Shades of Makelele from de Jong

In the modern game, the role of the defensive - or holding - midfielder has taken on increasing importance. So much so that the architect of this position, Claude Makele, has even lent his name to the role.

Given the attacking options in our line-up at present, having a dominating player in this position is crucial to our success and what has been evident is that both Gelson and Didi Hamman may not quite be up to the task.

Although question marks were raised over the fee paid for Nigel de Jong, quality at this position is at a premium and given the graphic below from The Guardian, his impressive debut may be an indication that we have found a long term solution for this role.

The chalkboards are a new feature offered up by The Guardian and will hopefully be something that I'll use regularly over the coming months whenever there is something of interest that can be picked out.