The Argentinean midfielder was recently asked about his idol in football and he claimed that he always praised the former http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786 star Claude Makelele, labelling him as the best holding midfielder in the world.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Javier-Mascherano-c18071 has often been hailed as one of the best holding midfielder of this era and that is what also got him the captain’s armband for the Argentinean team a few years ago.
However, now http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Lionel-Messi-c22296 wears the captain’s armband for the South American giants, while Mascherano plays in the holding midfield position for them.
Holding midfield position is a role which is quite unique and not all players can adapt to it.
Recently, there have not been a lot of players who can play in that role, and the http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Sergio-Busquets-c33048, is one of the only few emerging talents in the holding midfield role.
The job of the holding midfielder is not to score goals, or create chances for the team. In fact, the http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Job-c18684 of such players is to win the ball in the midfield, aid the defence, and link the defence with the midfield.
Since it is a very unique role and not everyone can play in it, there are very few players who have made their place in this position.
There are also clubs who operate without such players and they find it difficult to contain the ball in the midfield.
This is the key to Barcelona’s passing philosophy as Sergio Busquets is the perfect winner of the ball in midfield and the Spanish youngster distributes it perfectly to his fellow midfielders, Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta.
When Javier Mascherano was asked about his football idol and who he tried to follow when he was young, he replied that the former Chelsea star, Claude Makelele is someone who he always tried to copy and he’s the one who has always impressed him.
When I was young I tried to copy Claude Makelele because I thought he was one of the best defensive midfielders around.”
“I always tried to watch him, to learn and also I have had the chance to play games against him when I was at http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Liverpool-c39809 and he was at Chelsea.”
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