Best Starting Midfields Premiership

ShoulderChip

Just coming from a conversation about Uniteds midfield.

Who has the best midfield in the premiersip (based on the midfield they play man city may start 3, liverpool 5 etc)

I was just wondering where you would rank their starting midfield players compared to the starting midfield of the other premier league teams.


Here are some of the players of other teams to jog your memory
(there are probably mistakes aplenty below)

Chelsea: Essien,Ballack,Lamps,Deco,Malouda,Zhirkov,Mikel,Joe Cole
Arsenal: Fabregas,Song,Denilson,Walcott,Arshavin, Nasri, Rosicky,
Liverpool: Gerrard, Banayoun, Aquilani, Mascherano, Kuyt, Babel, Lucas
City: De Jong, Kompany, Barry, Petrov, Ireland, Wright Philips,
Spurs: Lennon, Bentley, Modric, Huddlestone, Jenas, Palacios, O'hara
Everton: Felliani, Cahil, Arteta, Pienaar
Villa: Downing, Young, Petrov, Milner, Gardner, Sidwell, Young Fabian Delph.
Sunderland: Cattermole, Cana, Reid, Taino, Richardson, Malbranque, Lbitter:
Fulham: Duff, Murphy, Demspy, Zoltan Gera

Mr.Nice Guy

I would say Chelsea as I feel they have the best balance of the teams. They can create and contain in equal measure. As I said in the other thread I don't think United have any world class midfielders in the team at this moment.

JPA

Chelsea have the most effective midfield, probably lacking a bit of magic.

Maybe Zhirkov or Cole would bring that when fit.

Mr Alan

Chelsea.

If Aquilani settles nicely, it'll be close between them & Liverpool.

dannydiamond

At the moment Chelsea hands down, but as MrAlan says Aquilani could change that if he settles in quickly, Torres style.:)

ShoulderChip

My list


(1) Chelsea
(2) Arsenal (ooh contraversial)
(3) Liverpool
(4) City
(5) Spurs
(6) Everton
(7) United (possibly contraversial, will be for united fans)
(8)Villa
(9)Fulham
(10)Sunderland
(11) West Ham

8-10

You're leaving out Delph and Sidwell for Villa, both should be important this season. I really like their midfield but the winner has to be Liverpool, purely because they have Gerrard in there. He's the best of the lot you named and I think Mascherano alongside has few challengers for best DM in the league.

rossie1977

liverpool had the best midfield last year, today its chelsea

Redzer7

Arsenal when all fully fit.
Great attacking midfield just lacking that quality Dm but song really is improving.

jesus_thats_gre

Arsenal have the best attacking players of any midfield but they do not have the second best midfield overall.

Frisbee

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

Arsenal have the best attacking players of any midfield but they do not have the second best midfield overall.

Correct. For me it would be Chelsea.

Not sure who second, now that Liverpool have lost Alonso it's not them, and Aquilani's knees are made of marshmallow so I can see him being injured alot.
Definitely not United second so I don't know who. Probably City?

Unearthly

ShoulderChip wrote: »

My list


(1) Chelsea
(2) Arsenal (ooh contraversial)
(3) Liverpool
(4) City
(5) Spurs
(6) Everton
(7) United (possibly contraversial, will be for united fans)
(8)Villa
(9)Fulham
(10)Sunderland
(11) West Ham

You're having a laugh to be honest. Or else you overrate the strikers and defence to be capable of getting into the top 4 comfortably.

ShoulderChip

Unearthly wrote: »

You're having a laugh to be honest. Or else you overrate the strikers and defence to be capable of getting into the top 4 comfortably.

I have no idea what you mean by that?

edit: I assume you are a United fan, which team did I rank above ye that you think United are better then?

or is it a case that ye don't need to appear better, Fergie know what he is doing, ye always start slow, you can never write United off etc?

Unearthly

I'm saying you must really rate the likes of Rooney, Berbatov, Rio, Vidic etc that they can help push Man Utd to be comfortably in top 4 and be there or there abouts for the title with a midtable midfield. Bit foolish.

ShoulderChip

Unearthly wrote: »

I'm saying you must really rate the likes of Rooney, Berbatov, Rio, Vidic etc that they can help push Man Utd to be comfortably in top 4 and be there or there abouts for the title with a midtable midfield. Bit foolish.

Why are you saying that?
I do not think that.

8-10

Unearthly wrote: »

I'm saying you must really rate the likes of Rooney, Berbatov, Rio, Vidic etc that they can help push Man Utd to be comfortably in top 4 and be there or there abouts for the title with a midtable midfield. Bit foolish.

Who says they'll finish comfortably in the top 4?

Unearthly

So where do you think Man Utd will finish? 7th?

DM_7

8-10 wrote: »

Who says they'll finish comfortably in the top 4?

Me

kippy

Easily Chelsea, have the best. Even last season it was the best Midfield by a country mile.
Lampard and Essien are two of the best midfielders the premierleague has ever seen. Add in members from Ballack, Cole, Malouda, Obi wan kanobi and they've a well rounded setup.
I'd probably throw Spurs and Arsenal in there behind them.
Liverpools midfield is poor as is Man Uniteds.

Unearthly

8-10 wrote: »

Who says they'll finish comfortably in the top 4?

Just a hunch that a team managed by Alex Ferguson and coming off 3 premiership titles in a row might be safe enough for top 4....

everdead.ie

think Chelsea might have the strongest midfield at the moment would like to think spurs have a very good midfield 3 of our 4 starting midfielders are world class imo but probably still behind the current top 4 not by much tho

Mr Alan

Kippy-Gerrard & Mascherano are two of the best midfielders in the world.

ShoulderChip

Quote:
Originally Posted by Unearthly View Post
I'm saying you must really rate the likes of Rooney, Berbatov, Rio, Vidic etc that they can help push Man Utd to be comfortably in top 4 and be there or there abouts for the title with a midtable midfield. Bit foolish.
Why are you saying that?
I do not think that.



edit: I think that your defence is your greatest asset,
I think that you won a lot of games last year 1-0 after a bit of magic by Ronaldo, and to a lesser extent Teves,
I feel that this year ye will suffer without those players and have gone into a small decline,
I do not believe players like obertan,owen and valencia will push the club on to a large degree this year, and feel that scholes and Giggs are well past their sell by date.
I feel that clubs like Arsenal, city and chelsea have improved and will increase their performance this year.
I do not as a result believe that United will be comfortable in the top 4 this year, as I see them as the most likely of the big four to drop out of it.

I am a bit disturbed by the fact that you believe that I *must* consider otherwise.

As I sad I like to think I judge teams by their players and how they perform, I do not believe United are infallible and will do well this year just because they always do well.
__________________

Unearthly

ShoulderChip wrote: »

Quote:
Originally Posted by Unearthly View Post
I'm saying you must really rate the likes of Rooney, Berbatov, Rio, Vidic etc that they can help push Man Utd to be comfortably in top 4 and be there or there abouts for the title with a midtable midfield. Bit foolish.
Why are you saying that?
I do not think that.



edit: I think that your defence is your greatest asset,
I think that you won a lot of games last year 1-0 after a bit of magic by Ronaldo, and to a lesser extent Teves,
I feel that this year ye will suffer without those players and have gone into a small decline,
I do not believe players like obertan,owen and valencia will push the club on to a large degree this year, and feel that scholes and Giggs are well past their sell by date.
I feel that clubs like Arsenal, city and chelsea have improved and will increase their performance this year.
I do not as a result believe that United will be comfortable in the top 4 this year, as I see them as the most likely of the big four to drop out of it.

I am a bit disturbed by the fact that you believe that I *must* consider otherwise.

As I sad I like to think I judge teams by their players and how they perform, I do not believe United are infallible and will do well this year just because they always do well.
__________________

Well fair enough if that's your opinion but I strongly disagree. I'd put Man Utd as joint favourites with Chelsea for the title, but think Chelsea will want it a bit more in the end.

jesus_thats_gre

Frisbee wrote: »

Correct. For me it would be Chelsea.

Not sure who second, now that Liverpool have lost Alonso it's not them, and Aquilani's knees are made of marshmallow so I can see him being injured alot.
Definitely not United second so I don't know who. Probably City?

Chelsea are defo the best.

It's a difficult topic to discuss as there are too many players to discuss..

It should be broke down into smaller groups like defensive/holding midfielders, attacking central midfielders and and wingers/wide forwards. In order to be a top team, I would rank those positions in terms of importance in the same order, i.e. defensive midfielder being absolutely critical for a top team.

Chelsea:

1: Essien and Mikel
2: Lampard, Deco and Ballack
3: Zhirkov, Cole, Malouda, Kalou

Liverpool:

1: Macherano, Aquilani and Lucas
2: Gerrard and Benayoun
3: Kuyt, Riera, Babel and El Zhar

Arsenal:

1: Song
2: Fabregas and Denilson
3: Arshavin, Rosicky, Nasri and Walcott

Man Utd:

1: Fletcher, Carrick, Anderson and Hargreaves
2: Scholes
3: Nani, Valencia, Park and Giggs.

City:

1: De Jong, Kompany and Barry
2: Ireland
3: Robinho, Petrov and SWP

Everton:

1: Neville and Arteta
2: Cahill and Felliani
3: Pienar and Osman

Spurs:

1: Palacios, O'Hara and Huddleston
2: Modric and Jenas
3: Lennon and Bentley

Villa:

1: Sidwell, Gardner andd Reo Coker
2: Petrov and Delph
3: Young, Milner and Downing

From the above list, it is blatantly obvious that Chelsea have the best overall midfield as they have top class options in all three areas.

Loosing Alonso drops them from near/joint top spot. Loosing Alonso is a hit but they still have two of the best players in their respective positions in the world. I still think that Liverpool are second best overall as I am confident that Aquilani will work out.

Arsenal would be very close to the top spot if they had a world class player in the 1 slot but I would rate them as 3rd.

City defo have the 4th best midfield. United are 5th with the reasoning being that they are severely lacking in attacking central midfield options.

Spurs would be 6th, Everton 7th and Villa 8th.

ShoulderChip

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

Chelsea are defo the best.

It's a difficult topic to discuss as there are too many players to discuss..

Superb post, thank you.

kippy

Excellent post Jesus.

Mr Alan,
I dont rate Mascherano as highly as many do here on this and other fora. Gerrard yes, a top class player. His passion for the club make him that. However I believe Spurs/Arsenal this season, and Chelsea every season for the past four or five years have better midfields.
Calling Liverpool and Uniteds mid poor may have been a tad harsh, but they wouldnt be in the top 2 or 3 midfield setups this season, in my opinion. United would be a long way off best midfield in the league this season and ultimately this will cost them the medals this season.

Gillington

Dont forget diaby for arsenal.

I reckon Chelsea's by a country mile.Their second choice Midfield would be first choice for just about any other Premiership club.

mayordenis

Well I think there has to be alot said for Kuyt, Benayoun, and Gerrards goal scoring exploits with I guess around 50 goals between them in all comps last season. That's pretty delicious whatever way you slice it even if you want to say they're ****e.
best starting midfield? if any of the other starting midfields get more than 50 goals between them they'll be doing very very well.

kippy

mayordenis wrote: »

Well I think there has to be alot said for Kuyt, Benayoun, and Gerrards goal scoring exploits with I guess around 50 goals between them in all comps last season. That's pretty delicious whatever way you slice it even if you want to say they're ****e.
best starting midfield? if any of the other starting midfields get more than 50 goals between them they'll be doing very very well.

50 goals and no trophies, they cant be that good a midfield....as a full unit anyway.......
Theres a lot of Rose Tinted Glasses analysis on this thread.

mayordenis

kippy wrote: »

50 goals and no trophies, they cant be that good a midfield....as a full unit anyway.......

Well the chelsea all conquering midfield didn't win a huge amount either.

kippy wrote: »

Theres a lot of Rose Tinted Glasses analysis on this thread.

Yes...yes there is.

kippy

mayordenis wrote: »

Well the chelsea all conquering midfield didn't win a huge amount either.



Yes...yes there is.

I believe they won the FA cup and Community Shield as well as reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League. Feats which followers of other clubs would be more than happy to have achieved.

Sometimes you gotta take off the blinkers, especially in threads such as this.

mayordenis

kippy wrote: »

I believe they won the FA cup and Community Shield as well as reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League. Feats which followers of other clubs would be more than happy to have achieved.

Sometimes you gotta take off the blinkers, especially in threads such as this.

I think you need to take off the blinkers here tbh I actually don't even think Liverpools midfield is the best - I just mentioned that there was definately an overall under-ratedness going on - and then you gotta all antsy in your pantsy.

I said chelsea didn't win a whole lot - they won the FA cup - then they won this years charity shield (clutching at straws much?) and yes they managed to sneak past liverpool who had key injuries and suspensions into the champs league semi finals - but hey I wouldn't expect you to remember these things.

kippy

mayordenis wrote: »

I think you need to take off the blinkers here tbh I actually don't even think Liverpools midfield is the best - I just mentioned that there was definately an overall under-ratedness going on - and then you gotta all antsy in your pantsy.

I said chelsea didn't win a whole lot - they won the FA cup - then they won this years charity shield (clutching at straws much?) and yes they managed to sneak past liverpool who had key injuries and suspensions into the champs league semi finals - but hey I wouldn't expect you to remember these things.

1. You said Chelseas midfield didnt win a huge amount. It'd be a huge amount for all but one other team in the PL.
2. You want to make excuses for Liverpool losing to Chelsea in the CL, I really dont want to bring that up as its irrelevent to this thread.
3. These are peoples opinions. Fans of PL clubs will rarely be 100% honest when it comes to analysing teams, that I suppose is to be expected.
4. Personally, I dont see anyone underrating Liverpools midfield. You do, thats probably to be expected.

bUILDERtHEbOB

Sunderland's midfield looks quite good on paper, actually. Outside bet for the Europa league next season?

I think Chelsea have the strongest unit of the lot defensively and in terms of strength in depth, though as an attacking force I don't think it's that strong especially if Ancelotti persists with Essien and Malouda in the 'wide' positions as I don't think it's really a natural position for either.

kippy

mayordenis wrote: »

I think you need to take off the blinkers here tbh I actually don't even think Liverpools midfield is the best - I just mentioned that there was definately an overall under-ratedness going on - and then you gotta all antsy in your pantsy.

I said chelsea didn't win a whole lot - they won the FA cup - then they won this years charity shield (clutching at straws much?) and yes they managed to sneak past liverpool who had key injuries and suspensions into the champs league semi finals - but hey I wouldn't expect you to remember these things.

We'll have to agree on one thing and one thing only, that Chelsea have the best starting midfield in the PL.

Mr Maroon

Definitely Chelsea IMO.

Boggles

Mr Alan wrote: »

Chelsea.

If Aquilani settles nicely, it'll be close between them & Liverpool.

dannydiamond wrote: »

At the moment Chelsea hands down, but as MrAlan says Aquilani could change that if he settles in quickly, Torres style.:)

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

Loosing Alonso drops them from near/joint top spot. Loosing Alonso is a hit but they still have two of the best players in their respective positions in the world. I still think that Liverpool are second best overall as I am confident that Aquilani will work out.

So IF a relatively unknown injury prone Italian settles in, Liverpool will have the best midfield in the league or there abouts?? :pac: lol

8-10

Boggles wrote: »

So IF a relatively unknown injury prone Italian settles in, Liverpool will have the best midfield in the league or there abouts?? :pac: lol

I think the point is that if Alonso's replacement gets to the same sort of form as his predecessor Liverpool will have the best midfield. I don't know, I didn't write those quotes but I'd imagine that's what they mean, as in they thought Liverpool's midfield last year was the best in the PL, which isn't unreasonable.

JP Liz

Chelesa and Liverpool without a doubt

kippy

8-10 wrote: »

I think the point is that if Alonso's replacement gets to the same sort of form as his predecessor Liverpool will have the best midfield. I don't know, I didn't write those quotes but I'd imagine that's what they mean, as in they thought Liverpool's midfield last year was the best in the PL, which isn't unreasonable.

Last year, I would have put Man United midfield at least equal with Chelsea and Liverpool, mainly because of the impact of one player. (they did have the World player of the year and the Football writers PL player of the season (Or whatever comedy award Giggs got) in it after all......

eZe^

Does best mean strongest, most consistent, or all around. It matters, because Chelsea have probably the strongest and most all around, Man Utd have one that is perfect for dismantling 95% of teams, but struggles against the big boys (imo), yet their consistency means they have won the past 3 league titles. Liverpool had a very balanced midfield, but at times it was wildly inconsistent, Arsenal are similar, although instead of balance, they were excellently equipped in attack, so 90% of the time it worked out fine for them.


Overall I'd say Chelsea have the most complete midfield, but it doesn't mean they'll win the league, as a winning mentality can be just as important as the strength of your personnel, that's something Utd have in spades, but Liverpool lack quite badly...

Mr Alan

Eze^, do you stand by your comment that Aquilani in place of Alonso will improve Liverpools midfield?

eZe^

Mr Alan wrote: »

Eze^, do you stand by your comment that Aquilani in place of Alonso will improve Liverpools midfield?

Potentially yes, I think Aquilani when fit is a fantastic player, and with De Rossi is the heartbeat of Italy for this WC. You have to remember he is changing leagues, countries and culture, so it's fair enough that he could take up to a season to acclimatise himself.

premierstone

8-10 wrote: »

I think the point is that if Alonso's replacement gets to the same sort of form as his predecessor Liverpool will have the best midfield. I don't know, I didn't write those quotes but I'd imagine that's what they mean, as in they thought Liverpool's midfield last year was the best in the PL, which isn't true

FYP, sorry how anyone can think a midfield containing Kuyt is better than or even anywhere near to equal the Chelsea midfield is beyond me and I doubt very much Aquilani can reach the effectiveness of Alonso in he's first season, Alonso was Liverpool's best and most consistent player last season.

Basically Arsenal's midfield lacks real quality as a defensive unit, Liverpool's lacks width and Utd's lacks attacking flair and a gaurenteed double figure scoring midfielder whereas Chelsea's contains all of these qualities and more and in actual fact there second choice midfield would be on a par with the other three. All IMO off course

LuckyLloyd

eZe^ wrote: »

Overall I'd say Chelsea have the most complete midfield, but it doesn't mean they'll win the league, as a winning mentality can be just as important as the strength of your personnel, that's something Utd have in spades, but Liverpool lack quite badly...

Also, defense, attack, goalkeeper and the coach matters some.

Mr Alan

premierstone wrote: »

FYP, sorry how anyone can think a midfield containing Kuyt is better than or even anywhere near to equal the Chelsea midfield is beyond me

Kuyt was the best right winger in the PL last season after that lad who has just moved to Real.

LuckyLloyd

premierstone wrote: »

FYP, sorry how anyone can think a midfield containing Kuyt is better than or even anywhere near to equal the Chelsea midfield is beyond me...

Eh, did you watch Kuyt play last year or check up on his record at any point?

greendom

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

Chelsea are defo the best.

It's a difficult topic to discuss as there are too many players to discuss..

It should be broke down into smaller groups like defensive/holding midfielders, attacking central midfielders and and wingers/wide forwards. In order to be a top team, I would rank those positions in terms of importance in the same order, i.e. defensive midfielder being absolutely critical for a top team.

Chelsea:

1: Essien and Mikel
2: Lampard, Deco and Ballack
3: Zhirkov, Cole, Malouda, Kalou

Liverpool:

1: Macherano, Aquilani and Lucas
2: Gerrard and Benayoun
3: Kuyt, Riera, Babel and El Zhar

Arsenal:

1: Song
2: Fabregas and Denilson
3: Arshavin, Rosicky, Nasri and Walcott

Man Utd:

1: Fletcher, Carrick, Anderson and Hargreaves
2: Scholes
3: Nani, Valencia, Park and Giggs.

City:

1: De Jong, Kompany and Barry
2: Ireland
3: Robinho, Petrov and SWP

Everton:

1: Neville and Arteta
2: Cahill and Felliani
3: Pienar and Osman

Spurs:

1: Palacios, O'Hara and Huddleston
2: Modric and Jenas
3: Lennon and Bentley

Villa:

1: Sidwell, Gardner andd Reo Coker
2: Petrov and Delph
3: Young, Milner and Downing

From the above list, it is blatantly obvious that Chelsea have the best overall midfield as they have top class options in all three areas.

Loosing Alonso drops them from near/joint top spot. Loosing Alonso is a hit but they still have two of the best players in their respective positions in the world. I still think that Liverpool are second best overall as I am confident that Aquilani will work out.

Arsenal would be very close to the top spot if they had a world class player in the 1 slot but I would rate them as 3rd.

City defo have the 4th best midfield. United are 5th with the reasoning being that they are severely lacking in attacking central midfield options.

Spurs would be 6th, Everton 7th and Villa 8th.

Good post- one minor point though Denilson was rated 4th best midfielder in the country last season for the amount of blocks and successful tackles. He rated higher in these tasks than Flamini did the previous season for example. If he continues in this vein, he would negate the need for Wenger to buy this fabled DM. Especially with the form Song has shown so far; and he is probably more suited to position 1 than 2 in your analysis.

EDIT actually Denilson rates better than I thought - ranked best interceptor among other stats

http://arsenalcolumn.wordpress.com/tag/denilson/

eZe^

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Also, defense, attack, goalkeeper and the coach matters some.

Mhhhmmm, and luckily enough Man Utd have won the past 3 league titles because they had a great winning mentality in all those areas aswell. My point was, even though they probably don't have the strongest midfield in comparison to Chelsea, they make up for it in their self belief, the way people have spoken about them in here you'd swear they had cannon fodder in the middle of the park. You CANNOT win three domestic league titles, and get to two CL finals in a row with anything but a good midfield who have winning bred into them.

greendom

Mr Alan wrote: »

Kuyt was the best right winger in the PL last season after that lad who has just moved to Real.

There are plenty of midfielders with better ability and technical prowess than him, but in terms of workrate and commitment I don't think there's any better