Attack and defence: Difference between revisions

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 {{Quote|“Mbappé became only the second player in history to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final, scoring three goals against Argentina in the 2022 World Cup final. Argentina led 2–0 with just over ten minutes remaining before Mbappé scored twice in two minutes, the second from a volley after playing a one-two.”
 :— Wikipedia, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kylian_Mbapp%C3%A9 Kilian Mbappé]}}
+It is amazing what you remember.
 It struck the JC while watching the 2022 World Cup Final that there is a large asymmetry between how we evaluate attack and defence. The final will be remembered for Lionel Messi, yes, but also for 23-year-old Kilian Mbappé’s hat-trick — the first in a World Cup final since Geoff Hurst’s in 1966.
-It is interesting to compare Mbappé’s performance with an Argentine defender’s. Nicolás Otamendi. How the UK media saw it is set out in the panel below, but it is also captured in the Wikipedia quotes above.
+It is interesting to compare Mbappé’s performance with an Argentine defender’s. Nicolás Otamendi. How the UK media saw it is set out in the panel below, but it is also captured in the quotes above. The common consensus: Otamendi had a solid game, kept Mbappé quiet for 90% of it, but made one obvious mistake, giving away the penalty that brought France back into the game. Mbappé was more or less invisible for 80 minutes, but sparked to life ten minutes from the end, scoring an impressive goal and converting two penalties to take the match to penalties.
-The common consensus: Otamendi had a solid game, kept Mbappé quiet for 90% of it, but made one obvious mistake, giving away the penalty that brought France back into the game. Mbappé was more or less invisible for 80 minutes, but sparked to life ten minutes from the end, scoring an impressive goal and converting two penalties to take the match to penalties.
+Yet Otamendi’s average rating was around just over 5; Mbappé’s almost between 9 and perfect in a game in which the Argentine defensive line so dominated the French forwards that Didier Deschamp withdrew two of his forwards (Giroud and Dembélé) before half-time.
-Yet Otamendi’s average rating was around just over 5; Mbappé’s almost between 9 and perfect. Infact, the Argentine defensive line, in which Otamendi was central, so dominated the French forward line that two French forwards (Giroud and Dembélé) were unceremoniously withdrawn before half-time.
+Interesting note: despite the widespread use of Enhanced Football Intelligence — every player in the tournament was GPS tracked and data exists for number, location and success rate of passes, tackles and touch rates — not one of the media ratings made reference to it.
-Interesting note: despite the widespread use of Enhanced Football Intelligence — every player in the tournament was GPS tracked and data exists for number, location and success rate of passes, tackles and touch rates, not one of the ratings made reference to it.
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 ===Poor old Giroud===
-It is worth comparing Mbappé’s fate with that of his striking partner poor old Olivier Giroud, who was substituted off after 40 minutes.  “Seethed after humiliating early substitution but in truth the game had completely passed him by. 5” said the Guardian. “Slightly lucky at one point not to give away a penalty and so ineffective up front he did not make it to half-time” opined the express. “A miserable final for the former Arsenal man as he was subbed before half-time,” said the express, before awarding the poor chap 3.
+It is worth comparing Mbappé’s fate with that of his striking partner poor old Olivier Giroud, who was substituted off after 40 minutes.  “Seethed after humiliating early substitution but in truth the game had completely passed him by. 5” said the Guardian. “Slightly lucky at one point not to give away a penalty and so ineffective up front he did not make it to half-time” opined the Express, for 5. “A miserable final for the former Arsenal man as he was subbed before half-time,” said the express, before awarding the poor chap 3. L’Équipe was so outraged with his showing that it refused to rate him at all!
-At least he put in a tackle!
+At least he put in a tackle! Had he been on the park after 90 minutes who is to say he might not have scored 4?
 ===Relative cost===
 Yes; an anecdote; but a representative one.  The ten top-paid ''defenders'' in the world earn between £12m and £18m a year.<ref>https://www.johnfyucha.com/2021/12/highest-paid-defenders.html</ref> The top paid footballers earn between £20m and £35m, and most are strikers.<ref>https://www.johnfyucha.com/2022/10/top-10-highest-paid-footballers-in-2022.html</ref> Not one is a defender.
-The point here is not to challenge these ratings — well, it is partly that: the Telegraph’s in particular is preposterous even on its own terms —  but note how much harder a job it is to be well-rated as a defender than as an attacker. You can shut the brightest star in football’s firmament out of a world cup final for 80 minutes and get 4; you can ''be'' shut out for that time by a not-especially notable centreback (who is apparently playing poorly!) and get a ten.
+The point here is not to challenge these ratings but note the different success criteria for attackers compared to defenders. The ''payoffs'' are asymmetrical: A defender must put in a 90 minutes shift. A striker can piss about for half the game as long as she is canny enough to get on the end of at least one cross before the final whistle she will still be remembered as a hero.
+You can — as the Argentinians did — shut the brightest star in football’s firmament out of a world cup final for 80 minutes and get 4; you can ''be'' shut out for that time by a not-especially notable centre back (who is apparently playing poorly!) and get a ten.