Juan Mata
By Kevin Kemboi
In Argentina, the classic number 10 role was called the Enganche. Enganche is a Spanish word that roughly translates to “hook”. What it essentially means is a player that acts as a hook between midfield and attack.
The ‘classic number 10’ role has been buried for over a decade now. Football has evolved and the obsession over possession/pressing tactics, don’t give room for a classic Enganche role.
The likes of a Zidane, Riquelme, Totti, type player has faded.
Some pure classic number 10s in today’s generation like James Rodríguez and Juan Mata played on the wings during their prime years. It’s criminal. David Silva during the 2010’s era embodied the elegance and vision of an Enganche.
Juan Mata in the 12/13 season as a pure classic number 10 was a freak of nature. He had 19 goals and 35 assists in all competitions.
But as the game evolved, the pace of the game increased. A new system called gegenpressing has become a feature of most top teams around Europe and has taken over the tactical aspect of the game.
This rapid closing down of the ball doesn’t let the Enganche take the pause peacefully. This disrupts the rhythm of the creator and negates him.
The modern game demands each and every player to defend. The Enganche’s are not sound defensively and don’t tend to trackback.
Mesut Özil was slandered and ridiculed during his latter years in the Premier League for not tracking back. Enganche’s are born with the gift of creative freedom in the final third. The modernized game has hampered the classic number 10.
Coaches like Jurgen Klopp have developed systems that don’t require much creativity from midfield. Overlapping fullbacks create chances aplenty for the forwards to feast. Midfield is barely reduced to a protection unit for defence.
Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson have opened a new doorway for the fullback position. They are essential in their systems to provide the creative spark using the width of the pitch.
Again we can see how influential Trent Alexander-Arnold is. Some say he’s like a Kevin De Bruyne at fullback. This is how the game is adapting in the modern era. The classic number 10s are fading.
Defences have also adapted to counter the role of an Enganche. Teams playing with a 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1, could exploit overloads out wide to circumvent the 4-3-1-2 which have made the classic number 10 a sensation in the mid 80s/90s.
Modern day number 10s blessed with all the positional intelligence and effortlessness in technique would of excelled in the creative freedom role in the 80s. Prime Mesut Özil was poetry in motion.
There are now modern versions or prototype’s of the classic number 10. It’s become extinct and the roles have now shifted to the number 8 or 6 especially playing in a 4-3-3 formation.
In Italy’s triumph in the Euro’s, Barella played as a mezzala. There was no need for a number 10.
Sergio Busquets and Miralem Pjanić have proved that an Enganche doesn’t have to be attack-minded 24/7. They are the type of midfielders that dicate the tempo at the base of midfield.
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