This position is arguably the most important offensive position today and has redefined 21st Century football. I believe whilst this has produced more creative players it has almost polarised football, we produce less all-rounders and less strikers. Maybe this makes football more aesthetically pleasing to watch but sometimes it can lead to less effectiveness. For instance, even on a bad day the Lampard type of midfielder could still nab a goal or produce something, whereas when the Mata/Oscar/Hazard type aren't quite on it they are almost completely ineffective, thankfully that doesn't happen very often and Mata is hugely consistent with Hazard and Oscar starting to settle and offer similar levels of consistency. I believe the top players that occupy this position in the Premier League are: 1. Ozil 2. Mata 3. Oscar 4. Silva 5. Hazard 6. Cazorla 7. Kagawa 8. Coutinho 9. Mirallis 10. De Bruyne In terms of world football for me: 1. Ozil 2. Reus 3. Iniesta 4. Fabregas 5. Isco 6. Mata 7. Oscar 8. Thiago 9. Silva 10. Hazard
It does seem to be all about the attacking midfielders now... Its kinda how Barca have operated for a whole. I would personally place Oscar above Mata right now (Let the hating begin) but i do think Hazard/Mata/Oscar combination is incredible... Yet doesnt happen anymore.
The all rounders are still there, they just play as the deeper 2 of the now common 4231, at some clubs you could argue the centre backs are the all rounders. The holding midfielder is a role that I think is starting to disappear from top clubs now too, these days it's rare to have a player that just sits deep and breaks up play, now they need to be able to bring the ball forward. Bayern have bucked that trend a bit with having Lahm sit in front of the defence, although he's a very good footballer too, and Mikel is a bit of a relic to that but I think Jose buying Van Ginkel was telling as he would've been the closest thing to backup for Mikel and he's very good on the ball like Lampard and Ramires are. The number 10 role has been around for a long time now, it's just that in English football we've been a bit slower to adapt. Slower but it was still a natural progression, the introduction of 433 was a more significant change. In general our sides started with 2 strikers, then the idea of a strike partnership became more relevent with players being picked to compliment eachother, leading to one playing a bit deeper with more freedom and eventually to where we are now. There are still different approaches for number 10s though, as there are with creative players. Not sure about your lists though as I've never seen Mirallas play as a number 10 or as a particularly creative player, in the traditional sense. Muller and Gotze are both better number 10s than most of either lists and unsurprisingly I disagree with picking De Bruyne over Holtby and Eriksen but it also strikes me as a bit of a "Moses and Marin are better right wingers than Lennon" argument where we might be best revisiting at the end of the season No Sneijder?
Isco is brilliant. Disagree with a few inclusions though, as some are wingers! Think Mata is better than Fabregas too. PL: 1. Ozil 2. Mata 3. Silva 4. Rooney 5. Cazorla 6. Oscar 7. Coutinho 8. Kagawa 9. Ericksen 10. Ruiz World: 1. Iniesta 2. Ozil 3. Mata 4. Fabregas 5. Silva 6. Isco 7. Gotze 8. Rooney 9. Hamsik 10. Oscar Was in two minds whether to put Messi there but think he's a striker these days tbh. Also think all of those are better than Sneijder at present YV
also YV, De Bruyne is twice Holtby! edit: just realised I left De Bruyne out of the PL one, swap for Ruiz.
Not sure there is much of a comparison. De Bruyne is a first choice starter for Belgium (Top seeds) and last season was the only non-Bayern/Dortmund player to make the Bundesliga team of the year, not to mention the fact Dortmund wanted him to replace Gotze. That speaks volumes. If De Bruyne knuckles down and reaches his potential, I believe he could end up being the best bargain we've made in years. Wasn't he £7m?
I think Muller is overrated but Gotze is brilliant. Sneijder was great 3 years ago but nowhere near as good now.
Totally agree. Was absolutely fantastic for Bremen when I saw him. Bit worrying that he's not getting a lot of game time though.
We'll revisit this again at the end of the season then. Holtby's quality, he was excellent in the Bundesliga but struggled because he made his debut in the Norwich game, which was litterally the last game before Bale started getting played in the middle, which meant he was mostly used sparingly and out of position. Still reckon Marin and Moses are better wingers than Lennon, by the way? Sneijder's still quality, even if he did take the cash in Turkey. I'd take him over Thiago and Hamsik in a heart beat. Chadli plays for Belgium too, it doesn't make him one of the best in his position in the league. Anyway, speaking of number 10s, it's going to be interesting seeing young Max Meyer against you guys tonight. It's my first chance to see a full game of his but he looks really handy. A bit more of a direct from the little I've seen of him on the Bundesliga highlights, one to watch though.
Found it: http://www.not606.com/showthread.php/146368-Laugh-at-5pur2?p=3496767&highlight=Marin#post3496767 There's a few more below it aswell. I'll hold my hands up and say Adebayor is not much better than any of the strikers you had at the time too Anyway, didn't mean to sound like I've been keeping a file on you, it was just a jokey comment as I thought you might've remembered it. Obviously it's just annoyed me ever since which is why I remember it
a glowing reference from yourself after only a few games no? unless you watched him before spurs? dunno what my point is tbh.
Ahh fair dos, tbf Lennon hasn't done much either since then . Moses has a lot of potential to be a great squad player for us, unfortunately he'll go I reckon. Marin has been very poor whenever seeing him for us, can't see him sticking around either. I had seen him prior to this on a few occasions. He's better than the rest of the people I consider to be below him! Not an awful lot of great number 10's in the PL mate.
