Welcome To The Centre-Back Graveyard Christoph

New Real Madrid coach Bernd Schuster signed not one but two center backs last week in Christoph Metzelder (pictured) and Pepe. A move to the Bernabéu may be a dream come true for most players, but for central defenders it’s a bit like a trip to the graveyard. Big defensive reputations often leave Real in tatters, or at least in worse shape than they arrived. Consider these high profile players who’ve struggled at the Bernabéu:

Walter Samuel
The Argentine was signed from Roma as a sort of Galactico defender in 2004 for €25million. Known as “The Wall” Samuel was expeced to be the man to sort out the back line so Zidane, Figo, Ronaldo et al could concentrate on going forward. Had a shaky season though and after just one season Real took a loss on Samuel and shipped him off to Inter for just €14million.

Jonathon Woodgate
Also signed in 204 Woodgate is easily the silliest signing in the history of Madrid. Not because he’s a bad player but because he was very clearly and very badly injured at the time of the transfer, so splashing out £14million and saying “he’ll be fine” was more than a little reckless. Woodgate’s injuries meant he played no part whatsoever in his first season. When he finally made his debut in September 2005 he scored an own goal before being sent off. He then had spells in and out of the side, impressing when he wasn’t injured, but Madrid eventually sent him back to England. A one year loan to Middlesbrough in 2006 was followed by a £7million transfer.

Fabio Cannavaro
The Italian arrived at Madrid in 2006 as the European Footballer of the Year, FIFA World Player of the Year and arguably the best player in Italy’s World Cup winning team. He wasn’t exactly horrible for Madrid last season, but he definitely didn’t look his old self and his future as a Real player is a little uncertain. A move back to Serie A wouldn’t come as a huge shock this summer.

And those are just the high profile ones. There are also lesser lights like Julio Cesar and the unfortunate Francisco Pavón, the latter never having a real chance after Florentino Pérez’ unfortunate “Zidanes and Pavóns” comment.

So why is Madrid such a hard place for central defenders to play? My theory is that Madrid treat defenders the way other teams treat forwards: spend big on one player and expect results. But defending’s different becasue it’s more a of a team effort. A solid defence needs four players working in a well organized unit, communicating and understanding each other, which takes time. The heavy rotation at Madrid, and the insistence that signing one big name defender will solve your defensive problems is misguided at best, especially because defenders often take a while to settle into new surroundings. Consider Nemanja Vidić. He looked wobbly in his first half season with Man Utd, but settled down and looked unbeatable in 2006/7.

The excellent Madrid blog All in White makes an interesting point. The only defenders who’ve lasted at Madrid have been Spaniards who moved back into central defence from center midfield like the legendary Fernando Hierro (probably Madrid’s last great defender, and he’s been gone for four years now) Manuel Sanchís and more recently Ivan Helguera (although even he was demoted form number 6 to number 21 at the start of last season and told to train with the youth team.) Seems these players success may be based on the fact that they were already comfortable at the club when they made the transition to defence, and weren’t heralded as “the answer,” which takes the pressure off a bit.

If Madrid can stop the high turnover then they’re in a better defensive position now than they’ve been in for a long while. With Metzelder and Pepe they’ve got two central defenders who are good in the air but can play the ball with their feet. They’ve also got Cannavro who should come good given a little stability, and Sergio Ramos who’s been played out of position at center back this year but is still a top class right back.

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Category: Spain La Liga, World Football