The 'Biased Basis' of the GOAT Debate- Part 3

In my previous posts, Part 1 and Part 2, I had brought up the topic of how defenders and midfielders weren't given as much credit as strikers or forwards on an individual basis. One of the reasons for this could be that defence is a collective responsibility of the entire team. So what value does a single high quality defender or defensive minded midfielder add to a team?

Before we get into that, let us first look at how teams defend. There are several defensive strategies followed by teams. From possession based football that follows the ideology 'if we have the ball, the opposition can't score' to the age-old 'catennacio' style of football that relies on solid defending by soaking up the pressure and then counter-attacking swiftly, the possibilities are endless. 

However, three principles are followed irrespective of what defensive strategy is used.

The first one is maintaining formation or team structure, whether as an entire team or in certain sections of the pitch, and this has to be followed. If players are randomly organised without any particular arrangement, confusion arises which leads to chaos. Second is marking, whether it is man-to-man marking or zonal marking, and it is a must. Teams generally prefer the former for set-pieces and the latter for open play. The third is pressing, or anything similar which is used to win the ball back. 

Now, the defenders and midfielders have to be the most cautious about maintaining and sticking to their positions as they form the backbone of the team's structure. Attacking midfielders, strikers and modern wingers typically have a much more free role, and are allowed to roam anywhere along the front line. This is because their 'roaming' causes problems for the opposition defence. However, defensive players need to maintain their shape and structure in order to prevent gaps from opening up. Hence, a large portion of a team's defensive capabilities depends on how well they are organised. 

Hence, defensive players have to be highly aware of how their fellow teammates are positioned, as well as where their opponents are. Defenders play 'an intelligent game', not a beautiful one. Maldini himself famously said that if he had to make a tackle, it meant that he had already made a mistake. Someone else, either a fellow defender or even a forward could also have given the ball away, and hence a defender has to position himself thinking about all those aspects as well. 

Therefore, although a striker or forward's contribution can be measured in terms of dribbles, key passes, chances created, assists and goals, a defenders contribution cannot be measured in terms of tackles, interceptions and duels won. This is merely because a defender would have positioned himself in such a manner that there would be no need for the tackle or other things to be made in the first place.

Another important thing, which is often not talked about enough in my opinion, is how great defenders have an invisible effect on teams as well as on other individuals within the team, and if you look into any forward who has won an individual award, I am sure that it was only because of those behind them. Literally those behind them. 

Let us take some examples from this very decade to prove this point. Liverpool until the 2017-18 season were a shadow of their former self. Enter Virgil van Dijk. A tall imposing central defender who completely changed the way they played. Yes, they did have an already impressive trio of Salah, Mane and Firmino up front, but the Dutchman's introduction completely changed the way Liverpool played. They no longer had to worry about their defence because van Dijk's imposing presence and dominance at the back, not to mention prodigious defensive skill, was like using a titanium lock on an otherwise open door.

Although Virgil van Dijk was awarded the UEFA Best Men's Player in 2019, he was
beaten by Lionel Messi for both the FIFA Best Player as well as the Ballon d'Or.
Credits: Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images

Another example from recent times, Real Madrid. In this case I want to talk about two very important positions that were critical for their team. One is Sergio Ramos at the heart of their defence. Now one of the reasons Madrid was very successful in European competitions, aside from the fact that they had incredibly talented and experienced players, was their system. Apart from being able to retain possession and dominate the midfield area, they had two of the best players at full-back, Marcelo and Carvajal. Marcelo was the more attack-minded of the two, and he was often the most advanced player on the left flank (he even stood at the halfway-line during kick-off), which meant that there was huge gap in Madrid's defensive line. Nothing to worry about though, because Sergio Ramos covered that entire side all alone, and his domineering presence was so good that Marcelo could literally live in the opposition's half. Ramos' effect is perhaps more noticed when he's absent, as Madrid leaked goals faster than Usain Bolt running a sprint, such as in the second legs against Ajax in the 2018-19 season and Juventus in 2017-18, and when he is present, Madrid flood their opposition's box and you get 'goals, more goals and even more goals'.

The second player is Casemiro. A Central Defensive Midfielder (CDM), he was perhaps the most crucial piece of the team. Casemiro is like the engine of an expensive car. No one looking at the car can see the engine. They all look at how it looks, how the seats feel etc. If the car doesn't start, only then they look at the engine. Real Madrid won the Champions League in 2013-2014. The next season, they upgraded their midfield by acquiring both Toni Kroos as well as James Rodriguez. However, they failed to defend their title as they played with three midfielders who were terrible at CDM, which Xabi Alonso (who had moved to Bayern) played with such finesse for them the previous year. Next season, enter Casemiro, and they win three consecutive Champions Leagues.

From the above examples and the various explanations across all three posts, it is obvious that while forwards play the beautiful game, defenders play an intelligent one, and the human tendency is to focus on beauty. Not until you spend enough time with a person, will you realize how intelligent they are, Similarly, even several experts may be biased towards what they see, over what has to be understood and thought out.

Defensive contributions to the game, such as maintaining formations, playing a forward offside, positioning yourself perfectly to block the angles for a pass or a shot, controlling the tempo of the game, all these involve the mind more than the body. It is therefore no surprise that the most revered managers who were also brilliant players, such as Guardiola, Zidane and Beckenbauer, were midfielders or defenders. It takes a lot more than prodigious skill on the ball to be a great manager, and perhaps that's the reason why Maradona failed as a manager for Argentina. There are exceptions however, as Cruyff was a forward and yet was perhaps the most influential manager in terms of how the modern game is played.

To conclude, you cannot actually decide on who is the best player. You can perhaps debate on who the greatest forward, midfielder, defender and goalkeeper are, but never on the best overall player. Even among those positions, variations in playing style exist. For example, an inverted winger will most certainly have a higher goal contribution than a traditional one, so how again do we divide them?

In my opinion, there needs to be a separate award for each position. Currently however, there are only awards that distinguish between goalkeepers and all outfield players.

As for deciding who the GOAT is, we can perhaps imagine a virtual tournament in our head where each team is composed of 11 identical copies of the same player. The winner of that tournament could certainly be considered the greatest player of all time. Imagine 11 Lionel Messi's against 11 Cristiano Ronaldo's. If we held a tournament like that considering every single player to have ever played the game at their prime, who would win? I'm backing Beckenbauer or Zidane. What about you?

The 'Biased Basis' of the GOAT Debate- Part 2

In my previous post, I had brought up the topic of how the public, and even the experts perceive forwards or attack-minded players in football to be 'better' than defensive players on an individual level. Statistics prove this seeing that more individual awards, higher shirt sales, higher salaries and transfer fees, are all linked to attack-minded players. 

Now in the average football match, we had seen how an individual player usually has the ball for only 2-3 minutes per game at most, and how for the 87 minutes they do not have the ball, they are utilizing their 'off the ball' skills. Having seen how various kinds of players utilize those few minutes that they do have the ball, let us now see how these players utilize the time when each player does not have the ball.

Now just because the individual player does not have the ball, does not mean that his team isn't in possession of the ball. Hence, let us divide 'off the ball skills' into two categories; one when the player's team has possession of the ball and the other when the opposition has it.

In this post, let us look at what attack-minded players do without the ball irrespective of whether its their team that has possession or whether it's the opposition.

Let us assume two teams are playing, TEAM A and TEAM B. Now if TEAM A is in possession of the ball, and the ball is with their defensive minded players, what the attacking players of TEAM A will look to do is provide an outlet for their teammates to pass the ball to them. Not only will this relieve the pressure on their teammates as they won't have to pass the ball around in dangerous areas anymore, but it will also put pressure on TEAM B as the ball is now closer to their goal, and it's also with players who will pose a much greater threat in terms of scoring goals. 

Forwards of the team in white shirts 'pressing'
defenders of the team in black shirts.

Now when TEAM A's defenders and defensive players have the ball, the 'forwards' of TEAM B will look to 'press', i.e. they will move around chasing the players of TEAM A who have the ball in a systemic manner. The goal of 'pressing' is to put pressure on opposition defenders and not give them too much time on the ball, and hence 'pressurize' them into making a mistake and thus regain possession. 

Once TEAM A's attack minded players get the ball, they attempt to constantly move the ball around and switch it from one side of the field to another, and as they do this, they also continuously move around, and make runs into empty spaces so that they can receive the ball from a teammate when they have a lot of room around them to do something, either play the final ball, take a shot at goal, or even get a few extra moments to decide what to do. Either way, their constant moving around also provides more options to their teammates and makes life more difficult for the opposition as they have to move around with these players, thus tiring them out.

Thus the defenders from TEAM B will not only have to keep their eyes on the ball, but will also have to make sure they know where exactly TEAM A's forwards are. They shall also have to move around along with these forwards individually, while at the same time maintain structure. Hence, forwards generally try to occupy positions or make runs where it will be difficult for the defender to keep an eye on both the ball as well as the forward, and thus the defender will be forced to pay extra attention to either one, or may have to adjust his/her position to see both, which may come at the cost of breaking their team's formation. Forwards can capitalize on any of these moments to score a goal.

Forwards of the team in white shirts
making runs to provide their teammate
who has the ball with various options.

                                         
Hence, forwards of a team must contribute actively when they are 'off the ball' regardless of whether it's their team or the opposition in possession of the ball. They do an awful lot of running around, either towards the ball or opponents when the other team has it, or away from the ball and opponents into space when their own team has it.

Now, what do TEAM B's defensive players do when TEAM A has possession? Also, what do the defenders of TEAM A do when their forwards have the ball higher up the field?

Before we get to that, let us first recognize that although a single forward is the only requirement to score a goal, defence is a collective effort. Every single player must contribute to their teams defensive requirements, and defenders are largely responsible for coordinating this along with their goalkeeper as they are the ones who can see the most of the field. Hence a defender's role is much more 'passive' as compared to an attacker. Even though they often cover as much ground as an attacker, they do not run around much, unless they are deployed on the flanks. So what value does an individual high-quality defender add to the team, when defence is collectively a team effort? We'll figure that out in Part 3!

The 'Biased Basis' of the GOAT Debate- Part 1

In the history of sport, there has always been debate on the greatest ever with regards to a particular sport. However, when it comes to football, this topic is perhaps never ending and so open-ended, that there can never be a conclusive, and completely objective answer.

Sure, there are several names that crop up. Pele, Maradona, Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, 
Di Stefano, Ronaldo 'el Phenomeno', and Cruyff are perhaps the most common, although there are several others who can certainly stake their claim. But can we actually decide who the greatest ever is? All those names I mentioned do have one thing in common. They are all forwards or attack-minded players.

If you think about it, forwards or attack-minded players dominate headlines, shirts with their names are sold more, and most individual awards these days are won by them. Even the Ballon d'Or, considered to be the most prestigious individual prize in football, which has been awarded since 1965, seems to favour forwards, with 44 of them claiming the honour, compared to 14 midfielders, 5 defenders and just the one goalkeeper.

This of course seems befitting, seeing that these players are the ones with the most goals, assists, chances created and what not. However, just because these players have such a large number of goals, assists and dribbles among other easily available statistics, does it make them the greatest players of all time? 

Of course not. Several factors such as positioning, maintaining the offside trap, and of course, pure intimidation due to a player's presence are either never depicted or cannot be measured, and hence aren't taken into account while determining the GOAT. How then are we to determine the GOAT? Should we divide players into attack-minded and defense-minded and pick one from each? Maybe we can, or we can differentiate players on the basis of skill-sets and maybe try to better understand which skills are the ones which only the GOAT can have. (I will be considering only outfield players and not goalkeepers as the latter requires a completely different set of skills and has a very unique role)

Let us think of forwards- including attacking midfielders, wingers and strikers- as players who exhibit most of their talent or skill while they are 'on the ball'. Naturally, defenders- including centre-backs, defensive midfielders and full backs- are players who exhibit most of their talent or skill 'off the ball'. Now the average person watching the game will be drawn towards the step-overs, the bending crosses, the shimmies past the sliding tackles, and those inch-perfect, perfectly weighted through-balls, and everything else that requires 'forward skills', but if you're someone who actively follows and analyses the game, you'll be aware that all that is just one side of the coin.

A rock-sturdy shoulder push, a perfectly timed sliding tackle, the straight lines that have to be maintained to 'just catch' the lurking forward offside...all these often go unnoticed by most viewers. In recent times, defending has rightly been called as 'the lost art' by commentators, analysts and even former players. Gone are the days when teams had a Moore, a Beckenbauer or a Maldini. 

Nowadays we see 'wing-backs' crossing and centre-backs playing out from the back. Barcelona and Spain's famous 'tiki-taka' style of play that dominated world football from 2008-2012, is in it's very foundation, a defensive style that required highly skilled players instead of robust, tough-tackling ones. 'Traditional Defending' however, requires tremendous 'off the ball' skills.

However, good forwards also have a few 'off the ball' skills, such as the ability to make runs into space, and similarly, solid defenders often have an excellent first touch and an ability to deal with air-balls, which certainly qualify as 'on the ball' skills. 

Now that we have divided players into two different skill-sets rather than by position, let us focus on how much importance we must give to each set. Statistically speaking, players generally have the ball only for around 2-3 minutes per match. Hence, for around 87 minutes or more, the player's 'off the ball' skills are on display. How well a player utilizes these 87 minutes determine how effectively one can capitalize on those 2-3 minutes when those 'on the ball' skills are required. 

In this post, let us try to analyse what each player, depending on position or playing style, will be doing during those 2-3 minutes when he or she has the ball.

A defender or defensive minded player, will usually be involved in the slow monotonous drone of passing the ball around either in triangles, horizontally across the field or vertically upwards unless the opportunity for a long-ball or through-ball presents itself. 

However, should the ball be given away in a dangerous place, either through a miscued pass, a dreadful first touch, or simply by an opposing forward capitalizing on a moment of laziness, the consequences might be dreadful for the team. Hence, an individual mistake by a defensive player, or by one in a defensive role/position at that moment, may prove to be more costly for the team than an 'attacking' mistake.  

A forward or attack-minded player will either try to create chances, convert chances to goals and assists, or may simply be involved in either the build-up play or do all the necessary legwork to tire and stretch defences open, exposing gaps for others to exploit. 

Now should an attack-minded player fail to perform the desired role perfectly, there is always someone else who can take over and pinch that vital goal or create that 'comes only once in every game' chance. Several games, including major finals, have been won by pinching a goal through a set-piece or a scramble in the box. So if an 'individual' attacker fails to provide his dues in a match, it generally may not cost a team much in a negative sense, compared to an 'individual' defender giving the ball away in a dangerous area. 

How many times have we seen a forward not deliver and all commentators and experts will say "Oh, he/she's had a bad game" or "He/She's not been in good form lately"? More often than not, it's not because he/she has had a bad game, but it's probably because the opposing defenders would have been exceptional for those 87 minutes that they don't have the ball. More about that, on my next post!