Xabi verse the World

Below is a quote from Xabi Alonso in an interview with Sid Lowe of the Guardian.
Here is the link:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/nov/11/xabi-alonso-spain-england-interview

“I don’t think tackling is a quality…it is a recurso, something you have to resort to, not a characteristic of your game…I can’t get into my head that football development would educate tackling as a quality, something to learn, to teach, a characteristic of your play. How can that be a way of seeing the game? I just don’t understand football in those terms. Tackling is a [last] resort, and you will need it, but it isn’t a quality to aspire to.”

While one of the main focal points of this interview is the discrepencies of football culture between Spain and England, I found this quote to be so intriguing.  At first glance I dismissed it entirely, because as far as I was concerned tackling is winning the ball from another player.  How could that not be important? Then I started to think about it a bit more.

Take a sport like basketball, very comparable to soccer in terms of fundamentals on both sides of the ball.  Defenders need to be quick and agile, they need to read the game well and understand passing lanes and how to anticipate ball movement.  No different than the skills sets needed to defend in football.   Now in basketball defensive players do not stand out for their ability to strip the ball off a dribbler, there is more to it than that. So why is so much credit given to defenders who can "tackle well" in football.

Next time you watch an EPL game count how many times Martin Tyler says "tackle" preceded by an adjective.  Xabi is right, the word is overused and encompasses too much of defending in Britain, we should include the US as well because our language and ideas for the game are greatly influenced by the Brits.  Tackling is not only a last resort, its a gamble. When a defender sacrifices their movement for an attempt at the ball they have committed themselves and the only question is what can the player with the ball do at this point.  Take the video below of Brazilian Ronaldo dribbling through legions upon legions of players.  Watch how many times he is simply reacting to players who have already committed themselves.  Now of course not every attacker can react, move and dribble like he can, but the man on the ball has the advantage either way once the defender sticks out a leg or slides to ground in search of the ball.

Alonso could not have described tackling more intelligently when he called it a "recurso" or last resort.  Picture a 1v 1 battle between a winger and a fullback near the touchline about 35 yards from goal.  It's really a game of chess.  If the defender tries to tackle too early he may win the ball high up the field, he may knock it out for a throw, or he may get beat entirely, leaving the winger with yards of space and an open look towards goal.  The reward does not outweigh the cost in taking this risk so far up the field with little cover from other defenders.  By not tackling the only thing the defender can control is his own positioning, this is real defending and it is measurable. Good defenders have the presence of mind to close space for an attacker the same way an attacker is able to create and exploit space.  The key is continuing to tighten those available yards until the attacker makes a mistake and shows too much of the ball.  This is where tackles are made and usually won, but the defending occurs only up to this point and not at it.

This is only one part of defending as Xabi mentions, but aside from athletic ability, this is something to look for in players' defensive abilities.

  The best advice I ever got as a defender was "don't lunge"