here is, perhaps, the nearest thing England has to the type of player that seems in abundance for other nations talking not of ball retention, possession and technique but of running harder, faster and tackling everything as hard as possible.

Greg Dyke, the FA Chairman, recently revealed his plans for moving England on; he does not believe the World Cup can be won next year. He wants an overhaul of coaching methods so maybe England can produce a player that can unlock the tightest defence, receive the ball under pressure, thread passes through and have the touch and vision to dictate the attacking tempo of the whole team.

The nearest England have produced in recent years is Wayne Rooney but his style is nothing like the players mentioned earlier. He is a typical “English” forward, all action, hard running, dynamic and aggressive. There is no denying he is world class on his day but he perhaps lacks the class and finesse of what other teams want a number 10 to be.

In South America, the number 10 (Maradona anyone?) is revered like no other position. In Argentina the position is known as enganche, the hook who links the team together.

Many players have been brought to the Premier League, who have played this position on the continent, only to be banished out to the wing. The systems used by managers in the hustle and bustle of the English league fail to incorporate a formation that suitably finds a role for a traditional playmaker. Modric at Spurs was pushed out wide before becoming a more orthodox central midfielder, Coutinho has played wide left, Kagawa at Manchester United is another example.

So if English teams fail to utilise these players in this position, how will an English version ever evolve?

When the country wants England to compete at the very highest level, it is time to develop players who can play this role or even just introduce a style at club level that uses a player in this way. If just one, one world class player, emerges who could play the playmaker role and be integrated into a team that works hard, is brave and all the other typical English traits then just maybe Greg Dyke’s target of victory in 2020 doesn’t seem so ridiculous after all.

Statistical 4-2-3-1

Something new here on the ThreeManDefence blog. We decided to sit down and have a look at all the important attributes that can be measured for each position in a typical 4-2-3-1. Then we decided to take the most important and in accordance with the statistics provided by whoscored.com put together a team that reflects the statistics. (The statistics only take into account the top 5 leagues in Europe, Champions League stats not included.) To make a balance we varied the type of players in the team, one winger would be a dribbler the other a crosser, the player in the hole would be judged on creation for others, and the midfield duo would be a passer/tackler combination.

We used the following criteria:
Goalkeeper (Average Rating)

Right Back (Tackles Per Game)
Centre Back (Clearances Per Game)
Centre Back (Clearances Per Game)
Left Back (Tackles Per Game)

Centre Midfielder (Tackles Per Game)
Centre Midfielder (Pass Succession %)

Right Winger (Successful Crosses Per Game)
Attacking Midfielder (Assists/Key Passes)
Left Winger (Successful Dribbles)

Striker (Goals/Shots Per Goal)



Goalkeeper:
Kossi Agassa - Stade Reims    Average Rating: 7.9

Small club Reims are overachieving this season and find themselves 5th in Ligue 1. 35 year old Togo goalkeeper Agassa has played all 13 games for them this season and been the stand out performer. He has 6 clean sheets, 4 man of the match awards and an average rating of 7.9 on whoscored.com rating him the highest goalkeeper by a considerable distance.

Right Back

Giandomenico Mesto - Napoli   Tackles Per Game 5.1

One of the stars of Napoli's resurgence under Benitez, Mesto manages to patrol the flanks both as an attacking threat and defensively. At home on the left as he is on the right, the 31 year old full back has averaged an impressive 5.1 tackles per game to claim the right back spot.

Centre Back
Nemanja Vidic - Manchester United   Clearances Per Game 11.5

An injury free Vidic has been one of the few stand out performers so far of the Moyes era. The no-nonsense Serb has been a real rock at the heart of the United defence and nothing showcases this more than the staggering 11.5 clearances he makes on average to protect the United goal. He is top across the top five leagues on clearances and takes one centre back slot.

Vitorino Hilton - Montpellier   Clearances Per Game 10.9

Rolling back the years the 36 Brazilian captain of Montpellier captures the second centre back slot following an impressive 2013-14 campaign. His average clearances per game stats are the second highest in Europe with 10.9, and with his fellow defensive partner Daniel Congre at 10.3 per game it shows how well the Montpellier centre backs are currently doing.

Left Back

Filipe Luis - Atletico Madrid    Tackles Per Game 4.9

Atletico's strong start to the season has been helped by the excellent Brazilian Filipe Luis. The Atletico left back puts in on average 4.9 tackles a game and like all good full backs still manages to get forward to help his side out. His 4.9 average is the highest for a left back.

Centre Midfield (Tackler)

Lucas Leiva - Liverpool   Tackles Per Game 5.6

The third Brazilian in our team, Lucas is the anchor which allows Liverpool's creative players to flourish. His non-stop running and combative style sees him marshall the Liverpool midfield making on average 5.6 tackles per game and his interception stats aren't bad either, (2.9). He is the top tackler throughout Europe and takes one centre midfield slot.

Centre Midfield (Passer)

Sergio Busquets - Barcelona  Pass Succession 94.1%

Barcelona's holder and not usually renowned for his passing, Busquets keeps things ticking over in the Barcelona engine room with a very high pass completion of 94.1%. Francesco Matuzalem of Genoa was very unlucky not to feature, actually 0.2% higher than Busquets. However Busquets has played more games this season and makes a considerably larger amount of passes than Matuzalem (73.1 compared to 48.4) so it gave a more accurate picture to include the Barcelona ace. 

Right Winger (Crosser)

James Ward-Prowse - Southampton   Successful Crosses Per Game 3

A surprise entrant, the Southampton teen and England under 21 cap Ward-Prowse has been pushed out to the right this season, and as a result of this has become a bit of a regular right-wing provider. His energy levels and his ability to cross are a bit reminiscent of David Beckham in his young days and the Southampton kid undoubtedly has a big future ahead of him. 

Left Winger (Dribbler)

Franck  Ribery - Fc Bayern Munich   Successful Dribbles Per Game 6.1

The forerunner for the Ballon D'Or award, Ribery has had an unbelievable last 12 months at Bayern. He is the highest rated player by average rating this season on whoscored.com and part of this is due to his amazing dribbling ability. Ribery torments defences time and time again and with his unbelievably quick feet and fantastic turn of pace, its no surprise to see him take the left winger spot.

Attacking Midfielder

Francesco Totti - AS Roma  Assists 6, Key Passes Per Game 3.5

Picking the attacking midfielder was little more complicated. Fabregas and Koke both had more assists than the Italian, both with 7. However Totti overall plays a lot more key passes per game. A key pass is defined as a pass before the shot. With one less assist but a lot more key passes it is fair to suggest that if Roma's finishing was a tad more clinical then Totti would be a lot higher up on assists. All round still a world-class player although honorable mentions do go out to both Fabregas and Koke.

Striker

Diego Costa - Atletico Madrid  Goals 13, Shots Per Goal 3.3

Just like above it was complicated picking the striker for the team. Cristiano Ronaldo leads the scoring charts with an incredible 16 in 13 and Costa just trails him with 13 in 13. However Ronaldo takes 7.9 shots per goal compared to Costa's much lower 3.3. No doubting that Ronaldo is a great goalscorer but a striker he is not. If you are looking for the most clinical finisher in Europe look no further than the Brazilian born Spaniard Diego Costa. With a world-cup approaching and with Spain in possession of such a lethal finisher then one has to wonder if Brazil's loss may just be Spain's gain.

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One To Watch: Bayer Leverkusen

With only 4 teams lower than them in terms of possession, they are averaging 46% per game, yet find themselves third, and tied on points with Dortmund. Sami Hyypia’s Leverkusen side are proving that possession is not key as they fire their way up the Bundesliga table.

Leverkusen are a little bit of an enigma. Low possession sides tend to make lots of tackles and interceptions in order to break up the opposition play, but Leverkusen have made the second lowest average amount of tackles per game. Only Bayern the kings of possession have made less.  They aren’t particularly big on interceptions either.  Hyypia’s young side however are grabbing all kinds of the right headlines. They pushed Dortmund far last year in the race for second and this year has gave no indications that anything is going to change in that respect.

Up front Leverkusen are lethal. Having sold key asset Schurrle to Chelsea, Leverkusen replaced him with former Hamburg man Son Heung-Min. At 21, the Korean left the Hamburg side that developed him with a very impressive 20 goals in 73 appearances. Not bad at all for a 21 year old. At 6’0 he helps with the Leverkusen aerial threat and with two strong feet he is a constant threat on the left, either down the flank or cutting inside.  In terms of Bundesliga Heung-Min has 4 in 9 from the left and has even chipped in twice with assists.

On the other side Leverkusen have another former Hamburg man, the Germany cap Sidney Sam. Sam has been at Leverkusen for three seasons now and has over 25 goals for them, but this season undoubtedly has been his best. Sam is one of the best performers not just in the Bundesliga this season, but across Europe. According  to whoscored.com his 8.01 rating has him 11^th across Europe, wedged nicely in between Aaron Ramsey and Robert Lewandowski.  Sam is joined with the goal machine Kiessling on 7 as Leverkusen’s top scorer and has weighed in with 5 assists. This does not give Jogi Lowe a selection headache as much as a selection migraine ahead of the 2014 World Cup.

Playing a 4-3-3 formation, Leverkusen play with 3 shutters centrally, usually Lars Bender, Simon Rolfes and Gonzalo Castro. These three protect their back 4 and then Hyypia trusts his dynamic trio up front to win his side games. Only 6 Bundesliga goals have been scored not coming from one of the front 3 this season, 2 of which came from back up-striker Robbie Kruse, indicating that majority of Leverkusen’s goals come from those up the business end of the pitch. It is a formula which is working very well for Hyypia and at the time of writing this Leverkusen have won 14 of their last 17 Bundesliga games.

In terms of Champions League football things aren’t going to bad either. 2 wins and a draw from 4 leaves them only a point behind Manchester United with United having the difficult task of having to travel to the BayArena next. Things are looking positive for Leverkusen, and many eyes will be fixed firmly on Hyypia’s side, to see how far they can push domestically and perhaps a Champions League run might not be too far out of the picture.

Why United need wingers as Moyes steadies the ship

David Moyes has now steadied the Old Trafford ship after some troublesome waters thanks to the Premiership fixture list. Since that defeat to West Brom, United are unbeaten in 9. Although the performances have not been glamorous majority of the time, they have been somewhat effective. Many people speculated as to how United would change under Moyes and if truth be told looking at the statistics, not that much has changed in terms of style.

Last season United struggled in wide areas, for the first time under Ferguson the strength of United was not out in the flanks. Moyes did not make any recruitment in the wide areas so this has been a regular pattern of play for United. Rooney and Van Persie are the focal points of the team, both the main sparks and the main threat for United.

Whatever happened between Moyes and Rooney it is clear to see that Rooney is galvanized. He and Van Persie have had almost identical patterns this season. Both have played 10 games in the league with 1 appearance coming from the bench. Van Persie with 7 goals has 2 more than Rooney, but Rooney has 2 more assists than Van Persie. According to whoscored.com the five best domestic performers for United have been Evra, Rooney, Van Persie, Januzaj and Vidic.

One thing that immediately strikes you is the absence of midfielders from the top 5. This again was a pattern last season under Ferguson. Manchester United’s midfield strength now comes from their ability to hold onto possession. This allows United to see out narrow leads through defence by ball possession.  Michael Carrick has no assists so far, but last season was his best in a United jersey. He has developed into a very clever player, breaking up the game through interceptions thanks to his clever positional sense. This season he is averaging 4 interceptions per game which is the second highest in the league. Carrick also is second this season in the average passes league, hitting on average 77 per game, 5 behind Yaya Toure. With Carrick now out for a few weeks Manchester United have a slight problem, and they may by relying on Darren Fletcher returning ahead of schedule or else Fellaini finally settling. In Cleverly United have a clever (pardon the pun) passer who is capable of retaining possession for his side through shorter less ambitious passes. With a pass completion of 89.7% he is United’s most accurate passer this season.

What next for United? With each game they win confidence grows for United. The win against Arsenal threw them straight back into the title race and with the experience held by the United squad you wouldn’t bet against them being contenders. Undoubtedly Moyes will be given time to build his team, if he is to continue with the 4-4-2 come 4-4-1-1 formation he favours then he will have to identify targets to improve United’s creativity out wide. United are too reliant on Van Persie and Rooney creating their own chances and working together without much more forward support. In a few of the big games this season the likes of Kagawa, Young, Valencia and Nani have been ineffective and this has handicapped United. Many fans grumble about the lack of creative quality centrally but it is actually working well for United, with two disciplined players they are getting control of games. They have had half a percent less average possession than Arsenal this season and more than Liverpool, so midfield control of games as well as that match winning strike force is by far Moyes’ greatest strength.  Consistency, confidence and smart recruitment out wide should provide a good platform for the future at Old Trafford.

Roma start the season strongly with Totti the usual suspect

A.S Roma are somewhat an enigma this season.  They have started with a 100% record after 7 games. They finished last season strongly and where originally tipped to start the season strongly especially after the introduction of former Lille manager Rudi Garcia as the new man in charge. However the start of this season saw an exodus of key players. Stekelenburg joined Fulham, PSG swooped for Marquinhos, Barcelona chose to buy back Bojan, previous top scorer Osvaldo left for the south of England with Southampton and Spurs bought the outrageously talented Lamela. Many people believed that this exodus of talent would set Roma backwards, all but two of their key assets where shown the door.

However the total value of the sales brought in just over €100 million for the Italians, this was a real testament to the reactive nature of Roma in player recruitment and this money was invested very shrewdly by Garcia in the replacements he brought in.

Italian cap Morgan De Sanctis replaced the Fulham bound Stekelenburg, Maicon was brought in after an unsuccessful spell at City on a free, Adem Ljajic came in from Fiorentina in a real coup for Roma,  replacing Lamela.  Another coup was landing PSV star man Kevin Strootman, reportedly beating Manchester United to his signature. Defensively the excellent Marquinhos was replaced by Mehdi Benatia from Udinese and Tin Jedvaj  was brought in from Croatian cracks Dinamo Zagreb. The other two big signings where Destro from Genoa and Gervinho from Arsenal.

Roma still made a profit on player sales of around €30million, and some might say looked stronger after selling all their key players and replacing them than before. Judging by the strong start to the season this already looks to be true.

Looking at this undoubted plethora of talent it would be very disrespectful to claim that Roma are a two man team, but when speaking about Roma it is undeniable that two players stand out above the rest. Danielle De Rossi & Francesco Totti. De Rossi is the highest paid player in Italy and seems to have put his troubles that affected him last season behind him and moved back in to the Roma starting eleven after falling out of favour when his form dipped. The pair are few of the last one team players which has recently become a rarity in football. Totti as he proved at the weekend in the win over Inter seems to be mercurial. Roma could exist for another 100 years and not have a player like him again. He is Roma’s greatest ever player and even now at 37 remains a key player for the side.

Despite being Italian football’s second top scorer, Totti has never been comfortable as the main focal point in the Roma attack. His strength is as a second striker, coming back to link the play, playing in between the lines. People talk about the superb ability of Lionel Messi and the creation of the new type of striker, the false nine but what many people do not realise is that at Roma especially under Luciano Spalleti, Totti was one of the first strikers to be a false nine long before the role even had that name. Italian football has always favoured the trequarista and the poacher combination.  At international level Totti was always partnered with a poacher type player, be that either Inazghi or Toni. This is reflected in the fact he only managed 9 international goals for the Azzurri. At Roma however Totti has become both the trequarista and the poacher.

His movement at the weekend against Inter was key to disrupting the Inter defence. They were unsure if they should follow him (exposing their back line) or stay put (allowing him space to run the game). Even when they got tight Totti’s superior skill and ball control meant that they could not even get close and he often brought team mates into play (as shown below.)

Inter 0-3 Roma Highlights

Also shown are two of Totti’s chalkboards from the Inter game. Totti’s variance of position is displayed in the positions he got into both to pass the ball and to receive the ball. What is amazing about him is that for all the bringing into play he does for others, he does not diminish himself as a goal threat, finishing the game with a brace in a 3-0 rout.  Even at 37 he manages to both be Roma’s key playmaker and also their key finisher.

In Britain Totti has never received the praise he has elsewhere on the continent. This might be down to the fact that at his last three international tournaments he never fully lived up to the hype. In 2002 in Korea he was dismissed as Italy crashed out, and in 2004 he was banned for a spitting incident. As Italy won in 2006 Totti was only half fit, playing with metal plates in his ankle. He finished with only one goal (from the spot) but still managed to finish with the most assists of the tournament and played in every game making him a World Cup winner.

Totti’s decision to end his international career prematurely means he has missed further chances to showcase his enormous talents on the world stage. This matters not to the Roma faithful who correctly hold him in massive regards. Totti has confirmed he will retire in 2016 at the age of 39 so time is running out for fans to see the Italian in action. He and De Rossi represent the dying embers of the breed of footballers who served one club, he is an endangered species in world football, but is still proving at the age of 37, that he is a dangerous species for opposition defences.

                                                                                                                                                                            

How Sergio Busquets is flourishing under a new manager

Due to the unfortunate circumstances that occurred, Barcelona where forced into another new managerial change. It has been a turbulent year or so in the Barcelona managers office, the circumstances however where far beyond their own control. Tata Martino has come in and Barcelona will be hoping for a period of stability. It was unfortunate for them that last season saw the first without Guardiola, his assistant Tito Vilanova took over. This was the first period of change, and when tragedy struck and Vilanova took a leave of absence to help recover from cancer, a new period of change ensued which temporarily thrust Jordi Roura into the hot seat. Vilanova of course made his return but the bad news that his cancer had returned forced him to step down entirely, Tata Martino came to the front.

Martino only had one new signing, which was made before his arrival. The talented Brazillian Neymar joined the ranks and the new boss seems pretty pleased with his inherited squad, choosing not to add anymore new faces. The style hasn’t totally been changed, but there have been some major adjustments. Spectators where almost shocked to see Victor Valdes take a long kick this season, rather than roll the ball out so Barcelona could build from the back. The team pressing from Barcelona which was the key feature of the Guardiola era subsided slightly under Vilanova and now even more under Tata Martino.

The less pressing of Barcelona as a team and as a whole unit has in return highlighted the quality possessed by Sergio Busquets. He has been given more responsibility in the middle of the park to win the ball back for his side. In previous regimes he was renowned for his ability to step into defence allowing the full backs to bomb on, but under Martino we have seen a more combative Busquets. The Spaniard covers more ground than ever before, aggressively seeking the ball in more areas of the pitch than in previous years.

As shown below, last season in the Mestalla against Valencia Busquets operated mostly centrally, and either in his own half or just slightly above the half way line when Barcelona where in possession. This season however in the same fixture not one of his tackles came centrally, instead they happened out wide and high up the pitch.

Martino has given Busquets license to prowl that midfield and the early indications are that he is very comfortable doing so. This season, may just see Busquets going from Barcelona’s most underrated player, to one of the top midfield combatants in Europe.