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Xabi Alonso, current Bayer Leverkusen coach and former midfield maestro, once remarked, “If you control midfield, you control the game.” Midfield is where the majority of a football match takes place. It’s not necessarily the area where a game is won, but it’s undoubtedly the area where it can be lost. Whoever loses the battle in midfield loses the war. Controlling the center is a prerequisite for victory.
This explains why control is a motive in every elite manager’s tactical ideal. Guardiola has previously detailed that possession is the mechanism by which his teams exert defensive control of a game, rather than the widely held notion of offensive dominance. Pep explained his Manchester City team’s excellent defensive record in an interview a few years ago:
“The reason why (our defensive record is so good) is because we have the ball 67 percent of the time… That’s the main reason… If you have the ball as many times as possible, your opponent doesn’t have the ball.”
Possession means control, control means victory.
Conversely, however, José Mourinho, who often provides the yin to Pep’s yang, claims a team “can still be in control without the ball”. Mourinho wants to take control of a game by minimizing the number of mistakes his team makes while maximizing the opponent’s mistakes. The Portuguese coach is content to pass the ball in exchange for a solid defense and the ability to launch quick counterattacks.
After a 2-0 win over Manchester City in 2020, the then Spurs manager quipped how Guardiola’s side ‘had the ball for 90 minutes… they can take the ball home.’ I’ll take the three points.’ A typical José quote, but one that reflects his philosophy that a team can control a game without possession just as effectively as with.
The commonality of these opposing approaches is therefore control. And the area where both managers tend to focus their control-based game plan is midfield. Both try to create overloads in the middle of the field that benefit their tactical approach.
Mourinho uses the more orthodox ‘extra man in midfield’ to provide stability and choke the opposition with another team to play through. John Obi-Mikel, Marouane Fellaini and Sami Khedira have all played crucial roles for teams seemingly beyond their capabilities, allowing Mourinho to create those blockades in midfield. This would fall into the “defensive overload” category.
Guardiola tries something bolder. To achieve attacking overload, the Spaniard instructs one of his defenders to move into midfield (Zinchenko last year, Stones this year) when Manchester City are in possession. This allows the central duo, typically Gündoğan and De Bruyne, to push higher up, closer to the opposition’s goal, while nominal defender sits alongside Rodri at the base of midfield. This is not a new approach LiberoA role that has a long tradition in football history, but which modern managers find difficult to counter. Manchester City have just enjoyed a season of uninterrupted success and this ‘attacking overload’ approach in midfield is key. There are maybe 115 more basics, but that’s a discussion for another time.
Mikel Arteta applied the same principle at Arsenal. Zinchenko, signed from City in the summer, moves freely between left-back and central midfield, allowing Granit Xhaka to push forward. 7 goals and 7 assists in league this season for the Swiss midfielder represents his best season in Arsenal shirt and is indicative of Arsenal’s best league season in general in years. Arteta’s men led the league ninety-three per cent of the year before a season-ending wobble quickly turned into an outright crisis, spawning a stereotypical ‘Arsenal’ for Arsenal. However, the quality of football they previously displayed bordered on glamor. It often felt like Arsenal were playing with twelve men, with that number they were able to attack with overwhelming majority. The “Attacking Overload” system that Arteta used to structure his midfield was crucial to this success.
Which brings us to Manchester United. Erik Ten Hag’s first season in English football was undoubtedly a success, albeit with some very difficult moments. The Dutch coach used a more traditional 4-2-3-1 formation for most of the year, with Casemiro and Christian Eriksen acting as double spins behind Bruno Fernandes. The transition from the “McFred” duo to this one represents a significant step up in quality and is one of the main reasons for United’s improved level of performance. Still, it’s a midfield that lacks agility.
Eriksen is physically unfit to play a full season in central midfield in the Premier League. He also struggles in games against “elite” opponents, where your legs need to be as quick as your mind to prevail. Ten Hag clearly saw this and opted for the ‘defensive overload’ midfield structure in the FA Cup final – Bruno was moved to the right wing and Fred was deployed alongside Casemiro and Eriksen.
The result was a very disciplined and effective defensive performance. On the one hand, City were largely weak from an attacking perspective and depended on a miracle goal after 0.00006 seconds and an early Christmas present from David De Gea. On the other hand, United themselves were completely powerless. An extremely lucky penalty, one that not even the most zealous Reds could contest with a straight face, was United’s only chance of getting back into the game. It’s not an approach a manager like Ten Hag wants to adopt long-term.
That FA Cup final experience could have been a turning point for the United manager. The compulsion to operate with a midfield that has focused on ‘defensive overload’ rather than ‘offensive overload’ that has made him a household name in Holland will have sparked a desire for reinforcements this summer. Mason Mount has emerged as a rather unlikely candidate at The Athletic reporting Chelsea have turned down a £40m offer from United. As explained by Vatsal Gupta, an improved offer is likely to be made for a player with only 12 months left on his contract at a club looking to sell for FFP reasons. A deal seems likely.
However, the profile offered by Mount is the most relevant part of the offer. The general consensus was that United needed two midfielders this summer; a more traditional central midfielder – to improve Eriksen – and a defensive midfielder – to cover Casemiro. Mount doesn’t seem to fall into either category. Unless control of the midfield is not necessarily meant to be taken by a midfielder himself.
Sitting at the base of a midfield with Mount and Fernandes, Casemiro looks weak defensively on paper, with the two attacking midfielders being most effective closer to the opposition goal. Still, they are two very hardworking midfielders with a strong mix of tactical intelligence and stamina. Mount, in particular, is an excellent dribbler who works optimally with quick transitions through ball control and concise passing. The England international offers many of Eriksen’s technical qualities while offering significant improvements in terms of mobility and progression abilities.
The disadvantage of such a constellation would be the extent to which one compromises oneself defensively. In theory anyway. If Ten Hag employed the “Attacking Overload” structure with two offensively oriented number eights backed by a defensive midfielder and a pushing defender, he could solve two problems at once. And Ten Hag already has such an option.
Luke Shaw proved a revelation last season, rightly laying claim to being the league’s best left-back and one of the best centre-backs. His combination of physical and technical quality makes the full-back a perfect candidate for the modern libero role that Pep and Arteta used so effectively last season. Shaw’s first touch and fast passing game are world class and rarely used at left-back. By instructing him to move into midfield when United have possession, his contributions on the ball can reach a new level while increasing his side’s overall performance accordingly.
From that perspective, the Mason Mount links make more sense. Mount brings much more scoring threat and mobility to United’s midfield at the expense of defensive stability and possession from deep. Acting as a ‘fake full-back’, Shaw elegantly offers exactly the qualities Mount’s inclusion demands. United will be able to attack more effectively without sacrificing defence. You’ll have far greater control over the midfield and therefore far greater control of the game.
Given the priority the Chelsea midfielder has at United this summer, Ten Hag’s midfield appears to be in the process of transitioning from a team dealing with “defensive overload” to one that’s struggling with structure the “offensive overload” that has brought so much success to rivals.
