John Giles knows a thing or two about what it takes to be a good midfielder, and the former Leeds United man is a big, big fan of PFA player of the year N'Golo Kanté.
In his regular column for The Herland [via Independent.ie], Giles expressed his happiness to see Kanté get the recognition he deserves by calling it a 'victory for football', but he doesn't see the Frenchman as a "holding midfielder".
After outlining how Kanté's form of leading from the middle was different to that of himself, and Roy Keane who he also used as an example of another type of leadership, Giles claimed that he was so happy to see Kanté scoop the award because he cuts through the bullshit surrounding the discussion of football, and in particular the midfield position.
Giles does not like the term "holding midfielder" at all, as he believes a midfielder should be able to play both ways and that the term is invented to cover for limited players, and he singled out Eric Dier as an example of someone who should not be playing in the middle of the park.
I’ve watched Eric Dier for Spurs over the last few weeks do almost nothing of any consequence as a holding midfielder and I find it baffling that Mauricio Pochettino doesn’t see that too.
He would probably be appalled by my assessment of a player he seems to value highly but seriously, Dier is a defender playing in front of two other defenders. He’s no midfielder.
I do understand that lads like Kante are now so rare that managers have to say something to cover the inadequacy of their own players. That’s the main reason we have “holding” midfielders. That and a name for lads in the media to use to show they understand the game.
An interesting take, Pochettino puts Dier into the midfield purely to protect the back four, but that doesn't sit well for someone who had to do that, and get goals/provide assists as well.
But the big issue, according to Giles, is that youth coaching does not encourage skill on the ball enough, and attributes the lack of exciting players in the game to a mistaken emphasis on athleticism.
Players like Kante are not being produced locally because the Lilleshall coaching elite placed skill at sixth place in their list of desirable criteria for a professional footballer a long time ago.
By trying to build athletes instead of footballers, they managed to weed out the players we all like to watch.
Lilleshall once being the home of the FA's much maligned "school of excellence" that produced the likes of Michael Owen, Sol Campbell, and Joe Cole, Giles is not alone in his thinking that the focus on physicality is a large reason why English football has fallen far behind the standard set by other European countries such as Spain and Germany in recent times.
Dier is, and will be, a big part of Pochettino's system at Tottenham despite not being what you would consider a player who gets into Spurs' best starting XI, so unfortunately for Giles he's going to have to watch more of his defensive qualities in midfield over the coming years.
