The key is strength and other physical and technical qualities. Height is just an added advantage, mainly at set pieces and aerial duals.
Kante was the best defensive midfielder around, by a mile, for a few years at 5 foot 7. Mascherano a world class DM for us and Argentine for years at 5 foot 9.
People got carried away thinking Caicedo was a Kante clone, but who knows how well he'd have done here.
For me it’s as much about the partnership. Kante was truly brilliant, but there’s no doubting he was at his best when he was able to forge a proper partnership, usually with someone that could hold and screen, essentially letting him off the leash to disrupt. Funnily enough, Arsenal have used Rice in a similar way at times when they’ve let Jorginho sit in front of the back four, essentially given Rice freedom to press high and pen the opposition in.
I think height can be important in the position but only because it can be so difficult to dribble past taller, rangey players. It felt like our defensive three of Van Dijk, Matip and Fabinho were impenetrable at times because they were so big and rangey.
As has been alluded to, the 6 market is really poor at the moment, it feels like we want a unicorn and there simply aren’t the players coming through. I’m wondering if we can possibly get creative and find an alternative solution. I can remember watching Fabinho play centre back and right back for Monaco, I seem to recall Mourinho wanted to sign him as a defender when he was at United, too. Are there any centre backs out there that look like they could play midfield? Could Inacio? I’ve seen a few saying Slot isn’t afraid to get creative with his positional solutions. Maybe we have to think outside the box with the potential 6. I don’t think it can be ignored, for me it’s become one of the most crucial positions to preventing counter attacks and balancing the entire team.
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