This is written vaguely in response to the Luka Modric blog of June 16th and more broadly as an (albeit slightly bias) insight into the debate surrounding one of the altogether more enigmatic footballers currently plying his trade within the Premiership, and presently attracting the typically merciless overtures of Chelsea and Manchester United.
Modric: Under performing but required
First and foremost it should be stated that, even as a Tottenham supporter, I do generally agree with the previous blog’s central notion regarding Modric not being as potent a goal threat, or indeed a direct maker of goals, as one would imagine for a player so highly rated and receiving of such grandiose plaudits within the game (‘the best footballer in England’ according to Sir Alex Ferguson). However, I do take issue with the sentiment that in assessing the ‘value’ of a footballer, hard, arbitrary numerics (namely goals/assist statistics) should be regarded as an absolute barometer and even a ‘pure science’ of sorts. This is not to completely undermine the validity of such indicators of course- but to reason that sometimes a player’s genuine worth to a football team runs far deeper than that which can be quantified in ‘fantasy-football’ requisites. Luka Modric is a case in point.
Here, the progression of Modric as a Spurs player merits some brief narration… Initially, the £16.5million signing from Croatia Zagreb was deployed as a deep-lying playmaker by the perennially imprudent Juande Ramos, before being asked to play an unfamiliar holding role, and then shunted unceremoniously out to the left wing, which significantly curtained his influence and hindered his development upon arrival in England. In addition to the lack of continuity this entailed, the light-weight Modric also had to support and free himself in a newly deployed 4-5-1 system. There was no questioning his ability on the ball, or indeed his vision to spot a pass, yet shorn of major defensive responsibility, he was required to drift to wide positions and overload rather than stay central- this was largely an ineffectual settling-in period for the Croatian who flattered to deceive for the most part during the early stage of his career in England.
When Harry Redknapp arrived at the club (‘we only ‘ad 2 points… etc, etc’) Modric was used primarily as an attacking central midfielder behind the industrious Wilson Palacios. This yielded a steady improvement in form until the Honduran Palacios, apparently essential to steady-up any central midfield which included the nimble-footed Croat, was suspended for the final two games of the 2009/10 season. As a consequence Luka was (surprisingly to many) employed as an orthodox central midfielder in a flat 4-4-2 alongside Tom Huddlestone, with Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon providing the pace and width. Despite his lack of physique, Modric excelled in this role and after making a successful comeback from a serious injury and helping his team to a Champion’s League spot the season before, his importance was such that the entire shape of the Tottenham team was subsequently transformed to accommodate him into the seemingly tailor-made role of the deep-lying playmaker following the arrival of Rafael van der Vaart.
Modric is now the pivotal figure around which the Tottenham team is built and the diminutive Croatian has evolved into the player who, more than anyone else, defines and embodies what (in theory at least) this current spurs team is about in terms of both its shape and approach. In spite of his slight frame, Modric’s passing range, creativity, vision and ability to retain possession in deeply-lying central areas whilst under pressure, have cemented his importance to the team’s style of play. This is reflected by the telling fact that Modric was overwhelmingly voted as the Tottenham Hotspur Fan’s Player of the Year this season, in spite of media golden boy Gareth Bale (albeit unjustifiably to most) winning the overall PFA player of the year award.
Bearing this in mind, to compare Luka with more advanced forward-lying players and indeed categorising him as an ‘attacking midfielder’ at all, becomes somewhat misleading, almost to the point of being disingenuous, as does any conclusion that he has underperformed as a direct conclusion from his fewer than expected goals/assists returns. Any absolute conclusions derived from this alone fail to factor-in the significance of what he offers the team on a broader scale. With the unerring confidence to receive the ball in congested area through the sureness of his touch and sharpness of his turn, Modric offers an outlet to the fullbacks (rather than it being hoofed aimlessly toward the painfully ineffective Crouch) and a steadfast linkage between defence and Attack, rather than necessarily a relentlessly all-out-attacking tour-de-force in his own right. Regardless of the standard of opposition (his performance vs Manchester United was arguably his best of the season), he constantly demands the ball and very rarely loses it. The intelligence of his darting runs and the smoothness of his technique dictates the essence of Tottenham at their best, even if it is more often than not orchestrated from deep, so his influence not habitually manifest in direct assists returns.
Deviating slightly from the relative merits of Luka Modric as a footballer, one could expand the issue to address the significance of his potentially being sold, and the ramifications for Tottenham Hotspur as a supposedly forward-thinking and ambitious football club. It is of course logical (and entirely reasonable) that, particularly when assessed as saleable commodities, ‘creative’ midfielders will always be judged by their assist/goal output. However, in this instance that implies myopia towards the less tangible but nonetheless significant character of Modric as a footballer and in particular his critical role within this current Tottenham side. (See Harry Redknapp’s recent observations regarding the ‘value’ of Modric and his thinly veiled swipe at the sheer nonsensicality of Jordan Henderson being signed by Liverpool for £20m). Aside from the downbeat message it would send out regarding Tottenham’s status (‘if we sell Luka we’re a selling club’ according to ‘Arry) if Spurs were to allow him to leave, the specific character of his function within the team, and symbolic importance to the club as a whole, makes him almost impossible to replace.
