'The worst thing that happened to the Premier League was Claude Makelele' - Tottenham coach Les Ferdinand

 
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Andy Hodgson28 January 2014

Tottenham coach Les Ferdinand believes the holding midfielder is an unnecessary staple in many of today's football teams.

The former Spurs and England striker, who is now part of the coaching team at Tottenham headed by Tim Sherwood, has bemoaned a 'crop' of players who don't want to cross the halfway line.

He told the Tottenham and Wood Green Journal: “I know there’s a lot of talk about holding midfield players, and I’m always arguing with Tim and Chris (Ramsey) about this – and they agree,” he said.

“I don’t like holding midfield players. I like players to understand that if one goes forward, the other one tucks in for them. I don’t want someone who just sits in front of the back four and doesn’t go anywhere. I was saying to William Gallas when he was here, the worst thing that happened in this league was Claude Makelele.

He added: “When Makelele came into this country he wasn’t a holding midfield player. He was a player who had the intelligence to say ‘Frank [Lampard], you can score more goals than me so if you go I’m going to tuck in here for you, and I’ll hold. You keep going forward’.

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“Then everyone went ‘right, we’ve got to have a holding midfield player’ - and what we’ve done is produce a crop of players who don’t want to go over the halfway line, who don’t want to pass over the halfway line and are happy to just sit in front of the back four.

The 47 year-old's view may give us some insight into why last summer's £9m signing, Etienne Capoue has been told he can leave White Hart Lane this month after being deemed surplus to requirements by the current regime.

Tottenham face Manchester Ciy on Wednesday night and Ferdinand believes the success of Spurs' opponents vindicates his view.

“People say Yaya Toure is a holding midfielder. No he isn’t, he’s getting forward and getting goals - but if someone else goes he’ll stay in there.

“Fernandinho’s scoring goals. Why? Because he’s a holding player? No. They’ve just got an understanding: ‘If he goes, I’ll hold, and if I go he’ll hold’.”

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