J'accuse! complacent midfielders

If I were a Fulham fan, I would be aghast at the performance, nay, presence on the pitch even, of Jonathan Greening. The former Manchester United player (herein probably lies the root of the problem) exhibited a frankly preposterous vanity in strutting around the pitch in the FA Cup tie against Spurs yesterday. Every time he received the ball – look how he makes space for himself, how very clever! – he proceeded to stroke it square or backwards of square, clearly thinking himself to be some sort of ‘general’ à la Guardiola or Alonso, say. The fact is, the great pass masters always look forward first, whereas Greening offered zilch in the way of attacking momentum: he was pathetic.

The player that Greening nominally came in for, Danny Murphy, is not blessed with great athleticism (if he were, he would be playing for England), but he is always on the look-out for the killer ball and gets through the usual midfield work as well.

The slide into complacency can be insidious. I think of Steve McManaman, who was often irresistible when playing for Liverpool, but who transformed into a crabby sideways bore at Madrid, seemingly under the illusion that he was a Galactico and that the prerogative of the Galactico is affected minimalism.

Another ex-United player who falls into this category is Alan Smith, currently with Newcastle United. Remember when this guy was vigorously leading the line for Leeds United? Now he ‘patrols’ in front of the back four, ‘mopping up’ the ‘bits and pieces’. Excuse me while I vomit.

This kind of decadence, for that is what it is, may have started with Ray ‘Butch’ Wilkins, obviously a fine player in his pomp, but who, in his twilight years at - everybody’s favourite second club – QPR, was content to get through the game on square balls, occasionally releasing Les Ferdinand on the rare occasions he looked north to justify his place in the team. He was trading on his name, basically.

A partial contributor to the phenomenon (or perhaps, the possibility) of the complacent midfielder is an unfortunate legacy of José Mourinho, namely, that it has become almost axiomatic to have a ‘holding’ midfielder in the team ‘to protect the back four’. It would be hard to accuse Claude Makelele or his successor Obi Mikel directly of being complacent, but it was / is always a danger.

Sure, defensive-minded midfielders are a must somewhere, but that shouldn’t preclude some semblance of an all round game.