Mark Pawelek
New Member
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.
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.