Coaching career started as a college team coach

"What does a defensive midfielder do?"

When Wei Le asked this question, De Paul widened his eyes and smiled awkwardly but politely. The meaning is obvious. Brother, you see, I haven't read much, don't embarrass me.

"You really don't know the correct answer, but you must have played football. There are dozens of defensive midfielders who have cooperated with you and played against you, not to mention a hundred. Take Dendoncker and Rodri for example. They are defensive midfielders. I want to hear your understanding."

"Hmm..." De Paul then touched his chin and began to think.

It is impossible for De Paul to say that he has no understanding of football since he started playing football. But to be honest, he doesn't have a deep understanding.

However, it happened that Wei Le raised this question this time, and it is not too late to start thinking about this question from now on. So De Paul began to think about why Wei Le wanted him to take on the position of defensive midfielder.

"Defensive midfielder is... defensive?"

But for a long time, De Paul only said this sentence.

Unexpectedly, Wei Le gave a thumbs up right away - "That's right, that's it."

De Paul was shocked.

"I'm serious, your analysis is correct. The defensive midfielder is of course used for defense. Otherwise, why would I ask you to practice defense? Why do we have to break through our own 'high backcourt group' limitations in the defensive midfielder position?"

Being praised by Wei Le, De Paul grinned and seemed more confident. So he directly said everything he thought.

He felt that the defensive midfielder was a particularly complex position.

What is the complexity?

For example, the work of a striker is essentially to score goals. Even if some strikers may be given more tactical responsibilities, such as Haaland sometimes retreating as a fulcrum in the team, in essence, all strikers have only one purpose, which is to score goals.

For example, full-backs, full-backs can of course advance forward, and Wolves are still playing new tricks with full-backs, playing the routine of full-backs retracting, but in the final analysis, the work of full-backs is to provide defensive support on the wing.

This is easy to understand, but it is different when it comes to the defensive midfielder.

The defensive midfielder can be like Kante, Busquets, Rodri, or Dendoncker. They are of different heights and body shapes. Some are good at defense, while others are not good at it at all. Some will aggressively advance to organize the offense, while others basically give the team an extra central defender.

What exactly is the responsibility of the defensive midfielder?

There are also many different opinions, or in other words, the defensive midfielders of almost every team will give different answers.

So what is the commonality? De Paul thought that most teams have a defensive midfielder, or at least other players are arranged in this position of the defensive midfielder to take on this job. Even in a traditional formation like 4-4-2, the two midfielders will be divided into front and back, and the one behind is basically a defensive midfielder.

Why is the defensive midfielder so important?

He asked this question and got Wei Le's affirmation.

"I said you must be this material!" Wei Le's eyes lit up, and he took two steps at a time and dragged a tactical board from the corner of the room.

In England, the original concept of football was the same as rugby. In short, the ball could not be passed forward. By 1866, the offside rule was changed to allow the ball to be passed to the last three players of the opponent. Therefore, the way to attack the opponent's goal was close to the model of rugby, with the individual dribbling the ball, and the other forwards surrounding the left and right, picking up the ball and continuing to attack.

At this time, football was very unbalanced. If we look at it according to this rule, the most practical tactic is actually 2-2-6, which later evolved into a balanced 2-3-5.

It is also easy to understand. The more forwards are placed in the frontcourt, the more people can help to bring the ball up again after losing the ball in the frontcourt.

At this time, the responsibility of the defensive midfielder, or the back waist, is actually to intercept the opponent's ball, and this function has been continued to this day.

4-4-2 is a three-line formation, namely the forward line, the midfield line and the back line. In contrast, 4-2-3-1 is a four-line formation, with a hierarchical division in the midfield.

What do these two extra back waists bring to the tactical play?

In fact, it is the level of defense.

"You can think of it as the error tolerance rate." Wei Le explained, "It's like I hit you directly, and you wear a bulletproof vest and then I hit you. At least the bulletproof vest gives you a higher error tolerance. My fist will first hit your bulletproof vest, not your flesh."

"My fist may be blocked by your bulletproof vest first. If it can't be blocked, I will use my flesh to resist.""You can think of the bulletproof vest as the defense in front of the back line, and the meat is your back line and goalkeeper."

"You have the opportunity to stop the opponent before he reaches your back line, without relying on your only four defenders to do this difficult and risky job."

"But later, with the change of the offside rule, everything became what we are familiar with, football became diversified, and passing was given greater importance."

Weile talked about Rijkaard's application of the role of the fourth position from the creation of the "Regista" (metronome) created by Italian football. The names of some famous backcourt organizers, such as Busquets, were also associated with the responsibilities of the position of the defensive midfielder for the first time in De Paul's mind.

"I have said so much, but the main point is actually one, that is, the diversity of the defensive midfielder is determined by the diversity of tactics, and the defensive midfielder is the most flexible role."

"So, what kind of defensive midfielder do I want you to be?"

Weile does not want De Paul to be the so-called fourth position, and he is not the material for the backcourt organizer. This job can be left to Rodri. De Paul's job is to grab the ball in the midfield with various tricks and then pass it to the most suitable teammate he can see.

"When Rodri goes up, you have to come back to fill his position. If Rodri is in position, you can also press forward appropriately, it depends on your own ideas."

"But the most important responsibility is to sweep in the midfield. You are the umbrella for the frontcourt players. With you, they will not be easily bullied." Wei Le smiled, "So, you don't need to restrain your temper now."

De Paul's eyes lit up.

"Just don't take too many cards." Wei Le added.

On the football field, De Paul's thoughts only flowed for a second, and then he refocused. Rodri's pass had arrived. It was a short pass from a close distance, given to him.

De Paul returned to the frontcourt, which was his familiar position, and he saw Trossard running at the far end at a glance!