The Importance of the Deep-Lying Playmaker

The playmaker is the most influential player in any side. Whether it be the great defensive Il Grande Inter or the stylish and fluid Dutch team of the '70s who pioneered the totaalvoetbal system which revolutionised attacking in the modern game, in every great side there is one clear constant; each has had a playmaker orchestrating the side's tempo, build-up and attacks.


There are two main breeds of playmaker in the modern game (as I talk about in another article of mine), the deep-lying, and the more advanced number 10. As you've probably guessed, the main contrast between the two is that the former is seen in a deep position, often in between the banks of attack and defence, á la Andrea Pirlo or David Pizarro, whilst the latter is between midfield and attack, such as Mesut Ozil or Juan Riquelme. Whilst both are instrumental figures in a side, one is (in my opinion anyway) found to be more of a key role than the other.

A specific type of deeper playmaker is a regista, which is to a side as what it translates to - the director. They have the role of dictating the tempo of their side's build-up whilst looking to penetrate the opposition defence with long through balls from deep. One thing I often see in the Premiership is team's lack of a regista, a deep-lying playmaker who dictates the tempo of a side. Roberto Mancini noticed it towards the end of last season when he brought in David Pizarro from AS Roma, one of my favourite holding midfielders, but the Chilean didn't perform to his best which was expected, as the playmaker had played in the slow-paced Serie A for nearly all of his career and to suddenly switch to the frantic end-to-end English leagues would see even some of the best players out of touch.

Without a regista, a team can often find themselves with a difficulty in controlling the tempo of the game, since it takes a full team effort to do so over an opposition without someone with the dedicated role of conducting the play.

Take a look at Andrea Pirlo for example, according the Castrol EDGE Index, which rates players on their importance in the team's efforts at both ends of the pitch, the Italian was Azzurri's second most influential player, just one place behind Juventus teammate and highest Italy player Claudio Marchisio who was 11th with a rating of 9.21, 0.04 higher than Pirlo. The ex-Milan midfielder also featured in most 'team of the tournament's and was definitely one of the best players throughout the matches, probably just behind Andrés Iniesta as the best.

Maintaining a good and consistent retention of the ball has become increasingly vital in the modern game, and a deep playmaker will make the task of carrying the ball out from defence so much easier as ge will be able to collect the ball from the back four in a deep position and use his tactical intelligence to advance the ball further forward onto his teammates in higher positions.

Without a deep-lying number 10, there is no specific linking player to bring the ball out which often ends in the ball being lofted up into the air towards the strikers. Players with an elegance to their game where they play intelligent passes instead of a 'hoof' up field are a rarity in the lower leagues, which is why you see so many target men applying their trade in both League One and Two, because most teams simply send the ball straight from defence to attack most of the time.

Unlike the more advanced number 10, the regista has the ability to analyse his teammates attempts in the final third from a deeper position, and then with this he can work out the best ways of going about breaking down the opposition in terms of passes and movement etc. which can give the side that elusive 'cutting edge' which many sides miss.

This ability is only seen in the best of attacking playmakers as they are often seen right in the mix of the play and they don't have the time to analyse the play, he will also be concentrating more on his own game whereas a deeper positioned number 10 would simply overlook his teammates. He is also in a much better position to observe the play, as the advanced playmaker would have movement going all around him, which makes it impossible for him to see it all as you obviously can't have a 360 degrees peripheral vision, however the deeper man can, as everything unfolds in front of him.

This diagram to the right displays every pass which Andrea Pirlo made against Germany in their 2-1 win in the semi-final. At 61 out of 66 passes being successful, the playmaker had a completion rate of 92.42 recurring, an excellent stat for any player.

The majority of passes are short, with their direction being predominantly to the flanks, especially on the right side where Federico Balzaretti was positioned due to an unfit Ignazio Abate.

There is also a number of rather lengthy passes from deep into the final third which we saw a lot of throughout the tournament from the Italian magician, and they were very effective even if the Juventus midfielder made just a small number of assists.

Though the playmaker likes to keep his passes short, he also has an incredibly accurate long pass which is reflected by this diagram. Just 10 percent of his passes were long, and all of them successful. Most of them show to be him switching the play, which is often seen as negative and dull (especially by Match of the Day pundits) however it is a good way of creating space as it forces the opposition to quickly shift from one flank to the other, resulting in them becoming disorganised as they rush to shut out the space open on the flank which the ball has just been sent to.

There are also many substitutes to the creation of chances within the final third, wingers, false 9s, inside forwards and target men to name a just a few of a plethora of options, however the same can not be said for chance invention from deep, and only the libero, a now rarely seen player comes to mind. This emphasises the importance of the deep-lying playmaker over it's more aggressive brother as there are little replacements for the latter.

Nearly all footballing trends come and go; the libero, W-M system, catenaccio, and zona mista to name a few, and we are currently seeing this process happen to the 4-4-2, as it becomes more and more out of favour to the 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3 but one thing that I think will be in football through time is the playmaker as they're crucial to every top side's success, and there isn't anything (for I can see) that will replace the vital role that is the number 10

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