Mamadou Sakho’s ridiculous backheel & the subtle art of maverick defending

Tom Victor • 16 Oct 2017

When Crystal Palace beat Chelsea in October 2017, it was their first Premier League win of the season. But much more important was Mamadou Sakho producing one of the most ridiculous pieces of defending you’re ever likely to see. What a hero.

In China, there is a see-through walkway called the East Taiheng Glasswalk which runs over a precipice more than 800 feet below.

When footage emerged which appeared to show the glass on the surface cracking beneath the feet of a man crossing the bridge, people were describing it as the most terrifying thing they had ever witnessed.

Then Mamadou Sakho attempted a backheel in his own six-yard box.

Those who designed the bridge would later confirm the footage merely shows a cruel effect which makes it look and sound as though the glass is cracking beneath your feet – no one was ever in danger – but the risk Sakho took, in the closing stages of Palace’s win, was very real.

It would have been a risky play at the best of times, but let’s not forget that, before the visit of the champions, Palace had yet to score in the league, let alone win. Hence the heart-in-mouth factor was increased tenfold.

Seven games and seven defeats meant even a Chelsea side missing N’Golo Kanté and Álvaro Morata were expected to brush their opponents aside, but derbies in the Premier League – and especially this derby – don’t work that way.

In fact, this most recent victory was Palace’s fourth in eight games against a team which has finished comfortably above them in every single season of the Premier League era.

Still, even with a surprisingly impressive record against the opposition, and carrying a lead into the closing stages, the last thing you want is your centre-back straying from the script with so much at stake.

Breaking it down

No matter how many times you watch the play back, not once does it become easier to work out what Sakho was trying to do.

At first glance it seems as though it could be a question of not wishing to slam the ball out of play with his left foot. After all, plenty of players are often reluctant to use their weaker foot in pressure situations.

This would ignore two things, though. The first of these is that Sakho is actually left-footed. The second, and this is a big one, is that he still used his left foot for the backheel.

It’s like a tennis player going for a hotdog while his opponent lies prone at the back of the court, or a basketball player blindfolding himself for a free-throw; you have so much more to lose than you have to gain.

The best case scenario here for Sakho is…actually it’s tough to say. He can send the ball beyond Cesc Fàbregas and Marcos Alonso and find a team-mate, but even then it’s hard to argue that would be much better than simply kicking the ball out for a throw-in.

Maybe the backheel could go through the legs of one of Chelsea’s Spaniards, something which we’ve already established is the best thing you can do on a football pitch.

• • • •

READ: Anthony Martial, the audacity of nutmegs, and the art of cruelty

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Even then, we’re on the level of a goalkeeper’s sleight-of-foot leaving an attacking player on his backside. You’ll get a cheer, sure, but no one’s going to be talking about it more than 24 hours after the game.

Broadly speaking, you have so much more to lose than you have to gain in this situation. Succeed, and you win the game…but you were already winning.

Fail, and you’ve cost your team two points and set them back in what was already an uphill battle against relegation.

But maybe Sakho knows this, and maybe this is why he has actually succeeded.

The passage of play ends in a goal kick, giving Julián Speroni scope to waste a bit more time and wind down the game.

However, even more importantly, it gets people asking how a £26million defender can do something so stupid, which in turn reminds everyone that he is a £26million defender.

Touché, Mamadou.

A very modern defender

Sakho is, in a way, your typical 2010s centre-back. Comfortable with the ball at feet and in the air, and with enough positional sense and pace to cover for his own mistakes.

It’s the same combination of attributes which have seen the likes of David Luiz and John Stones take their place among the most expensive defenders in world football.

All three share the common combination of a complete skill-set and a knack for the unpredictable, but the mistake we often make is suggesting such maverick defenders are beloved for these high-risk plays.

The truth is that they’re lauded for the overall package, which couldn’t exist without these elements. The illogical backheel and the reading of the game to put you in a position where it becomes an option are two sides of the same coin.

As a maverick defender, when the most important part of your game is only picked up by a very close analysis, often after the fact, your brain can decide to push for any type of attention.

So, yes, a maverick defender can gain attention through his mistakes, but in the long run this can force people to overcompensate when looking for positives in the rest of their game.

It’s not that these other qualities have ever been lacking, it’s just that their passive brilliance means some will interpret them as ‘just doing your job’.

But if maverick defenders were just doing their jobs all of the time, the propensity for error would more than likely see them sidelined.

The bad parts might still leave hearts in mouths like a tourist crossing the East Taiheng Glasswalk, but the parts you thought were just day-to-day mundanity are actually so much more than that.

By Tom Victor