ikoiko
10 years ago
Edited
Where did you find this article Marcus?
In an interview with Pablo Aimar, who was a hell of an enganche, speaks about how this position is (or was) a staple in Argentina, back when he used to play for Valencia, and notes that the style of play in Spain was not suited for this type of player, or at least there wasn't an abundance of this type of player like there was in Argentina when he was growing up. He proved to be a great player for Valencia though, and as noted above, Riquelme couldn't hang.
These days I'd say Isco is a clearcut enganche, or "mediapunta", as they like to call it in Spain.
Where did you find this article Marcus?
In an interview with Pablo Aimar, who was a hell of an enganche, speaks about how this position is (or was) in Argentina, back when he used to play for Valencia, and notes that the style of play in Spain was not suited for this type of player, or at least there wasn't an abundance of this type of player like there was in Argentina when he was growing up. He proved to be a great player for Valencia though, and as noted above, Riquelme couldn't hang.
These days I'd say Isco is a clearcut enganche, or "mediapunta", as they like to call it in Spain.
Little old article but worth of sharing
In Argentina the playmaker is the en ganche – literally ‘the hook’ – who always operates between midfield and attack while the Italians divide this role into trequartistas, who play in the hole behind the attack (Totti, for instance), and registas, who are deeper lying, usually between defense and midfield lines (like Alonso and Pirlo). However one defines the playmaker, in modern football, there are two distinct types; the controlling playmakerand the incisive playmaker.
It is quite easy to tell if one is a controlling playmaker or an incisive one. A controlling playmaker deals mainly with, as the name suggests, controlling the game. Here everyone immediately thinks of Xavi Hernandez from Barcelona because he epitomizes control. He plays deep, moves slowly upfield and seeks to provide his teammates with a pass option at all times. Last season he finished with an impressive 110 Passes per game.
The difference between him and an incisive playmaker, Ozil for example, is that he looks to maintain possession over providing the killer, more dangerous and thus easily intercepted pass. This is supported by his incredible pass completion rate of 94% last season but just 6 assist. Compare these stats to Madrid’s Mesut Ozil who last season averaged only 40 passes per game and 84% completion rate but with 17 assists.
There are players who tend to mix up the two types of playmaking very well. Zinedine Zidane was an all-round playmaker capable of orchestrating the game from a deep position and moving up field to provide the incisive creative final passes he was renowned for. Andrea Iniesta is a modern day example of player with such skill.
The difference between controlling and incisive playmakers is often misunderstood an leads to unfair player criticism. Kaka’, granted has yet to hit his heights at Real Madrid, was critised for not controlling the game yet he isn't that kind of playmaker (Kaka’ last season, in 14 Appearances amassed assists 5 assists, 1 less than Xavi who featured in 31 appearances). Some Manchester United fans said they don’t need Modric, pointing to his low assist figure as base for their argument when in fact they should be looking at how well he “controls” the game.
The playmaker evolution
It is Riquelme, mournful of demeanor, graceful of movement and deft of touch, who best embodies the old-style enganche. The trend of playmakers though has changed. Juan Roman Riquelme, a classic playmaker, was one who would sit in front of the midfield, behind the strikers, and look to provide incisive passes. All he needed to have was good passing and control technique and fast and creative mind.
Nowdays however, more is asked of them. In addition to the above, an incisive playmaker is asked to also have good dribbling skill and a controlling Playmaker is asked to possess sound defensive awareness. In other words, Riquelme would be asked to drop deeper into his own half and defend well, or stay upfield but develop the ability to eliminate his opposition when one-on-one. He couldn't do either and so moved back to Argentina at Boca Junior. Did age play a role in his moving from Europe? That’s debatable as he left in 2008 at just 29 years of age, But his age meant he couldn't adapt easily adapt his game to requirements.
Ozil and Kaka are fully capable of dribbling pas their opponents while Xavi and Modric can do a fair amount of defensive work, though the former scarcely ever has too!
Conclusion** **
Most teams that have been successful of late have always had both playmakers.
Using reaching the champions league final as a measure of success we have;
•Liverpool with Alonso (controlling) and Gerrard (Incisive)
•Manchester united with Scoles (controlling) and Rooney/Giggs(insicive)
•Barcelona with Xavi(controlling) and Iniesta/Messi(insicive)
Other strong teams favorite for this years Champions league;
•Real Madrid Alonso/Sahin(controlling) and Ozil/Kaka’(incisive)
•Bayern Munich Shwaisteiger( controlling) and T.Kross/Muller(incisive)
A lot can also be explained by this;
•Makelele lost his position to Mikel who plays as a deep, controlling playmaker with good long ball distribution when Mourinho wanted to go Direct (Mikel also seems to be losing out to Romeu who specializes in shorter Xavi-like passes because AVB is trying to phase out the directness of Chelsea’s play).
•Man City out of the champions league because they couldn’t beat Napoli, a team that sat back but since Mancity has no Trequista (deep lying playmaker) the task to create fell to Gareth Barry who is so much better defending than attacking.
•Tottenham’s rise with Modric controlling and Van DerVatt providing the Incisiveness.
All this goes to show that teams need both sets of playmakers. Man City are doing well in the premier league because they have many incisive playmakers up front in Silva and Nasri, but Mancini foresore that they would struggle against teams that sat deep and was the reason he signed Hagreaves at the last minute of the transfer window after presumably failing to sign other players. With Yaya Toure to join Ivory Cost in the CAN games, I see Manciny signing a playmaking central midfielder. Daniel De rossi being the most likely player.