- Oct 19, 2004
- 39,837
- 50,713
We all know how good Modric is, and that he is essentially our most important footballer. And that when he plays in central midfield he rarely lets us down, and is often the most influential player. But....
I do believe there is a huge but. Along with VDV he is our most intelligent and creative footballer, but since he has been playing in central midfield his creativity - where it would be of most use - has been virtually nullified.
I have been saying this for a long, long time, and giving my opinion as why, anecdotally, and with examples of what happens when we see him further forward, like in the Inter game when he set up VDV. But here is some - the word that dare not speak it's name - stats - to assist this argument.
In season 2008-9, when he played LM with more freedom, in 1902 minutes he had a combined goals/assists tally of 11. He also completed 1276/1622 passes, making a pass every 1.17 minutes.
Since he has been playing in CM, in 1549 minutes, so far this season, he has a combined goal/assist of 2 and has completed 851/1009 passes, making a pass every 1.5 minutes.
So not only is he producing much less goal/assist end product now, but he's actually seeing less of the ball.
The other aspect of Modric in CM is that although he works hard and has proved himself no shirker, defending is not his forte, and I have seen him on several occasions - at least as many as Palacios and Hudd - give the ball away in dangerous areas (Villa eg). This means that whoever plays next to him must be tenacious and dynamic to compensate for Modric's natural instinct to move freely around the pitch. Huddelstone is not dynamic enough and there is very little evidence - except a couple of fortuitous results (and we have all seen results like Arse away prove this to be nothing to do with Hudd/Modric combining) to suggest this could ever work. Jenas and Modric have put in a couple of decent games together (Villa home eg) but these two aren't exactly ideal either as Jenas likes to get forward too, and isn't anywhere near as tenacious as Palacios, or Hudd for that matter. Of the three Palacios is the best match in terms of providing the balance, but for me the solution isn't who partners Modric, but that none of them should. That is, it should be two form those three (jenas/Hudd/palacios) in CM.
What we have in those three are players that all pass the ball very efficiently; This seasons stats = Palacios 86%, Jenas 86%, Hudd 80%. (Modric 84%). So any of those players aren't going to see us sacrifice ball retention (Hudd only marginally).
For me, at the moment Palacios is the most important player to provide balance. He tackles at a rate so superior (33mpt) compered to anyone else (Hudd next best 55mpt) and - this will amaze the dickheads - gives the ball away less than any of our CM's.
They all offer slightly different skill sets that can be tailored to the opposition/injuries/suspensions etc.
If you play this:
----------Palacios----Jenas/Hudd
Modric----------VDV-------------Bale
----------------Striker
Or:
--------Palacios-----Jenas/Hudd
Lennon-------Modric----------Bale
-------------VDV
You are putting an extra brain into the forward line line of midfield, without sacrificing ball retention. Instead of Lennon wasting great situation after great situation you have Modric there to apply a killer final ball.He beats players better than Lennon, and he always gets his head up.
You also add about 300% more ball retention to that forward line of midfield and better RB protection and closing down further up the pitch as Modric does this much better than Lennon.
At the moment we are playing with two, and sometimes three lightweights (Bale, Lennon, Defoe, Pav) in terms of off the ball team contribution, and for that defensive sacrifice we are still creating less than all the four teams above us. It's clearly not a sacrifice that is paying off.
And everyone knows that Jenas and Hudd can feed the flanks very well, and you'll always have at least one those in the team. The double bonus is that instead of being so "open" we will have the capability to open up the opposition, but because we have two more defensively dynamic CM's we won't be quiet so open to the opposition.
We still, in Jenas, have a CM who will support attacks, in Hudd a player with a decent passing range as options and in Palacios one of the best busy ****'s in the EPL.
But we will, most importantly, have our most important brain in the final third, which will mean we will hopefully start to improve an area that I think is letting us down. The ability to play quality passes in the final third. The creation of more genuine top quality chances. Which is why we are by some distance the lowest scorers in the top 5.
I do believe there is a huge but. Along with VDV he is our most intelligent and creative footballer, but since he has been playing in central midfield his creativity - where it would be of most use - has been virtually nullified.
I have been saying this for a long, long time, and giving my opinion as why, anecdotally, and with examples of what happens when we see him further forward, like in the Inter game when he set up VDV. But here is some - the word that dare not speak it's name - stats - to assist this argument.
In season 2008-9, when he played LM with more freedom, in 1902 minutes he had a combined goals/assists tally of 11. He also completed 1276/1622 passes, making a pass every 1.17 minutes.
Since he has been playing in CM, in 1549 minutes, so far this season, he has a combined goal/assist of 2 and has completed 851/1009 passes, making a pass every 1.5 minutes.
So not only is he producing much less goal/assist end product now, but he's actually seeing less of the ball.
The other aspect of Modric in CM is that although he works hard and has proved himself no shirker, defending is not his forte, and I have seen him on several occasions - at least as many as Palacios and Hudd - give the ball away in dangerous areas (Villa eg). This means that whoever plays next to him must be tenacious and dynamic to compensate for Modric's natural instinct to move freely around the pitch. Huddelstone is not dynamic enough and there is very little evidence - except a couple of fortuitous results (and we have all seen results like Arse away prove this to be nothing to do with Hudd/Modric combining) to suggest this could ever work. Jenas and Modric have put in a couple of decent games together (Villa home eg) but these two aren't exactly ideal either as Jenas likes to get forward too, and isn't anywhere near as tenacious as Palacios, or Hudd for that matter. Of the three Palacios is the best match in terms of providing the balance, but for me the solution isn't who partners Modric, but that none of them should. That is, it should be two form those three (jenas/Hudd/palacios) in CM.
What we have in those three are players that all pass the ball very efficiently; This seasons stats = Palacios 86%, Jenas 86%, Hudd 80%. (Modric 84%). So any of those players aren't going to see us sacrifice ball retention (Hudd only marginally).
For me, at the moment Palacios is the most important player to provide balance. He tackles at a rate so superior (33mpt) compered to anyone else (Hudd next best 55mpt) and - this will amaze the dickheads - gives the ball away less than any of our CM's.
They all offer slightly different skill sets that can be tailored to the opposition/injuries/suspensions etc.
If you play this:
----------Palacios----Jenas/Hudd
Modric----------VDV-------------Bale
----------------Striker
Or:
--------Palacios-----Jenas/Hudd
Lennon-------Modric----------Bale
-------------VDV
You are putting an extra brain into the forward line line of midfield, without sacrificing ball retention. Instead of Lennon wasting great situation after great situation you have Modric there to apply a killer final ball.He beats players better than Lennon, and he always gets his head up.
You also add about 300% more ball retention to that forward line of midfield and better RB protection and closing down further up the pitch as Modric does this much better than Lennon.
At the moment we are playing with two, and sometimes three lightweights (Bale, Lennon, Defoe, Pav) in terms of off the ball team contribution, and for that defensive sacrifice we are still creating less than all the four teams above us. It's clearly not a sacrifice that is paying off.
And everyone knows that Jenas and Hudd can feed the flanks very well, and you'll always have at least one those in the team. The double bonus is that instead of being so "open" we will have the capability to open up the opposition, but because we have two more defensively dynamic CM's we won't be quiet so open to the opposition.
We still, in Jenas, have a CM who will support attacks, in Hudd a player with a decent passing range as options and in Palacios one of the best busy ****'s in the EPL.
But we will, most importantly, have our most important brain in the final third, which will mean we will hopefully start to improve an area that I think is letting us down. The ability to play quality passes in the final third. The creation of more genuine top quality chances. Which is why we are by some distance the lowest scorers in the top 5.