What is the role of CDM?

[Mark Pawelek]

A Makélélé or a Carrick?

My view of CDM is the primary job is to shield the back 2, especially after a turnover when fullbacks will likely be out of position. Core skills, (for everyone in the team) are passing and ball control. Essential CDM skills/attributes are: concentration & discipline, marking, shot blocking, mobility (speed), stamina, strength. Dispossessing or running the opponent into a useless position are far more useful that fouling. Tacking is a really hard skill to master (like Wan Bisaka). Too many tacklers seem to injure themselves too often (Rojo, Bailly, Jones). Additional very useful skills are interception and aerial control. I put 'play-maker', deep-lying or otherwise, somewhere near the bottom of CDM required skills. Dribbling is also not essential, but nice.

I posted this because someone in the 'Who will replace Matic' thread called him a deep-lying play-maker. He may well be, but whether that's a prime attribute of a CDM is an entirely different issue. Everton signed Idrissa Gueye from relegated Villa for less than £8m. He's a far more effective CDM than Matic; who's really an AM playing out-of-position.

 

[Crashoutcassius]

Depends totally on the team and strategy. In some pep teams the dm role is to sit in the middle of the cbs and create triangles, Gareth Barry's job was to sit to left of cbs as a play maker. Any player can try to play any of the roles just with various levels of success.

 

[harms]

Spatial awareness to adjust himself accordingly situation and never allow free space and time on the ball for the opposition in front of your penalty box. Ideally you deflect the attacking direction to the wings – or, at least, makes sure that the attacker doesn’t get to run at your center backs at full speed.

Everything else is a bonus, although press-resistance and passing range become more and more important today, especially for the big clubs who are expected to dominate possession.

Tackling isn’t as important as it was even a decade ago. There are still players like Casemiro and Kante that act reactively but the future is in proactive defending.

 

[paraguayo]

Defensively someone who will protect the back line or even be a 3rd center back at times when team is sitting deep, cover for full backs when team is attacking up the pitch. When team has the ball in their own pitch the defensive specialists usually push forward and allow the CM to start play, inverting their position.

 

[ChaddyP]

We have a proper defense now. No cdm needed.

 

[tenpoless]

Intercepting mainly, to prevent the opposing team's attackers from overwhelming the defenders in number.
And to move forward when the team has the ball and struggle to do anything with it, e.g against teams that sit deep so the attackers + CM can move into space, creating a goal scoring opportunity. But these days, there are play making CBs that can do this without the need of CDM.

 

[United58]

Essential CDM skills/attributes are: concentration & discipline

This is massively underrated imo, mental attributes are especially important in the CDM position - look at how good Carrick was sitting for us, in spite of his lack of pace, stamina and strength (relative to midfielders like Yaya Toure, Keane and Vieira).

Given the shift to a more press-oriented system in recent years in Europe, having an intelligent CDM who knows when to go and when to hold (to cover dynamic players and not tire themselves over 90 minutes) is vitally important in the modern game. Playing in the centre of the pitch, they can directly dictate the outcome of a match, given that they are in general just a short pass away from more or less every team mate on the pitch. An off day can have dire consequences - from my own footballing experience (though I haven't ever played at a high level) having an intelligent, experienced player boss the centre of the park can help so, so much.

To answer the question, ideally you want both types of midfielders - look at Madrid's success with Khedira and Alonso in the early 10s - two intelligent players with complimentary attributes is such an incredible advantage to have in the middle of the park.

If a full back, winger or striker has an off game, you can carry them to a point, but it's far, far more difficult to pull through if one of your midfield linchpins isn't on song.

 

[Red_toad]

We have a proper defense now. No cdm needed.

Our midfield has amplified our defensive issues for seasons. Teams simply run through our midfield, then our defenders get out numbered. We need either a tireless runner and a switched on player who can position himself in those vital locations around the pitch. Matic isn’t able to last the course of a season, Fred is error prone and McTommy is better in the Herrera position. Our other option is 17.

 

[United58]

Our midfield has amplified our defensive issues for seasons. Teams simply run through our midfield, then our defenders get out numbered. We need either a tireless runner and a switched on player who can position himself in those vital locations around the pitch. Matic isn’t able to last the course of a season, Fred is error prone and McTommy is better in the Herrera position. Our other option is 17.

I would have loved an audacious bid for Kanté in January 2019, back when Sarri was playing him out of position. He and Pogba showed how well they work together in winning the World Cup (though I'm sure there's forum members here that would look good next to Kanté haha), and it would have given us arguably the best midfield in the league (especially given Fellaini's departure and Herrera's imminent contract expiry - we're still very light in midfield).

 

[Powderfinger]

I think its best to think of the two CMs (or two CMs playing furthest back in a 4-3-3) as a unit and the skills and attributes that they collectively bring.

Defensively: Within that unit, you want both players to be tactically astute and consistent workers when in settled situations, most often playing the middle of the first bank of four in an organized defense. In transitions and unsettled situations, you want one player that is practiced at shielding the back four, cutting off passing lanes, and making instinctive marking decisions against counters. Ideally, you want the other player to be particularly good at stepping up, harassing opponents, counter-pressing, and essentially breaking up or delaying counters before they get going (Kante is the ideal example).

Offensively: You want both players to be at least decent passers - ie avoiding catastrophic mistakes - and at least one of them to be particularly good at breaking the press, which to me means the ability to keep the ball under pressure, the desire to drop deep and constantly look for pockets of space and move for the ball, and finally the ability to make the defense pay when you break the press by dribbling dangerously forward at speed and/or playing the killer ball forward.

Needless to say, its really hard to find a pair of CMs that collectively do all these things well. One of the advantages of a 4-3-3 is that the third midfielder helps a lot more with these tasks which can cover up some of the weaknesses of the other players.

 

[Irwin99]

Passing accuracy/consistency is an underrated aspect. You don't have to be super flashy or have the best range but you can't afford to feck up simple passes. Not much point in wining the ball back/intercepting if you're just going to give it straight back again.

 

[Ekeke]

We have a proper defense now. No cdm needed.

Looks even weaker defensively especially with Matic in front

 

[Scroto Baggins]

I think the role is changing, you look at the likes of say Spurs CDM's. Those older style tough tackling midfield destroyer types like the Wanyama's and Dier's are being replaced by more mobile tenacious CDM's with better athleticism and passing by other clubs. Kante being the prime example, but Arsenal also looked to move to that kind of CDM with the Torreira purchase and I think we tried the same thing with Fred, given how Matic has been doing. City have had Fernandinho for a while doing the business, and has been great in that role.

I guess then can they still be called CDM's? With the emphasis shifting to athleticism, mobility and passing.

 

[Web of Bissaka]

Central Defensive Midfielder.

 

[Snow]

Matic never felt likt a CDM here. More of a CM that was in a slightly more defensive role of the 2 CMs. He was closer to a Carrick than a Makelele but not a play maker like Pirlo in his later years.

Everton has a CDM in a more protective role because they play with full backs that go really high up. You see a similar defensive midfielder role at Liverpool for similar reasons but there you have 3 midfielders that all are supposed to cover a lot of ground.

Look at someone like Henderson last season. He played that DM role for at least the first 2/3 of the season and he was fairly anonymous overall in Liverpool's play but he did his job comfortably well, provided extra cover for the CBs, pressed the wings to cover the full backs and was more in the role of short passing than creating. Towards the end of the season he was played further up the pitch and with that came a noticeable difference in how he played. He was much more involved in attack and was in fact quite brilliant in the CL as a sort of #8-#10 hybrid at times with his passing.

With United you want a player that's more like Henderson (Matic similar) that can play that CM duo role or be a deep lying midfielder that gives the player cover. It's not enough to just be a Makelele these days for a top team because that requires a specific tactic. I think Chelsea struggled a bit with this last season with Jorginho coming into the DMC spot, Kante being moved further up and both of those roles subsequently changing under Sarri.

 

[Web of Bissaka]

I think like all the other positions, CDM is growing and now it's emphasizing/demanding more roles than just simple defending.

Simple version
Main priority -- defending
2nd priority -- passing
3rd priority -- attacking

Like always, it depends on the systems the teams are using. Balancing it up is always the case eg. with Scholes/Pirlo/Pogba at CDM that fill up deep-lying playmaking or passer aspects of CDMs, you need good partner that excel more in defending to cover their drawbacks. Solo CDM tends to be limited and rare unless there are usually two other CMs supporting him. Ideal CDM is one that an do all of those... but that is so rare. Probably Robson and Keane are the only ones excel in those 3 dimensions. Makelele, Carrick, Xabi Alonso and Busquets excel the most in the first two. Scholes and Pirlo excel more on the latter two.

Complicated version
1st - Covering and Screening
2nd - Discipline and Workrate
3rd - Defensive Awareness
4th - Physical skills
5th - Teamwork/Teamplay
6th - Control/Organize at the back
7th - Marking
8th - Tackling
9th - Keeping Possession
10th - Build-up
11th - Range of Passing
12th - Holding
13th - Tempo Controlling
14th - Ball-carrying skills
15th - Dribbling
16th - Heading Skills
17th - Creativity/Playmaking
18th - Shooting
19th - Scoring

 

[Gopher Brown]

Win the ball back and give it to someone better

 

[R'hllor]

By looking ours, stand still and watch.

 

[12OunceEpilogue]

A Makélélé or a Carrick?

My view of CDM is the primary job is to shield the back 2, especially after a turnover when fullbacks will likely be out of position. Core skills, (for everyone in the team) are passing and ball control. Essential CDM skills/attributes are: concentration & discipline, marking, shot blocking, mobility (speed), stamina, strength. Dispossessing or running the opponent into a useless position are far more useful that fouling. Tacking is a really hard skill to master (like Wan Bisaka). Too many tacklers seem to injure themselves too often (Rojo, Bailly, Jones). Additional very useful skills are interception and aerial control. I put 'play-maker', deep-lying or otherwise, somewhere near the bottom of CDM required skills. Dribbling is also not essential, but nice.

I posted this because someone in the 'Who will replace Matic' thread called him a deep-lying play-maker. He may well be, but whether that's a prime attribute of a CDM is an entirely different issue. Everton signed Idrissa Gueye from relegated Villa for less than £8m. He's a far more effective CDM than Matic; who's really an AM playing out-of-position.

I'd echo much of that and what's been said in the thread, but would like to add I do like a midfielder who can carry the ball forwards. Beating a press or backing up a wary opposition midfielder with a little burst is a great option to have, though as you say perhaps it is not an essential part of your deepest midfielder's toolkit.