It's all mad speculation, I know. But here's three of our well-respected regulars from the previous page....
To be fair Baz and Juan, at least, hate the idea of losing Xabi Alonso and Baz adds that Masch has his "lapses" collecting the ball from the back. But I'd go further than this. I'd say he's not very good at receiving the ball with pressure from behind and that after a couple of his "lapses" he goes into 'hide' mode - as lots of otherwise excellent midfielders do when the pressure is on. Last season, for example, 'hide' mode lasted for several months - not surprisingly these were the months that Xabi was in 'crippled-mode'.
I think Masch's definitely improved that side of his game- but he's just not as calm as Xabi. In fact, I'd say no footballer we have is as calm as Xabi when in possession on the edge of our own box upto the halfway line, and when under pressure. I'd be hard pressed to name one in Europe as well actually. Xavi and Pirlo are the 2 names often mentioned, but in England and playing directly in front of our defenders? Xabi's better...
But I do think if Xabi went Masch would be the one who drops deep to get the ball from the defenders and moves it on.
It was not "hide" mode, yorky but Gerrard insisting on coming back and trying to take the ball from the defenders feet and carry it upfield by himself. I felt there was a lack of trust between Gerrard/Masche which is why their partnership doesn't work most of the time. Lord knows, it's not for hiding that Mascherano can be accused of. Sometimes he tries to do too much which leads to mistakes but he does not shirk.
And in all those quotes, staying deep doesn't mean that Masche would be doing what Xabi is currently doing in being an outlet for our defenders. I think they meant it in more of an attacking sense. If the other CM goes up to support the attack, Masche would stay back and look out for the counterattack. Just as he and Xabi sometimes do when Agger wants to run up with the ball. At least that's the way I read Juan Loco's post which seems to be about Sneijder and Gerrard taking turns to run up with the ball from the back.
But your talking about a completely different scenario. Holding your position whilst the ball is in front of you is different to when you hold your position and make yourself available when the ball's behind you (with the defenders). Masch is great at covering when the ball's in front of him- whether it be the fullbacks or Xabi or Agger (as you say). Even Stevie's done that well when he's played CM this season- holding to allow the other CM to take the ball forward (be it Xabi or Masch).
But it's not that side we're talking about.
We're talking about the times when the ball's with Carra or Agger, and the midfielder that needs to drop back in support and to take the ball and move it on. It's a completely essential pivot in our football but is less important when Agger's playing. When Skrtel and Carra are playing, it's essential that we have that midfielder who drops deep to collect the ball off them. In this role, Xabi's the best player in Europe for me- better than Pirlo and Xavi who he's normally compared to. Masch doesn't do this near as well and nor does Stevie. But if Xabi was to go, then I think Masch would need to step into that role when needed- and if Agger becomes 1st choice then it'll probably be a less important role as well.
We're also talking about this 'pivot'. For us, the hub of our football seems to be Xabi. For other teams, that player is mostly in a more advanced position- Xavi for Barca, Lampard for Chelsea, Fabregas for Arsenal... Sneijder would be that player if he came here instead of Xabi. Our 'pivot'- the 'grand circulator' of possession would simply move from a deeper position to a more advanced one. Naturally, the opposing teams will realise this and try and shut us down further up the pitch... now, they all know Xabi, from deep, is the player to stop- so he's always under pressure in that position. But next season, if Xabi goes, we get Sneijder in (or any other player who controls possession from advanced positions) the player who drops deep to collect the ball from our defence will face less pressure on the ball- they'll all be marking Sneijder further up the pitch (or whoever we get in)!
So, that's why I think Masch could do a job there- he wouldn't have as much pressure.
Wouldn't it be great though, if we have a player like Sneijder AND Xabi in the side? How the fuck would opposition teams stop us then from keeping good possession? It's why Spain are so great in my opinion- Xabi, Xavi and Fabregas especially keep possession so well.
I've not mentioned Gerrard here because he's just not that kind of player- he's more about getting on the end of passes from these types of 'pivot' players, rather than being the one whose aim it is to solely keep possession in attack. He has to make things happen with runs, shots, through balls... not simple passes. It's probably the reason why Yossi can't do that for us either.
Interestingly, I was watching a documentary earlier about 'Network theory'- it was fascinating and based on the 6 degrees of seperation theory- everyone on earth is linked by a string of 6 people. It's available
here and one of the features of this network is 'hubs'- the few people who know a lot of people that make these 'links' smaller. It's been applied to other networks- the electric grids, human cells and the internet... with the hubs being sites like Google, holding so many links to other websites... Anyway- link to football? Well, these pivot players are hubs. I bet if you analyse the passes to these players, they're going to be passed to, and passed from, the most in the team. Xabi, Xavi, Fabregas, Lampard, Sneijder (I think?)... they're the 'hubs' with the 'network' being the players on the team.
For example- the theory goes that many strings of passes will feature such a player- if a ball from Reina is going to end up to Torres, it's likely Xabi will be involved somewhere along the line.
The question is, is Masch one of these players? A player who will get passed to the most and move possession on quickly? If he is, then he could theoretically replace Xabi. If not, we'd need to get someone else in like Sneijder to be that 'hub' of possession for us.
As for Network theory in general- it's fascinating- if you have the time, watch that programme. The 6 degrees of seperation was always something that intrigued me but I thought it was false. Turns out that is just not the case- there's also an interesting experiment in there to prove it!
When applying to the world of football- it's not a great fit because the football 'world' on the pitch is only consisting of 11 players! But you can still notice patterns- how some footballers have more 'links' than others. Guardian chalkboards have a stat which shows how many passes a footballer gets and from which positions, and also the positions he passes to. I reckon Xabi would be the one with highest number of positions passed to ('links') and passed from. That's why he's so important- or at least, a player like him. When one player is out the team who has few 'links' in the team, the team can easily function without him. But if a 'hub' is out, then the system actually collapses. We can easily appreciate that if we do a thought experiment on what would happen to a team if Xabi was out (or Xavi for Barca, Lampard for Chelsea, Fabregas for Arsenal... etc).
