In some countries the role has been identified with the No.10 shirt - I’m thinking of players like Michel Platini, Zinedine Zidane, Roberto Baggio.

Traditionally, someone like Zidane would play behind the striker or strikers - the role works with most formations, 4-4-2, 4-4-1-1 or 4-3-1-2.

They can roam in midfield, finding space for themselves and seeing space their team can exploit. For England, Paul Scholes and Wayne Rooney have recently played in this kind of role.

Although the playmaker tactic is well-known, it’s hard for defenders to handle. It doesn’t matter if a defence is marking zonally or man to man, it’s hard for them to track a player who can take up any position at any time.

A playmaker has to have good technique and vision, the ability to make the right decisions fast and execute them. But a great player can do real damage in that role.

Yet as teams become more organised, the midfield more crowded and players more tactically aware it becomes even harder for these players to thrive. It’s not easy but you can, if you know your opponent and practise in training, deny them space and limit their effectiveness.

Teams that want to attack now look for space further down the pitch, nearer their goal. And this has started to alter another traditional role, that of the anchorman.

Anchormen used to be all about winning the ball. Then you had players like Roy Keane who, for me, evolved the role, making tackles and bringing it forward. Now you have someone like Pirlo who - in a Milan side that normally plays 4-4-2 - has some of the qualities of an anchorman, but in effect is really a deep-lying playmaker.

He sits in front of the back line, but has a ball-winner, Gennaro Gattuso, to work with and is available to his defenders for the pass. Once he gets the ball, he has more space to create something.

It’s no coincidence that Pirlo played as a striker for Italy’s Under-21s. You need to be very clever at reading the game and at using the ball to play like this.

If you play in this role, you’re not necessarily looking to make the tackle, you’re looking to read the pass, intercept and then start a move of your own.

One of the ironies with this role is that if you’re playing against a team who have pulled a striker deep, you give them a dilemma: how much time and energy should their withdrawn striker spend trying to mark your Pirlo-style playmaker?

If you’re playing a diamond formation 4-4-2, you can have two playmakers, one in front of defence and the more usual one behind the strikers, where Kaká plays for Milan.

Playing this system, as England did against Turkey, you can be very competitive in midfield and, as long as your full-backs come forward - or one of your midfielders peels off to the flank - you don’t lose any width.