I would count Messi as a midfielder (although he is sometimes played through the middle). In what world are players like Hleb and Flamini even mentioned in the same breath as Xavi, Inniesta, Busquets and Messi?
He said 'greater'. Either way it's not true!! Not to say them 4 mentioned were bad players, but c'mon, Barca are on a different planet especially in the midfield.
For that formation to work effectivelyl though don't you think that it's vital to have a goalscoring wide forward like Messi, Hulk or Ronaldo? I just can't see Nasri, Walcott or any of your other "wide players" being able to fulfill that role and score enough goals to make the formation work, maybe Van Persie could do it, but its hardly great management to base a formation around a player that might not even be fit for half the season. Flamin is a great player, he dominated most prem midfields that season along with Fabregas. Also its quite funny how the likes of Xavi and Busquets are now the benchmark for great midfielders, when just a couple of years ago they were being laughed at by journo's from over here.
The best midfield we've had in recent years was the 1998 double winning one: Parlour - Petit - Vieira - Overmars and the 2002 double winning one: Ljungberg - Gilberto - Vieira - Pires And both of those midfield's were backed up by rock solid defences
Well given in 3 years they have won the european championships, world cup, la liga 3 years running and 2 european cups, I think they have deserved their benchmark status to be fair. Flamini is a good player and had a very good last season at Arsenal, far from being a great player.
You're right about the Barca players, they have deserved their plaudits. Flamini was looking really good for us in that last season and I think he would have gone on to be one of the best DM's we'd had since Vieira. In a way, it's our own fault for not tying him down to a longer contract sooner, he was asking for one the season before, but to be fair to the club, he hadn't shown us then what he was capable of. It's a case of the 'one who got away' really.
Personally I dont think our midfield is a problem. If you look at Opta statistically we have the best midfield in the league. Francesc Fabregas, Arsenal Created more goalscoring chances per 90 mins than any other player (3.9) 107 touches per 90 mins is over 10 more than any other player Most assists in the league this season (13) Fabregas produces a chance from open play every 29 minutes – better than any other player in England, Spain, Germany, Italy or France. ^^and apparently he had a bad season. Then we have: Samir Nasri who scored 15 goals (4 assists) Andrei Arshavin who score 10 Goals (and 19 assists!!) Alex song - Made more tackles than any other midfielder last season. Then there's Wilshere and Ramsey. It's our defence and lack of options up front when RVP get injured that has costs us. Arsenals' midfield is excellent, better than United's.
Defence isn't as bad as you think. The midfield attacks too much and there's no real protection for them.
the defensive personnel aren't bad (except clichy imo - played onside by clichy, too much of a catchphrase now). the conceeding of few goals from open play shows this. the problem is defending set pieces. this involves the whole team, not just the defenders, but the whole team, picking up players, being a good wall. it involves organisation, and drilling into a defensive unit. this is waht arsenal lack.
Messi is a false number 9 and Madrid's entire attack is built around Ronaldo so I would not describe them as goalscoring wide forwards, but I take your point about Hulk. However Nasri was fulfilling his role excellently earlier in the season and if he stays i'm sure he will improve. If he goes and we get Mata (fingers crossed) then he can chip in with some goals too.
