I'd like to say, that am a great fan of midfielders because wanafanya mchezo wa mpira (football/soccer) kuwa mchezo bora na unaofatiliwa zaidi duniani, pia midfielders ndio wanaobeba misingi na ubora wa team, kila team ina midfielders (basic nature), but ubora wa midfielders ndiyo unaotafautisha standard ya teams performances na uwezo wa ku-see out every tense and tough games (whether kwa ushindi au draws), In short midfield ni eneo muhimu sana la team, thats why kwa kiswahili wataalamu wa soka letu wakaita "Kiungo".
huwa napenda kustudy na kujifunza different kind of football tacticts/systems etc, but nimekuja kugundua kuwa a lot of people (football fans) huwa tunashindwa kung'amua au kujua tofauti ya midfield roles za wachezaji uwanjani, au pia kuchanganya aina ya midfielder na kazi zake uwanjani.
So i'd like to share with you my little knowlegde about midfield roles, types na attributes zake.
1. REGISTA
kwa jina lingine ni "Deep lying Playmaker". watu wengi wanaamini kuwa pioneer wa hii role ni Andera Pirlo but the truth is alianza kucheza hii role ni Pep Guardioala (when he was playing at Barca), but credits nyingi anapewa Pirlo because he managed to master this role very well and made it his own.
in recent times ambapo coaches/managers wengi sana hawa-value ishu ya orthodox DMs (Defensive Mids) huwa wanatumia registas kama shield ya defence, mara nyingi Regista anatumika kama "Sitter", kwa maana ya kwamba anasit mbele ya Front four, na nyuma ya entire midfield, the notion ya kuwa huyu Regista anatakiwa kusit behind the entire midfield ni kwasababu yeye ndio huwa ni msingi wa mashambulizi yote ya team, the weird thing about registas ni kwamba ingawa watamika kama shield ya back four, but siyo in the sense ya kudefend but kucreate space, yaani the more opponents sides wanavyoshambulia huyu regista huwa anapata nafasi ya kucreate lines na kuanzisha mashambulizi ya haraka sana mara tu opponets wakinyang'anywa mpira, they are not reliant na pace but huwa wanategemea "Vision". sasa unaweza ukahoji why huyu regista akae nyuma kabisa kama role yake siyo kudefend? ni hivi regista lazima acheze nyuma kidogo au sometimes sambamba na Box to box (B2B) midfielders au controllers, Pirlo (regista) wakati yupo juve alikuwa akicheza nyuma ya 2 box to box mids ambao ni Pogba na Vidal, ambapo Vidal used to do all the dirty works for him, while pogba was able to drive the team forward because of the space created by Pirlo. kwenye msimu wa 2013/14, Rodgers played SG as a Regista, huku akisaidiana na Henderson who was deployed as a box to box mid.
Greatest attributes za REGISTA (DLP) ni Passing and Vision (most important attribute), passing is for creating space and chances, breaking midfield lines, holding the possession, and Vision ni kwaajili ya kupenetrate balls kwenye eneo la adui, na most importantly kunga'amua weak links za opponent midfield na kutambua team ijishape vipi ili kuoverun the oppent midfield, in short you have to ahead of any player on the pitch in terms of football intelligence to be called a complete Regista. example of Registas are Pep Guardiola, Pirlo, Xavi, Modric, Xabi Alonso, Weigl, Carrick, the new Busquests, Tielemans, Dahoud (at BMG), i'd call Fabinho a Regista too.
2. MEDIOCENTRO (Controller)
sometimes anajulikana kama 'playmaker". (Siyo DLP wala AP, just "playmaker"), but i'd prefer to call this kind of role as Controlling Midfielder. while main attributes of a REGISTA is to have good passing accuracy and ball vision, huyu attribute zake kubwa ni Calmness (able to resist pressure) and techinical defensive abilities, a controller must have good defensive ability, why? because it his duty to defend the REGISTA, and blocking the lines, spaces created by the opponents mids in order to be able to control the tempo of the game, if the Mediocentro akifeli kufanya kazi yake REGISTA atapata tabu kutengeneza attacking base ya team, na kama team inamtegemea zaidi Regista katika mfumo wake basi lazima itakuwa limited kutengeneza any build up kwenye mid na hivyo kupelekea mid kufa kabisa na kushindwa kufunction, mara nyingi hii ikitokea Coaches uswitch formations au kuingiza natural defensive minded mid kusit back deep zaid na kumpa nafasi REGISTA kucheza sambamba na Controller. but kama nilivyosema huko juu managers wengi huwa wanapenda kuwachezesha REGISTA na Box to box mids, na ikitokea kama atataka kudeploy REGISTA NA CONTROLLER kwa pamoja basi ni lazima nyuma yao aweke a natural defensive midfielder (rejea triangle ya madrid, CASEMIRO (natural DM), Modric (Regista), Kroos (Controller). sasa attacking teams nyingi huwa zinapenda kutumia combination ya B2B na Mediocentro, but possession teams huwa zinapenda kutumia sana combo ya Regista, mediocentro na B2B, mfano barca kuna Busquests, iniesta, Paulinho/racktic, Man City kuna Fernandinho (mediocentro), Silva/gundogan (Registas) then strangely you have Kevin Debruyne ambaye Pep amemdeploy kama B2B and what so strange about Pep ni kwamba anacheza na single pivot in a mid (Fernandinho) ambaye ndiye anatumika kudefend na kubreak any form of lines and strangely here ni kama kazi anayofanya Ferna ndiyo inayompa nafasi kevin ya kuziumiza team, Pep decided to deploy Kevin kama B2B kwasababu ya pumzi na energy aliyonayo KDB huku akitumia the remaining 3 atributes za B2B ambazo ni quick feet and speed, creativity, shooting technique. sasa unakuta teams nyingi sana zinakuwa na controllers tu bila ya kuwa na REGISTA (regista ni rare sana kuwa nao coz ni most intellegent players na wanaweza wakapatikana lakini wasikizi mahitaji kama kina PIrlo, xavi, modric etc,). hawa mediocentro ni kama kina Veratti, Pjanic, Paredes, Sahin, Jorginho, Barella, Kroos, xhaka, tolisso, naingolan, ndombele, dendocker, demiraby etc.
3. BOX 2 BOX MIDFIELDERS.
we have a lot of this kind of midfielders in the world right as most coaches like to use them a lot now a days, kwasababu ya counter attacking football. mfano pale LFC midfieders wetu karibu wote ni natural b2b (Emre can, Henderson (well he's a b2b too lol), chamberlain) but unaweza ona kuwa Klopp amebadilisha roles za hawa wote, he plays Hendo as a regista (no wonder we leak so many goals), and occasionally he plays Can as a b2b or recently kama orthodox number 6. and Wijnaldum who is natually a number 10, plays as a Controller, nadhani you can see how bad we need a natural controller, maana Keita nae ni b2b, sasa kama Klopp is not a fan of a REGISTA, he needs to get a good mediocentro, who will sit between Keita and Can as b2b.
sasa attributes kubwa za hawa midfielders ni kuwa na Defensive abilities kubwa, tackling, strength na zile ambazo nimezitaja hapo juu kuhusu KDB, ambazo ni quick feet/speed, creativity, shooting etc, why hawa watu wanahitaji hizi attributes? ni kwasababu hawa ndo energy ya team, they suppose to everywhere trying to create goals and at the same time complement the back four and the entire midfield, hawa sasa ndiyo ile definiton halisi ya neno "kiungo", hawa wapo kila sehem na mara nyingi sana huwa wanavipaji vya kufunga magoal mengi sana au kama siyo kufunga basi ni kupandisha team na kucreate nafasi nyingi sana za magoli, strength, ubavu na height are most needed qualities for a good b2b. pia ukiachana na defensive abilities huyu b2b lazima awe na uwezo na kipaji cha kucreate mazingira ya magoal, a b2b that lacks creativity qualities can never considered as a b2b (henderson for example). mfano wa b2b midfielders ni SG, Lampard, Yaya Toure, Vidal, Moussa Dembele, Pogba, Wendel, Paulinho, Goretzika, Sergej, Tousart, Khedira, Ramsey etc.
4. The TREQUARTISTA
hawa nadhani kila mtua anawajua because ndo the most famous midfielders in the world, hawa ndo number 10s, ambao hucheza nyuma ya attackers, hawa midfielders pamoja na Registas huwa ni rahisi sana kupewa majina ya "maestro". hawa ndiyo wapishi wakuu wa magoal. Trequartista can be deployed either right, central or left depends na set up ya team au combination ya strikers up front, trequartista ni kama Registas tu, lazima wawe mafundi sana, kinachowapa urahisi ni kuwa wanacheza high up on the pitch, regista huwa na kazi ya ziada ya kufanya kwasababu ya kucheza nyuma sana kama nilivyoelezea hapo juu, but hawa number 10s wenyewe wajibu wao ni kuhakikisa wanacreate enough chances za magoal na kuhakikisha strikers wanapokea mipira mizuri kutoka kwa hawa, when you talk about these lot kulinganisha na Registas, ambao attribute yao ya Vision wanaitumia katika kutengeneza nafasi na kung'amua weak links, hawa trequartista wenyewe vision yao huitwa "through balls and killer passes", lazima wawe na instict ya kung'amua open spaces na kusababisha havoc kwenye opponents box. as i said these midfielders siyo lazma watokee katikati, wanaweza kucheza kutoka pembeni kama "inside number 10s". at Arsenal we have witnessed Ozil akioperate kutokea kushoto au kulia au central (rivaly aside, although Ozil has slightly failed to live up to his madrid days at Arsenal, but for me this maestro is one of the best number 10s to ever grace this world, when you talk about killer passes unamuongelea huyu mtu, he's so good at it, and thats what make a best number 10). people will always argue who is the greatest number 10 of all time kati ya kina Maradona/Laudrup/cruyff/Hagi/Baggio/Puskas (mchawi), but for me RONALDINHO GAUCHO will be my best number 10 to ever grace this planet. we have a lot of trequartista kama Sjneider, Kaka, Wayne Rooney, kagawa, Hamski, Gotze, isco, Rodriguez, coutinho, Eriksen, Juan Mata, Cesc febrages (started as a number 10), KDB (turned into b2b by Pep), Adam Lallana, Roberto Firmino (false 9 now) etc.
