As mentioned above, it is outdated and creates structural problems. What is likely to happen with a 10 is one of the following things (or all):
- You end up with 2 against 3 behind him, unless you do what Manchester United only do which is play a ‘defensive 10’.
- You starve the 10 of the ball anyway because you have your creative midfielder 30 yards from goal but your two workhorses you put in the team to cover for him don’t have the capability to consistently get him, or anyone else, the ball anyway. Which is another problem we have. The two DMs have most of the ball, and are not best equipped to use it.
- Your 10’s abilities are reduced anyway because he has nobody on a similar level to play with. Creativity needs to be shared in a midfield. I don’t believe you can just put two workhorses behind Bernardo Silva and think you can get the best Silva. You watch him play at City, he is best when able to play with the likes of David Silva and De Bruyne. Iniesta would not have been Iniesta if he could not bounce 5 yard passes, sometimes 1 yard passes off Xavi and Busquets. This is part of the issue I have with this notion that ‘Pogba can do the creating in the team’. I mean, he regularly plays key passes I agree, but I think creativity is a more collective responsibility. A creative player will always be best when in a team where they are symbiotic in possession, with technique and movement. You can’t just put a 10 in a team that has little technical ability and is static in terms of movement and expect magic.
With the right players, of course, you can do it. I mean, if Frenkie De Jong happens to be one of your DMs, or Rooney in his prime was your 10, then you will get enough quality on the ball from behind and enough defensive effort from ahead.
Come on. I can’t recall the last time I watched a team just allow a 3 v 2 advantage in midfield. It is so basic - at the highest level teams always look to kill the numerical inferiority. Every week there are teams who set up with a support player to the centre forward, who might either join him in sitting off or pressing the central defenders, screening in front of a single holding player or a double pivot, or maintain a position marking and tracking a holding player while his striker splits the defenders, or any combination of these actions depending on how both sides are setup, what they are looking to achieve and how the individual players interpret and react to different situations.
This is not using a ‘defensive #10’ - it is merely tasking the player operating in the no.10 position with the natural defensive duties associated with that role. Players are deployed there every single match day but examples of players occupying that role who completely neglect all their usual defensive work is very rare. Sure, all players are different and some are more willing and able than others, but you hardly ever see a player being given a ‘free role’, exempt from defending as part of the unit.
You seem dead set on the idea that playing with a no.10 means playing with a lazy maverick. Why? As with any position, a players abilities and tendencies dictate how they interpret playing in that area of the pitch. Makelele and Pirlo both played as no.6s. Xavi and Essien both played as no.8s. The kind of players that have occupied a no.10 position vary just the same - Ozil, David Silva, Riquelme. Thomas Muller, Griezmann, Giuly. Ballack, Hamsik, Van De Beek. Vidal, Nainggolan, Paulinho.
Using two workhorses deep in midfield would create problems because of the imbalance caused by playing the two of them together - not due to using a player in advance of them. Obviously, having inadequate passers deeper affects the ability of the players higher up the pitch - and by extension the team - to create. Obviously, the impact made by a creative player will be blunted by a team devoid of movement and quality. These things have nothing to do with using a no.10 at all. Changing the shape to pull the no.10 deeper or replacing him with a deeper midfielder wouldn’t solve either of these issues. It may even compound them further as there would then potentially be no player in the link position looking to receive the ball between the lines. Busquets-Xavi-Iniesta is obviously seen as a 1-2 midfield setup (Busquets behind Xavi and Iniesta, 4-3-3 or 4-1-2-3), but that midfield was a prime example of a harmonious relationship between a no.6, a no.8 and a no.10. That side’s shape could have easily been called a 4-2-3-1 as Iniesta looked to occupy the space between the opposition defence and midfield.