Teams – The Modern Day Defender?
Like all positions in teams the defender is evolving. It seems that the game has come a full circle in some respects with Jose Mourinhio praising Phil Jones recent performances for being an old fashioned defender. In his world a defender, defends first and plays second.
Pep Guardiola Man City defensive philosophy seems to be getting scrutinised after the goal that Roberts scored for Celtic. Were they guilty of over playing? The pass to the left sided defender from Bravo was a perfect example of this. Should he have gone longer with his pass? Mourihnio would want his team to have done that but is it something that Pep insists on? Also, its important to remember this goal came in the first 5 minutes. Do you remember the good old days of ‘turn them for the first 20’ and ‘earn the right to play’.
John Stones is an interesting point of discussion as he seems to be scrutinised more than other players as he is a ball playing defender but its worth remembering that Jose did try to sign him on multiple occasions when he was the Chelsea manager. Would he have played in the same way?
What are the key attributes to be a top class defender. I have tried to put a few ideas down on what i think is needed:
Speed
Defenders need to react to dynamic movements from strikers when the game is compressed and also need to be able to recover with balls over the top.
Discipline and patience
There is a greater variety of strikers now and defenders need the skills to be able to deal with this variations. The false 9, the No.10, attacking midfielders playing in between the lines. The defenders need that patience to be able to deal with that threat and alongside this showing the patience to be able to defend when there is no one directly up with them.
Defend the first ball
First ball in the box, I am convinced this is vital, if you make first contact in the box you stand a lot better chance of restricting goalscoring opportunities.
This is a few points but as with all positions there is a lot more to cover. https://youtu.be/KBlafA1hLNQ
https://youtu.be/KBlafA1hLNQ
https://youtu.be/KBlafA1hLNQ