Defensive Midfielder

A defensive midfielder is similar to a central midfielder. They both play in the central area of midfield and both have the same role of passing and controlling the midfield area of the pitch.

The difference lies in the mentality. The defensive mid is more defensive in terms of play and acts like an extra defender, playing just in front of the back line. The main role of this position is to make tackle in midfield, win loose balls and help recover possession. Being a midfielder, once the ball is won back, they will have to help set off the attack as well for counter-attacks. Defensive mids must be good at:

Tackling - It is important to win possession of the ball.

Good awareness - Know your surroundings and options so you can react quicker when in possession

Strong - The midfield area might get messy, you must be able to shrug off challenges.

Stamina - It is important that you don't run out of fuel at the most crucial of times, it can be costly!

Defensive mids however, have to try and stay in position. Straying too far forward could be costly if no one is covering and can often give the opponent a chance to score.

Nowadays, in modern day soccer, this position is used by nearly every team. Giving a team that extra defender really boosts defence and teams often concede less goals because of this. A good example of defensive mid player would be Patrick Viera, Gennaro Gattuso and Michael Essien.

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