In football, each player has his own position in which he performs certain functions. However, for convenience, the positions are divided into several groups. Football players can be goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders and forwards, and already in these groups they are divided into subgroups. This article will focus on midfielders, who are also called midfielders. This name comes from the English term half-back, which means that the player is not a full-fledged defender and is not an attacker, that is, he is located in the center of the field. A midfielder is a much broader concept than just a midfield player. And now you will find out what exactly are midfielders. After all, they can perform various functions. A midfielder is usually not the most versatile player, he has specific responsibilities, and therefore it is worth considering various types of midfielders.
Defensive midfielder
A reference midfielder is one of the most important posts on the football field; this player is also often called a breakwater. Of all the midfielders, it is the deepest and carries exclusively defensive functions. He plays over the defenders, but under the other midfielders, is responsible for the selection of the ball and is the first defensive line. To date, there are not so many clean world-class defensive midfielders left, but without a breakwater in any way, because high-speed forwards during the passage of the central zone can easily slip through the central defenders, so you need to meet them earlier. This is exactly what the oporniks do. So the supporting midfielder is a very important position on the football field. But this is not the only role of the midfielder - in the center of the field there are still enough functions that require attention.
Playmaker
A midfielder in football, of course, can perform not only defensive, but also attacking tasks. In particular, there are midfielders who organize attacks. It is not their responsibility to select the ball from the opponent; they have completely different playing qualities. When they get the ball, they need to deliver their team’s attacks to the players as quickly and accurately as possible. Usually these are technical football players who can beat the enemy if necessary and cut the enemy defenses with a pass. Without such a midfielder, the team would have been quite difficult, since it is he who is its brain center in most cases.
Boxing boxing
There is another very important role that a midfielder can play - the box-to-box midfielder. What does this mean? Again, this term is taken from the English language, and it means that the midfielder acts throughout the center of the field, that is, from one penalty area to another. What are the functions of this player? In fact, his front of work is very impressive, since he must work out both in defense and in attack. He is at the same time a defensive midfielder taking the balls, and a playmaker carrying these balls to someone else's penalty, and even an attacker, completing the attacks of his team. Such a midfielder has great responsibility, runs impressive distances and performs an impressive amount of work on the field.
Ten
Recently, the 4-2-3-1 scheme has gained great popularity, in which there is one clearly defined midfield player located above the other two, but much lower than the striker. This football midfielder is called the “top ten,” and its functions are similar to those performed by the playmaker. But at the same time, it is located much higher and concurrently performs the functions of a drawn forward. He organizes attacks, distributes transfers to the flanks, and directly to the central striker. We can safely say that he is an even more important member of the team in such an advanced position than the usual playmaker.
Midfielder
However, it is worthwhile to understand that midfielders play far not only in the center - they can also be located closer to the right or left flank. Such midfielders are called extreme, and their roles have changed greatly over time. Initially, there were flank midfielders and flank attackers, and then the midfielders were lower, that is, directly in the center of the field. But over time, the extreme attackers as such ceased to exist, and the extreme midfielders began to play a common role. They were called wingers, and they are responsible for developing attacks on the flank. This was made possible thanks to the fact that the flank defenders also became much more flexible and ceased to perform exclusively protective functions. They are called wingbacks, and they are connected to attacks on the flanks, thereby partially replacing midfielders in the center of the field on the edge of the field, who run away closer to the attack. Thus, specifically the concept of “flank midfielder” no longer exists - almost no one uses a scheme in which there would be extreme midfielders located exactly in the center of the field.