What is the Makélélé Role | Tifo Football Encyclopedia

Tifo Football Encyclopedia: What is the Makélélé Role?

Claude Makélélé arrived at Chelsea in 2003 after three successful seasons at Real Madrid. In his time at the west London club he came to define a position and approach to playing it with such success that his name has become synonymous with the function.

The Makélélé role is, in effect, the deepest lying midfielder of a midfield three in a 4-3-3, or the base of a midfield diamond. While it has largely defensive connotations, the role does in fact serve an attacking purpose as well.

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#makelele #chelsea #makelelerole

[gsdjustice]

As quoted by Zidane when Real sold him and replace with Beckham

Why put another layer of gold paint on the Bentley when you are losing the entire engine?

[Tom-wrmq]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Chelsea had one of the best midfields in football history in the 2000s...Makelele, Lampard, Ballack, Essien, Deco and more😍

[reminiscence]

Never see Mekelele playing in my lifetime cause I was kid at that time. But naming a position for him is huge honour, and moreover successful career

[moek]

The exact reason we should never sell players like Casemiro or him. They might be low profile players and not show too many skills or entertain you, but they are the ones that make a team of stars complete.
Unsung heros of football, thanks to Zidane for believing in Casemiro

[vceroy]

Last time I was this early, Jesse Lingard was an young prodigy with huge potential

[chrisf]

Love the fact Kanté who has some similarities with Claude also plays for Chelsea.. he looks like the perfect successor for Les Bleus as well..

[jono_jpg]

Would have been cool to talk about some of his contemporaries and current players.

[supersuperkamen]

Fun fact, in Makelele 3 years at Real Madrid, he won the la Liga (2x), The UEFA Champions League (1x), The Supercup (Spain's community shield) (1x)

Three years after Makelele departure, RM won nothing but 1 la Liga only...in fact, RM won only one La Liga title in 10years after Makelele departure!

Chelsea, the club he went to join for 5 years after he left RM, he won the Premier league (2x); League Cup (2x), FA Cup (1x), Community Shield (1x)...plus he almost won the CL with Chelsea if Chelsea had defeated MU in the finals in 2008!

Know the worth of what you have!

[LukasWilliam]

Ngolo kante = closest human to makalele

[sahildani]

Makelele's defensive IQ always blew my mind

[risingraisings]

Ok that's cool and all but when are you giving us the lingard role

[leeroygraham]

Thank you... I had an argument once as to why makelele is different to kante and better. This sums up what I was trying to explain. Kante is the closes thing to makelele but he isn't makelele!

[dan]

I hope all working at Tifo Football are keeping safe in the wake of coronavirus and I hope all the fans are as well. Great vid btw (Arsenal Fan). An Important question I have for Tifo Football is because of the situation with Cornavirus should the Premier league season be null and void or should Liverpool be handed the title? If it doesn't get cancelled what do you think should happen to teams in contention for UCL and UEL spots, as well as teams, at the bottom of the table facing relegation? Thanks Daniel from London

[ronnyquatre]

A underrated player... Zidane was excellent on the pitch for France thanks to Makelele ... He would allow Zidane the luxury of only attacking and making less defensive runs

[AB-scyh]

Violating Makelele with that image of him 💀

[lc]

To me, Makelele was either born at the perfect timing to represent his position, or at the worst timing be underappreciated. Despite his accolades, Makelele never won the World Cup and Euro with France, missing out on the legendary 1998 team. The player who played his role in 1998 was Petit, who was only 3 years older than him. When he arrived at Real, he was already 27, relatively old for a footballer at the time. Had he been born earlier, not only might he have been with the team to win 2 world cups, but he would have also led the wave of shifting into transition focus football. Had he been born later, he would have arrived at Chelsea younger than 30, and might have been able to achieve more with them, as well as developing a variety of skills familiar to defensive midfielders of today: long passing, ball distribution, air contest.

At the same time, he was able to serve as the anchor to the Galacticos and paving the way for Chelsea. He was the best at his position when it became much more important. As player's work rate increases with better training, counter attacking football, which abuses static defensive scheme and tendency to overcommit by attacking focus teams, and possession football, which dominates the match through constant movements, became more lethal. Makelele became the poster child that period, serving as guidance to a generation of midfielder as to how to operate in defence and transition. Clever positioning, quick passes, forward dribbles, discipline were all great attributes that weren't appreciated when artistical attacking midfielders were celebrated. It's almost ironic that the playstyle he helped elevated by creating space for Real midfielders, he helped killed by controlling those star players with clever defensive plays that disrupting their tempo and threaten their wingbacks.

[amadhatter]

Makélélé the man that changed the game because of him the CDM was born, yes Jose may of played him there but its was Makélélé that made the role his own (hence why its know as the Makélélé role). Great video and can't wait for more.

[sasa]

Makelele was a pure genius in its own style, the archetype of the 'sentinelle' and a great artisan of France great tournament in 2006, always playing smart in the shadow of the other talents around him (Zidane, Vieira, Ribéry, Henry..) It's funny that he started his career at FC Nantes (the club of my heart) playing as a winger, but not surprising that he succeeded as a central midfield, the head coach there at the time was Suaudeau (check this one out), a manager known for movement, playing in one touch, being clever, vision and vista.

[raymondeng]

France 2006 was legendary. Makelele, zidane, henry etc

[coachhbosoccer]

Makelele was underrated by those who never saw him play before Real Madrid. I first saw him at Celts Vigo he scored against both Barca and Real in the same season. He was dynamic with and without the ball. He wasn't Ngolo Kante but the holding role must have come easier to him.