The other problem is that, even Iniesta isn't really a midfielder by nature. He does have good vision of the game and good passing, but his greater skills shine brighter when coming in to the box, or inside the box, where his dribbling, his squeezing through, between a defender and the goal line that he does so well, or his sublime execution of one-two's with another good dribbler (Messi, Dani, even Xavi) make him a world class player. But a highly desirable attribute in a midfielder is passing, particularly super-well-timed and accurately-directed diagonal passing that typically breaks a defense's back...and guess who's the best of us at that? Yes, Lionel; Iniesta?...only some times.
Actually, and until recently, our tiki-taka was the best "midfield" anybody can have: it retained ball possession and, in doing so, it defended well and it generated enough scoring opportunities; problem is that defenses started to "learn" how to deal with it, so it kind of stopped working and now we need a "real" midfield, just like anybody else. Xavi is the only strong "true" midfielder that we have, along with Busquets on the defensive side. Fabregas, Song or Thiago are midfielders as well, but, they are not currently world class midfielders, not now, therefore not a current solution to our midfield dilemma to confront the last remaining powers of Europe that are coming right up. For this we'll need really strong and sustained support/feed to our three strikers, as we typically miss just too many chances to score. ------ Just look at those guys....Alonso, Ozil and DiMaria on the field, with Modric, Khedira and Kaka on the bench. What's wrong with this picture?
