The Panel: Most Essential Postion?

“What’s the most important position in all of footy, why, and who exemplifies such a position.”

JMo: “Visionary midfielders. Midfield maestros. Generals of the pitch. These sorts of players can dominate a match offensively, and while they may not posses the best defensive qualities, teams can’t beat you if they can’t take the ball from you. Scoring goals is nice, and muscle can get you points, but vision and class is what wins championships. Beautifully captured by Zinedine Zidane

Diaz: “Creative central mid. Does not matter if they are in an advanced position or are more back. Perfect example is Ivan De La Pena. Look at Espanyol’s scoring record without him. Regardless of who they have at the top, they can’t score when he is not on the pitch.”

BLo: “I’ll have to say keeper. You look at a guy like Shay Given who has single handedly kept City in a lot of games this season. When top keepers go down, the effect it has on a team are hard to ignore.”

Chad Brown: “CB, for a few reasons: they marshal the entire defense, see the whole field, organize the offside trap, plus you notice when a team has a weak CB much more than if they have a weak midfielder or striker. Also, there are very few CB’s you’d consider “world class,” and there’s not a club in the world who isn’t looking for one at any time. Embodiment: Cannavaro circa summer 2006.”

JJ: “Central Defender – John Terry. Easily the most athletically demanding. Strength to put forwards off. Aerial dominance. Must be established. Ball distribution. Pace to get back after FK and corner kicks. CONSTANT communication with your line, especially when running offside traps.”

“Carlos Bocanegra, though a veteran of the USMNT, is mediocre at best. And be so our team is mediocre. Too many goals conceded in the absence of a much more promising Onyewu.”

Willie: “The deep-lying central midfielder. It is this players job to win the ball at midfield, hold possesion, distribute, and dictate the course of play for his team. No other position on the pitch yields such influence. Steven Davis does this with such dominance week in and week out for Rangers that each time he is awarded a much deserved man of the match after another commanding performance I can’t help but fear the summer tansfer window.”

Jeff Hill: “Being a defender myself, I’m tempted to say CB, but I think I’d have to say the most important position is the guy who protects the back four, the central midfielder.  If you boss the midfield, you’ll be able to create chances, while the other team will struggle.  The player that most embodies my ideal CM has to be Essien – it’s no coincidence that Chelsea have struggled without him.  Essien is the best box to box midfielder in England, and with the exception of Rooney at the moment, he may be the best player in the Premiership.”

Hoss: “I believe that the most essential position is the striker. A world class striker is essential for almost any team at the top of a given league. Think about what their respective teams would look like without the likes of Rooney, Drogba, Torres, Ibrahimovic, Villa, Tevez, Fabiano, etc. I would venture to say that you fancy your teams chances much more without that player on their team. One could argue that there are many other players on those teams that can fill in that players shoes and score, but these teams with the great strikers are flooded with talent.

What affect would take place if these strikers were on a mid-table team? If we saw the likes of Rooney at Villa, Drogba at Blackburn, Ibra at Getafe, etc., these teams would obviously be more feared and respected, and their table position would improve. Can the same be said with any other position?”

Steph: “Defenders/backs because they have to be super fast and strong to support the goalie, and can also make curcial plays during corner kicks with headers. Best example, Carles Puyol.”

Cameron: “So, I’d have to say the most important position is central midfield. The central midfielder is the little knob on top of the hat, it holds it all together (well it did, before they changed how they’re made). They link the defense with the attack, and they help control the middle of the pitch which is where games are won and lost. If you can’t control the middle then the other team will, and they will be able to build up the attack with no resistance. Having a brick wall in the goal and four lads resembling Superman as your defense won’t do a lick of good if the other team is able to build up at will and come crashing into the box with 7 people. If your central midfielder is tops then you control the game. You dictate the pace and the flow of the game.”

Billard: “The most essential position has to be goalkeeper. Watch a guy like Buffon play, or van der Sar last year, and they keep their teams in games that otherwise would be chalked up as losses. When Foster and Kuszczak had the task of replacing van der Sar this year their play can only be described as shaky at best. Keepers don’t often win games, but they can definitely lose them. Watch Rensing play for Bayern and you’ll see a keeper make an art out of losing games for his team.”

M2:

Scott: