Few positions, or for that matter few footballers have made an impression that have given them a name when it comes to football strategy.
We all know about the Makelele-role, the very defensive, ever reading the game role that our beloved Claude Makelele took to new heights in football. Beckenbauer made the libero or sweeper role his own. Nobby Stiles and most Leeds players of the 70`s proved that a well placed kick on the shins or knees can decide a game. Gerd Müller invented the box player striker?and Maradona, Zidane epitomized the number ten role.
It is way early yet, but I have suddenly been struck by the fact that we might right now see football history being made in front over our eyes, and it is yet again a Chelsea player that makes it.
If it truly is new, well that will be debated by people that think they are much more right than I do. But if I am right, remember you saw it mentioned here first, however many other will claim it!
It will take on another name, and the fame for it will be claimed by many. The only two that rightfully can claim the fame for this is Carlo Carletto Ancelotti and Michael `The Bison` Essien.
I simply call it the Essien role.
Strategy, number games and all those theoretical things is a huge allure behind football to many of us that try to understand it all, not only enjoying it.
I go about the winger whine a lot, which to me is when people think the solution is wingers that go wide – even when the team is playing a totally different kind of game. Like Chelsea. I like wingers, heck, I was one, but the whine gets to me badly.
There are only a handful players in the world today I see as wingers and Christina Ronaldo is not one of them though he in every playsheet of football is put down as a winger. A true winger is like Charlie Cooke or maybe Pat Nevin, usually a diminuitive player (coming wingers are Marko Marin and Sebastian Giovinco, both tiny almost porcelain like figures) that lick the line like a Robbie Fowler wannabe (not his play, his antics) and put exquisite crosses in front of the goal box to be pounced upon by the strikers.
Usually they dribble on the their way (though in modern football the dribble is shunned by every manager as it holds up the pace and play!). There are virtually none left in football as their role is only revered in English football today. They are in England the inheritors of the original British anthem, 4-4-2 football. A football that is obsolete today though the numbers game can be played to anyone`s liking. Messi is also, in theory a winger. Just as Ronaldo he is only in his starting point a winger, his accuracy and dangerousness is only when he cuts into the box, into the pitch. Not staying wide as the persistent winger whine is all about if I got it right.
The last couple of games Chelsea has played with the Ancelotti diamond, that now is taking on a new name after Carlo`s liking – the christmas tree. I like it, as I love seeing roaming full backs. And Bosingwa and Ashley Cole are among the very best in the world in this. As is Yuri Zhirkov that we yet have to see play in Chelsea, I expect great things as Zhirkov is a better crosser than both Ashley Cole and Malouda. So maybe I do like the winger whine a bit! Though the whine about width still makes me as sick as a really bad hangover. We have great full backs, and both Bosingwa and A Cole looks like they are going to have an incredible season.
The role, that many still see as the Makelele role, of holding midfielder have recently been filled with Michael Essien.
Many have complained that it is a waste of his offensive talent, as he originally is seen as an offensiveminded midfielder. The Nigerians blame Chelsea of likewisely destroying the career of Mikel this way. Playing him in the holding midfielder in that famous team sheet.
There are however great differences between Essien and Mikel. One is that Essien is a fully formed world class player, Mikel is only 21 years old. The other is that Mikel has a rather poor shot, though he has improved this year and he is not a passer of Makelele quality however much the pontificate as football president Flo Perez bombasted him for sideways passing. Like there is something wrong in that if it gets the other team to shifting foots and position?! Essien has improved his shot mightily and have now scored some memorable goals from distance. His passing have at times, not the least at the Matchday moments been critized, unfairly I think.
From our last two games I have seen a new, much impressive Michael Essien rise. It might be early yet, but I think he is now creating himself a position that very well could be known by the name the Essien role in football in future.
He is simplified, a holding midfielder going forward and attacking.
Not only is his using the defensive qualities JM and Grant used from Essien (as RB) but also the attacking qualities that the early JM and Hiddink used him as. But in one role, from one position. Essien has an almost Ballack-like ability to move around the pitch without getting noticed so he suddenly have emerged as someone coming up behind the point of the diamond, putting extra pressure and soon goals will come too. Immediately adapting to the defensive part of the role when the other team turns the game to go to attack. Without seeming to move, his deceptive speed has gotten him back in front of the centre backs doing his defensive role. Not to mention that his passing gets us in the right state to push the game forward.
I think we are seeing the emergence of a new role in football, I call it, in lack of a better name the attacKing holding midfielder, or simply The Essien Role. I feel sorry for Mikel but Essien looks like a season defining player for us in that role
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