Is Nemanja Matic the Best Exponent of the 'Makelele Role' Since Claude Makelele?
Steven Gerrard makes his final appearance as a player at Anfield this weekend and as the curtain falls on his Liverpool career, so begins the task of replacing him.
It's been a familiar sight in the Premier League in more recent times, with the likes of Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea all losing key figures in midfield.
Whereas United are yet to find Roy Keane's heir and Arsene Wenger's Gunners are still reeling from Patrick Vieira's move to Juventus a decade ago, Chelsea have discovered their new midfield enforcer.
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Claude Makelele changed the way we think about defensive midfielders. It's not just about the role they play these days, but also how they can impact games tactically and change a team's fortunes.
The Frenchman was key to shielding Chelsea's defence in the way we'd expect any player in his position, yet in the same motion was the catalyst to get them moving forward in attack.
The view on Maka was that he did the simple things well: simple passes, simple tackles, simple movements.
Nothing was ever complicated.
When he left Chelsea to play out his career with Paris Saint-Germain in 2008, we saw a considerable void emerge in the centre of Chelsea's structure.
John Obi Mikel and Michael Essien have attempted to fill that to varying degrees of success—the latter's injury problems preventing him from being more effective—as has Oriol Romeu, to a point.
None of them have had the impact of Nemanja Matic, though.
When we think about that Makelele role—certainly at Chelsea at least—there isn't a player who has been as essential to Jose Mourinho's side (or the managers who bridged the gap between his two spells).
The Chelsea boss inherited a very different team to the one of his first stint at Stamford Bridge.
Roman Abramovich's takeover may have only been a year earlier, but the foundations had already been there with the likes of John Terry and Frank Lampard settled into Claudio Ranieri's side.
Some finer elements had been added to ensure Chelsea could sustain a title challenge, of which Makelele was one.
When Mourinho returned from Real Madrid in 2013, the landscape was much evolved, but not necessarily for the better.
There were exciting players in the Chelsea squad, but where was the balance? There wasn't any, with years of managerial changes damaging the look of the Chelsea squad.
The club's transfer policy had shifted to more diminutive types and somewhere along the way, Chelsea had forgotten the true value of what a Makelele type could bring to their side.
Indeed, they had even allowed Matic to leave on the cheap to Benfica as part of the deal that brought David Luiz to the club.
Chelsea in 2013 needed some presence and Mourinho often lamented that fact when he saw his side frustratingly conceding points in moments when they shouldn't.
With midfield presence comes impact and a result of that is a team's ability to control matches. When teams control games, inevitably they win more and lose less.
For instance, before Matic joined Chelsea midway through the 2013/14 season, Mourinho's side had lost five games in all competitions.
In the 18 months since—and the games in which Matic has featured—the figure is the same.
With him in the line-up, Chelsea are formidable once again.
Some clubs opt for a possession-based approach to determine control, yet Mourinho is more pragmatic than that. The Chelsea boss will adapt depending on the opposition and occasion.
As was demonstrated recently against Manchester United and Arsenal, possession wasn't the key to Chelsea succeeding. It was about lulling the opponent into a false sense of security and reacting at moments when the guard was down.
It worked best against United when Eden Hazard scored a breakaway goal to punish Louis van Gaal's men, turning their apparent position of strength into a weakness.
The theory was turned on its head—possession wasn't key in that game, it was about the discipline and setup when Chelsea didn't have it.
To play like that requires many things, namely having a player such as Hazard who is on hand to execute a move when Chelsea have hit their opponent on the break. There is also the requirement for a player such as Cesc Fabregas to have the vision to spot when the opening presents itself.
Above all else, there is the need for Matic.
Chelsea couldn't have won the Premier League title the way they did without Matic. He's not their enforcer in the way fans of 1970s football will imagine—he's more intelligent than that.
He's physical and that 6'4'' frame of his ensures Matic is an imposing figure. Yet take that away from his game and he'd still be the player we know as he relies on so much more.
Like Makelele—who was almost a foot shorter than Matic—Chelsea's Serbian is Mourinho's insurance policy. He's the security blanket, if you will; the player who holds it all together.
Chelsea's winning formula is based upon tactical discipline, relying on the right sort of character to execute the manager's plan.
It's based on Matic.
Across Europe there are players who have looked to emulate Makelele but few have come as close as Matic to mastering him.
Garry Hayes is Bleacher Report's lead Chelsea correspondent. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter @garryhayes
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