A (New) Young Defensive Midfielder Joins the Club

18-Year-Old Miguel Perez is joining Birmingham Legion FC on loan from St. Louis CITY FC. The St. Louis native is a young, talented player who has already racked up almost 1000 minutes against MLS opponents. Unfortunately for Perez, and a blessing for Birmingham, St. Louis CITY’s new signing Chris Durkin has completely blocked him from getting minutes against grown men. That’s where Birmingham Legion have stepped in.

Miguel is filling an interesting need for the 3 Sparks. Birmingham Legion already have a 6/8 type player in Matthew Corcoran, so why even bring in a player that is near identical to that? It’s this mystical term (and buzz word in tactics): The Double Pivot.

What Is a Double Pivot?

Simply put: One Goes Up, One Stays Back. Let’s get nerdy.

Above you see the Birmingham Legion staple “4-2-3-1”. If you look at the Number 8, it says “CM” and not “CDM”. As opposed to being a “Central Defensive Midfielder” like the Number 6, the Number 8 traditionally plays higher up on the pitch than the Number 6.

This is also how the “Double Pivot” works, but instead of only the Number 8 going up into the attack and the Number 6 staying back, they are rather interchangeable.

You can see that above, now the Number 8 is playing back where the Number 6 was. This is why when we say a player is a Number 6/8 type, that’s what we mean. A Number 6 is a DEFENSIVE midfielder, but a Number 8 is typically your “Box-to-Box” type.

What the “Double Pivot” does is allows both players to take on both responsibilities. Instead of having to run from being a Center Back and a Central Attacking Midfielder the entire match, both players split the responsibilities and rotate accordingly.

What Does That Mean for Miguel Perez?

Miguel Perez fits more of the “Number 6” role than the “Number 8”. As a passer, he’s proving to be a reliable player with a 79.6% completion percentage versus MLS opposition, and an incredible 77% to the Final Third (which is a fancy way of saying, “passing to scoring opportunities”).

That said, against MLS opposition, he does not have a single assist or secondary assist to his name. Put that against Matthew Corcoran who has an 83.3% passing percentage, 3 assists, and 1 secondary assist. This is also comparing Corcoran who has an expected assist (xA) number of 3.17 while Perez has just a 0.03 xG in 2023.

That said, defensively, Perez has grown as a Number 6 more than Corcoran. Perez averages 10.15 defensive dues per match, 10.22 recoveries per match, 6 interceptions per match, and 11.48 successful defensive actions per match.

Meanwhile, Corcoran has just over 7 defensive duels per match, just over 7 recoveries per match, 4 interceptions per match, and a 8 successful defensive actions per match.

The Perfect Partnership

If you were to lay down Pros and Cons of Matthew Corcoran and Miguel Perez, every con would be covered by the other’s pro. For the growth Corcoran needs to do defensively, Perez can already do that. For the growth Perez needs to do as a distributor, Corcoran can already do that.

These two players will almost certainly make up the youngest midfield partnership in the USL, they are also going to show why they are bound for MLS and Europe in the very near future. Be excited, Legion fans. This is about to be a SPECIAL connection.