Morning crouchinho ,
Sorry mate but I don’t see how Xabi’s dip in form is due to being played in a more defensive role, he has never been what you call an attacking midfielder if anything he has always sat whilst Gerrard bombed on. That said he never needs to get up and down the pitch as for me when on his game his passing is very Molby like and of course he can be a major asset to any team.
2004/5-32 Games with 3 Goals
2005/6-53 Games with 5 Goals
2006/7-32 Games with 4 Goals
2007/8-27 Games with 2 Goals
Spain 47 Games with 1 Goal
If he is an attack minded player he obviously isn’t going forward for goals so its purely down to his creative talent he gets to start games, and that’s a good enough reason for me if he brings his top game. The question at the beginning of the topic is either/or and if you put a gun to my head I would choose Barry purely because of the central midfielders we already have, I don’t know how much credence people give to opta/actim type indexes but Barry was rated as the second best midfielder in the country last season behind Ronaldo and two ahead of our own Stevie G!
http://www.pa-sport.com/en/actim/actim-index-premier.html I concede Barry tends to shine in an average Villa side but I like the way he plays with Gerrard with England and I also like the fact he has a cracking left foot that enables him to work the flank as well as playing a part in the middle.
I take your point Xabi has looked good pre-season even if it has been against mediocre opposition so maybe just maybe the threat of nearly being sold is the kick in the pants I think he needed and as I said earlier a truly big club should be able to buy (agreed at a massively over inflated price!) and keep hold of class players at the same time.
« Last Edit: Aug 07, 2008 09:34:05 am by Glenbuck »
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