In my post last week, I highlighted a quote of Jonathan Wilson's, namely that of how a playmaker was perhaps not so much a kind of player, but more a state of mind, a mental construct with a single objective in mind:
"Go forth and create."
Yet, the implication of that theory, once thought upon, are not something I can say I enjoy brooding on. It is not something I even want to hear, you could say.
For should it be true, it means that even the lowliest of craftsmen that play the beautiful game and the dullest of workers would be grouped with the likes of Cruyff and Platini in the classification of the playmaker. It would mean that anyone can be a playmaker, as long as they create.
It would mean an end to the distinction of what constitutes art in football. No longer will the exquisite lofted pass over a defender, the precise through-ball or the inch-perfect diagonal pass be considered the tools of a playmaker, and their identity; instead, anything that leads to a goal will be considered playmaking.
A long hoofed ball from the defense, the primary weapon of the Reepian way? Playmaking. A simple cross from out wide? Playmaking. A long throw-in? Playmaking.
The purist in me shudders to think of such tactics being considered in the same breath as classical, creative play. Perhaps it is my conservatism, but a playmaker can not - should not - be a title so easily granted, a hallowed position even those scrabbling in the mud can aspire to.
A playmaker is not defined. A playmaker is born, created, forged from birth. Either you have the ability, or you don't. There is no middle path, because there simply isn't one. Unlike ethics and morality, there is only a yes and a no.
I'll stop here before it descends into a full-blown rant on football.
Jaden out.
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