Graphic credit to: Lee Fraser
DM: Claude Makelele v Nemanja Matic.
Claude Makelele aged 31: Signed in July 2003 from Real Madrid by Claudio Ranieri. The Defensive Midfield role became known as “The Makelele Role”. He made 50 appearances and actually scored a goal (from his own rebounded penalty) on the day that Chelsea FC were crowned champions.
Nemanja Matic aged 26: Re-signed from Benfica in January 2014, having been released by Chelsea FC in 2011. He has made The Makelele role his own but has also incorporated a forward thinking aspect into it as well and managed 49 games in all competitions.
Graphic credit to: Lee Fraser
CM: Frank Lampard v Cesc Fabregas.
Frank Lampard aged 26: Signed in 2001 from West Ham. He won the Football Writers Association Player of the Year in the 2004-05 season. With 58 appearances and scoring 19 goals he was Chelsea FC’s top scorer for the season, quite a remarkable feat for a midfielder!
Cesc Fabregas aged 27: Signed in June 2014 from FC Barcelona and has made a total of 47 appearances scoring 5 goals and chipping in with 18 assists. Talking of chipping in he is responsible for my funniest moment of the season with his red card chip against West Bromwich Albion.
Graphic credit to: Lee Fraser
CM: Joe Cole v Oscar.
Joe Cole aged 22: Signed in August 2003 from West Ham. He played either central or wide midfield making 46 appearances and scoring 9 goals in between being shouted at by Jose Mourinho to tackle back!
Oscar aged 22: Signed in July 2012 from Internacional. Oscar divides opinion, at times brilliant, at other times frustrating, but has made 42 appearances scoring 7 goals.
Graphic credit to: Lee Fraser
Midfield Unit Summary:
2004/05: 27/30
2014/15: 26/30
Graphic credit to: Lee Fraser
Player for player these 2 units are so similar in what they do, and yet differ enormously in how they do it!
Joe Cole the fan’s favourite, has outscored Oscar because he was marginally more consistent, both of them on their day however were match winners in their own right.
Claude Makelele was the originator of the role that was named after him, he was the destroyer of the opposition’s attacks, or as Arsene Wenger would probably put it, he was “anti-football”. Nemanja Matic has taken that role to a new level because of his forward thinking ability and therefore outscores Claude in my eyes.
Frank Lampard has outscored Cesc Fabregas in my opinion because of his unerring ability to be in the right place at the right time to score crucial goals. Although Cesc’s vision and pinpoint passing accuracy is important to the current team, I believe Frank’s attributes and goal scoring feats were of a greater importance to the 2004/05 team overall.
Again, agree or disagree? Please feel free to add your opinions in the comment section below.
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