The holding midfield position is an unattractive role. It is rarely filled by a player who scores goals. They don’t even try killer passes. And yet it is a key position in the modern game, so much so that this World Cup is seeing many sides operate with two functional stoppers in a 4-2-3-1 formation.
England, however, bucked the trend by fielding Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard centrally in a two-man midfield against USA. One of the criticisms of that partnership is their unwillingness to concentrate on ball retention – simple passes to team-mates that keep things ticking over and are an important part of a successful side at the highest level. Gerrard plays with Mascherano and the much-criticised Lucas filling the role at Liverpool while Chelsea have Mikel and Essien with Lampard at Stamford Bridge.
In 2002, England went with Nicky Butt in the holding midfield role at the World Cup. He had an impressive time, with Pele even improbably naming him as his player of the tournament ahead of the quarter final with Brazil. In 2006, Owen Hargreaves was entrusted with the job and was England’s official Player of the World Cup, earning the FIFA man of the match award in the quarter final defeat to Portugal. Let us hope Gareth Barry can provide a similar base for our stars to play from in 2010.
Wolves have their own player in this position, the captain himself, Karl Henry. He has come in for criticism – ‘the crab’ is one of the kinder nicknames – and has been on the receiving end of the odd boo here and there. What he does do is keep hold of the ball as the statistics for the win over Fulham at Molineux show:
These passes may not be incisive through balls to Matt Jarvis or Kevin Doyle but the idea behind the role is that these passes find the full-backs in space or perhaps a more progressive midfield player who can create something. The problem for Wolves was not Karl Henry but more the fact that the players he passed the ball to, say George Elokobi, would then often play an aimless long ball, making you wish Henry had tried to do something himself! With further investment in players expected in the coming years, there is every reason to think Karl Henry will be a player that grows in importance and effectiveness as quality players are added around him. Indeed, as Gabriele Marcotti of The Times recently noted when speculating as to the strength in the depth in the Premier League, maybe there could be a role for our captain on a grander stage – Euro 2012 anyone?
* Segment from Gabriele Marcotti’s piece in The Times
Another thoughtful post Adam. I’m possibly Karl Henry’s no.1 fan and made him my player of the season for the last two years.
Whilst your stats demonstrate his value for the team in ball retention it would be interesting to see what the stats say about ball winning as his passes are usually the end result of him winning a tackle.
In our Championship winning season we often played an out and out 4-2-4 and the work he did in winning the ball and keeping it was phenomenal. He has incredible energy and I doubt Prozone would show many players covering more ground than him.
In that Fulham game I remember him making a forty yard run covering the space behind Halford, winning the ball near our corner flag, laying it off to Mancienne and getting the final pass away (to keogh who wasted it) of the resultant move on the edge of their box.
And I’ll never forget thw 50 square yards of space vacated by an a.w.o.l Ward at the Ricoh that time after time our skipper filled.
As for ‘crab’ passes, well thats an allegation that says more about the people making it than it does about our skipper. What regular player at any level wouldnt want a Karl Henry busting a gut in their team?
He could play a more attacking role, has demonstrated defence splitting passes often enough (e.g. the volleyed pass to Jarvis for BCI 4th goal against Forest) and his capacity to get on the end of things was never better illustrated than the winner at Charlton on SEBs big night.
What a bargain at c £300k. Nice one Pullis!
Pretty impressive having 100% successful passes over 90 mins. I wasn’t his biggest fan before this season but I think he was easily one of our best players last year, maybe it’s because we need a player like him a lot more in the premier league than we did in the championship. I noticed how important he was when he was suspended for those few games last year, can’t remember who we played or what the scores were but I remember thinking how much we missed him. He’s meant to be a sound bloke as well by all accounts.
After watching that excuse for a national team last week, there is plenty of room for Henry right now.
He is one of those players who glide rather than scurry, and consequently sometimes give the impression, quite wrongly assumed, of not trying hard enough.
However, as pointed out above, his ground covering is often unsung, as all eyes tend to follow the ball rather trhan the players covering or drifting into space, subtly and surreptishushlee ( spelt that one wrong!!)
An excellent player, up there in my top 3 for last year.
FOWB
I think Karl will continue to improve next season and carry on being a great captain.
SEB… you were meant to be in that list or better!
An excellent, thought-provoking blog. One comment: No accusations of cherry-picking, but we as a team were very good throughout that entire game (and Fulham were not really at the races until the last 15 mins). I wonder what KH’s stats look like in some of the other games.
If the diagram is right, does anyone remember the pass KH played out to Wayne Hennessey when he (Hennessey) was on the right touchline near the halfway line?!?
Adam, any chance of a link to the Marcotti article? I searched the Times site and couldn’t find it.
It was cherry-picking to a certain extent! I felt it was best example of point I was trying to make. I’ve not looked at every game but the Guardian chalkboards are well worth a look – that was probably Henry’s best period though.. for example in October 09:
vs Everton 21/0
vs Villa 28/1
vs Stoke 36/1
Losing the ball twice in 3 games is pretty impressive.
Obviously these stats do not tell the whole story – a lot of these passes are simple skills to attempt – although I guess to an extent that is the point. We need that player.
For a completely unfair comparison I checked out Halford’s half-hour vs Blues where he was hauled off. Admittedly he was crossing the ball but he had 2 completed passes / 5 unsuccessful. In virtually a half of football. In his previous appearance vs Villa he had managed NO completed passes, 5 unsuccessful! No wonder Mick gave up on him.
This is link to Times article. Not sure whether you have to register now cos they are trying to limit access to site in preparation for charging us no doubt. Hopefully this link works:
http://timesonline.typepad.com/thegame/2010/05/englands-b-and-c-teams-could-qualify-from-world-cup-group.html
Thanks, Adam. Much appreciated.
Thanks Adam – fantastic blog article. I only watched Karl once at Molineux (living in Australia) and he became my favourite player. What he did that night (vs Palace, 2-1 win, Keogh and SEB) was amazing in the space he covered, his positioning and his ball winning ability. When I bought my replica kit – “Henry 8″ adorned it. Brilliant.
I’ve been thinking – it’s 4 years since Glen Hoddle resigned. Perhaps an analysis of then and now wouldn’t go astray, to examine how far we’ve come under Mick. I’d love a comparison between Kevin Doyle and Jemal Johnson.
I loved that blog Adam. Henry is my favourite player, as you might know, so its always nice to hear a glowing endorsement! He just gets better and better for me. Wasn’t he out with a hernia when we made the play offs in that first season under Mick? I remember thinking how much we missed him.
Yeah Ben, Potter played.
We certainly missed Henry sitting in that game, as George Oli went gallivanting up field for most of the game. Did score though the big oaf.
Just to change the subject briefly if i may.Just finished watching the Spain Swiss match.Good game but oh that incessant,monotomous droning noise was doin my ead in.Still,the good news is,as far as i know big Mick’s not commentating on any of the England games.
From Tweetcepts.com:
“Whats the difference between Mick Mccarthy and a vuvuzela? One
has an annoying monotonous single pitch drone, the other is a
plastic horn.”
“Mick McCarthy. There’s a man who could make poetry sound like a
list of building materials.”
“Hilarious. BBC subtitles can repeat Adebayor word for word. But
can’t make head nor tail of alan hansen and mick mccarthy”
Good blog, and I`m with scooped on this one – vastly underrated, is KH. In the championship he was part of a 2 man midfield, competing against 3 players most games, and we still were champions. In a 4-5-1 system, if he wins the ball in a tackle how can he pass the ball forward every time if we only have one player up front.
KH is a superb athlete, has the pace and tenacity to get stuck in and win tackles, and work his socks off every game. No wonder MM loves him, for me definately our best, and one of the teams most durable and consistent players, and reliable as he rarely misses a game through injury.
He`s moved up effortlessly from the championship to the premiership, not all of the title winning side have done that. KH my player of the last 3 years also.