Of all the great quotes attributed to former Liverpool manager Bill Shankly down the years, perhaps one of his more memorable musings concerned centre half Tommy Smith. Describing his uncompromising defender back in the 1970s, Shankly stated that ‘Tommy Smith wasn’t born, he was quarried.’
In other words, Smith was hard as nails, a fearless defender who almost certainly instilled trepidation in the minds of any striker foolish enough to cross his path. Smith wasn’t the most skilful player to have graced Anfield down the years, and he was far from pretty. However, nobody, least of all Shankly, doubted the man’s contribution in a winning side.
Of course, the beautiful game has changed markedly over the past thirty years or so. For one thing, centre halves are fitter than ever before, and these days tend to exhibit a more extensive repertoire of skills during the course of a match.
That said, the most basic of all requirements remains a critical element of their role – that is, do whatever it takes to avoid the concession of goals, however unpleasant on the eye. In other words, Row Z will do.
Centre halves everywhere will surely have been encouraged by the current debate surrounding FC Barcelona’s apparent defensive frailties. It seems that even the so-called best team to ever grace the game cannot do without a seriously strong central defensive unit, and this despite the fact the Catalan club have made a winning start to this season’s La Liga campaign.
Injury has deprived Barca of their first choice pairing of Carlos Puyol and Gerard Piqué, and, despite some of the best outfield players in the world playing in forward positions at Camp Nou, the side has looked less than certain on those rare occasions when questions are asked of them defensively.
Last week, Graeme Souness, on Champions League pundit duty, explained why Barcelona conceded two goals against Spartak Moscow at home (although it helps when you have the likes of Lionel Messi to score the late winning goals).
Souness was critical of Barca’s deployment of Alex Song and Javier Mascherano as centre backs, his reasoning being that neither player – whilst undoubtedly skilful - is naturally suited to that position. The evidence presented during the course of the match was a compelling one regarding Souness’ point.
Of course, it’s not so long ago that centre halves were considered to be pivotal in terms of delivering a successful team. Think Tony Adams and Martin Keown at Arsenal, the rock upon which silverware was plundered domestically as well as in Europe.
Whatever you think of the footballing limitations of Adams and Keown, the fact remains that those two conceded very few goals when in their pomp.
Back then, Manchester United were shored up at the back by the likes of Steve Bruce and Gary Pallister, another two centre halves who protected their goalmouth as if their very lives depended upon it. The favoured defensive pairing at Old Trafford these days – Nemanja Vidić and Rio Ferdinand - are arguably less effective than their predecessors, but Sir Alex Ferguson recently bemoaned the difficulties United have faced defensively due to their loss to long term injuries in recent seasons.
At Chelsea, John Terry may fall some way short of being everyone’s cup of tea, but few would doubt his contribution to the cause in terms of Chelsea’s success over the last decade or so.
Even Manchester City, who like Barcelona boast some of the best midfielders and forwards on the planet, rely heavily on the hulking presence of Vincent Kompany and Joleon Lescott more than they would care to admit.
In Scotland, too, the aforementioned Souness’ Rangers revolution (that seems like several lifetimes ago now, of course!) was built on the uncompromising central defensive partnership of Terry Butcher and Richard Gough.
In the unlikely event that either of those goliaths went off the boil, the not insignificant presence of Graham Roberts was deployed to tighten things up through the middle. Likewise, Martin O’Neill’s glorious odyssey at Celtic a few seasons later was developed courtesy of a commanding central defensive unit.
Centre halves can be unsung heroes, largely because they tend to eschew the creative stuff in order to get on with the dirty work. At the end of the day, that’s their job, and someone’s got to do it. However, even the Barcelonas of this world may be currently appreciating, by virtue of the absence of senors Puyol and Pique, that there’s more to a successful football team than the Iniestas, Xavis and Messis of this world.