Very few players have had an impact as Claude Makalele in football. The Frenchman was a fierce tackler, a ferocious midfield terrier and above all an aggressive ball winner. Such were the former Real Madrid and Chelsea midfielder’s ball winning abilities, a special term was coined after him in the early 2000’s, “the Makalele role”.
With the central defensive midfielder being one of the most crucial positions in any tactical setup today, we take a look at Arsenal’s Francis Coquelin and Manchester United’s summer signing Morgan Schneiderlin and compare the two Frenchmen based on stats.
I would like to state at first that Coquelin and Schneiderlin are not like to like players.