The best midfield combinations: Any specific choice?

[simplyared]

There’s been many great midfield combinations playing in different systems both in club and country through the years.

For me the trio: Falcao, Zico and Socrates playing in Santana’s 5-man midfield system which he deployed in the 1982 World Cup finals was certainly the best I’ve seen. Certainly as far as entertainment goes!

Other midfield combo’s that spring to mind either for their effectiveness, entertainment value, attacking qualities or whatever. Present or past, club or country.

Shoot!

 

[harms]

Not sure why you've excluded Cerezo, but

Zico - Socrates
Cerezo - Falcão​

are up there with the best.

Same with

Giresse - Platini
Fernandez - Tigana​

and

Iniesta - Xavi
Busquets​

which is probably the strongest midfield unit ever assembled.

Some good set ups:

Cruyff (everywhere)
van Hanegem - Neeskens
Haan

Litmanen
Davids - Seedorf
Rijkaard

Zidane
Davids - Deschamps

Giggs - Scholes - Keane - Beckham

Netzer - (Hoeneß)
Wimmer
Beckenbauer​

 

[Rozay]

Never seen anything close to the symbioticness of Xavi, Busquets and Iniesta. Totally dominant.

Other notable ones in my lifetime are:

Makalele
Essien
Lampard

and the Milan quartet of:

Gattusso
Pirlo
Seedorf
Kaka

 

[Art Vandelay]

Not sure why you've excluded Cerezo, but

Zico - Socrates
Cerezo - Falcão​

are up there with the best.

Same with

Giresse - Platini
Fernandez - Tigana​

and

Iniesta - Xavi
Busquets​

which is probably the strongest midfield unit ever assembled.

Some good set ups:

Cruyff (everywhere)
van Hanegem - Neeskens
Haan

Litmanen
Davids - Seedorf
Rijkaard

Zidane
Davids - Deschamps

Giggs - Scholes - Keane - Beckham

Netzer - (Hoeneß)
Wimmer
Beckenbauer​

That Ajax one is ridiculous. The mix of guile, power, speed, technique and solidity.

Saying that the Giggs/Scholes/Keane/Beckham combo is hard to beat. I wonder how that would have evolved if they had played more together into the 4-3-3 era. Would Beckham have moved inside and Keane deeper or Beckham pushed up as a right winger? Maybe Scholes forward as 10 and someone else brought in behind Keane and Beckham.

 

[Fortitude]

Never seen anything close to the symbioticness of Xavi, Busquets and Iniesta. Totally dominant.

Other notable ones in my lifetime are:

Makalele
Essien
Lampard

and the Milan quartet of:

Gattusso
Pirlo
Seedorf
Kaka

So good, it deserves a new word entry in Thesaurus!

Brazil '70 is just bonkers and the most piss I've seen taken out of any and everyone they faced:

--------------------------Pele------------------Tostao
---------Rivelino----------------------------------------------Jairzinho
-----------------------------Gerson-----------Cloadaldo

might as well call it a 6 when in possession.

 

[ivaldo]

Park/Rafael.

 

[Pink Moon]

Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets is the best midfield I've ever seen. So good that words really don't do them justice.

 

[RooneyLegend]

Brazil 82 really was unplayable. So much individual brilliance.

 

[Infordin]

 

[harms]

I'm not really a fan of this. It doesn't do anything that Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets can't do on their own — with 3 additional world class players. Such a waste (and an absolute borefest).

 

[Web of Bissaka]

Spain once used this lineup if I recall correctly. Or something similar.

It was so horrible to watch.. pointless "defensive" possession football. So bad... until they let David Villa in and push Fabregas up into the striker role. Only then it's balance and more penetrative.

 

[Web of Bissaka]

Saying that the Giggs/Scholes/Keane/Beckham combo is hard to beat. I wonder how that would have evolved if they had played more together into the 4-3-3 era. Would Beckham have moved inside and Keane deeper or Beckham pushed up as a right winger? Maybe Scholes forward as 10 and someone else brought in behind Keane and Beckham.

Giggs -- Ruud -- Solskjaer
Scholes --- Beckham
Keane​

 

[hasanejaz88]

From the football I've seen, two midfield's I'll remember most memorably.

Obviously the Busquests-Xavi-Iniesta combo but on an international level the midfield of Schweinsteiger-Khedira-Kroos from WC 14 to Euro 16.

A great mix of possession, defensive steal and also the occasional drive forward. They didn't play that much together actually but in the matches they did, I think they dominated the midfield area.

 

[Art Vandelay]

Giggs -- Ruud -- Solskjaer
Scholes --- Beckham
Keane​

You could maybe squeeze Veron, Butt or Jonsen in there too. Giggs could drop into the midfield, Scholes or Beckham could push up. It would have been very flexible. Solskjaer's crossing was excellent from the right too when he moved out there.

 

[Josh 76]

Not sure why you've excluded Cerezo, but

Zico - Socrates
Cerezo - Falcão​

are up there with the best.

Same with

Giresse - Platini
Fernandez - Tigana​

and

Iniesta - Xavi
Busquets​

which is probably the strongest midfield unit ever assembled.

Some good set ups:

Cruyff (everywhere)
van Hanegem - Neeskens
Haan

Litmanen
Davids - Seedorf
Rijkaard

Zidane
Davids - Deschamps

Giggs - Scholes - Keane - Beckham

Netzer - (Hoeneß)
Wimmer
Beckenbauer​

Eder has to be included in that Brazil 5 man midfield.

As for the Ajax one.
It was:

Overmars. Seedof. Rijkard. Davids.

Don't think I've seen a better 4 across the park. (Giggs. Scholes. Keane . Beckham are up there too).

 

[harms]

Eder has to be included in that Brazil 5 man midfield.

As for the Ajax one.
It was:

Overmars. Seedof. Rijkard. Davids.

Don't think I've seen a better 4 across the park. (Giggs. Scholes. Keane . Beckham are up there too).

If anyone has got to be included into that midfield, it's Junior (who had joined the midfield quite regularly) and not Eder, who was more of a free-roaming left forward.

Ajax team was built like this, and both Overmars and George were tasked with stretching the pitch and pushing fullbacks back, first and foremost.

Overmars - R. de Boer/Kluivert - George
Litmanen
Davids - Seedorf
Rijkaard
F. de Boer - Blind - Reiziger
van der Sar​

Here's an quote from Michael Cox's "Zonal Marking" (I don't think that it's even needed, but here you go):

If the wingers dragged the opposition full-backs wider, and the centre-forward forced the opposition centre-backs backwards, it would create more space for the star of the team – the number 10

 

[Rozay]

So good, it deserves a new word entry in Thesaurus!

Brazil '70 is just bonkers and the most piss I've seen taken out of any and everyone they faced:

--------------------------Pele------------------Tostao
---------Rivelino----------------------------------------------Jairzinho
-----------------------------Gerson-----------Cloadaldo

might as well call it a 6 when in possession.

Yea, I knew it wasn’t a real word, but I also knew it said what I wanted in the best way!

 

[Sunny Jim]

Xavi, Busquets and Iniesta is the best midfiled i've seen in my life. Full stop.

Distant second Giggs-Scholes-Keane-Beckham

 

[Infordin]

I'm not really a fan of this. It doesn't do anything that Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets can't do on their own — with 3 additional world class players. Such a waste (and an absolute borefest).

Spain once used this lineup if I recall correctly. Or something similar. It was so horrible to watch.. pointless "defensive" possession football. So bad... until they let David Villa in and push Fabregas up into the striker role. Only then it's balance and more penetrative.

I don’t think you guys are aware, but that was the team that beat Italy 4-0 in the final.

 

[berbatrick]

I don’t think you guys are aware, but that was the team that beat Italy 4-0 in the final.

a team hobbled with injuries and reduced to 10 men which had held them 1-1 in the group stage

 

[Infordin]

a team hobbled with injuries and reduced to 10 men which had held them 1-1 in the group stage

Fair enough.

If we are just going by quality on paper, Spain 2012 had the most stacked midfield ever.

I do agree that the team becomes more balanced once you replace Fabregas with an actual striker. Unfortunately Torres was in shit form and Villa broke his leg.

 

[RooneyLegend]

Xavi, Busquets and Iniesta is the best midfiled i've seen in my my life full stop

Never felt the same about them since i saw Bastian, Ribery and Martinez render them ineffective.

 

[harms]

I don’t think you guys are aware, but that was the team that beat Italy 4-0 in the final.

Need I remind you about Capello's Milan, that was a horribly defensive boring side that trashed Barcelona 4:0 in the CL final?

 

[Rasendori]

I wasn't alive in the mid sixties to early seventies, but I recall conversations with my ex girlfriends father and he would tell me about the midfield pairing of Billy Bremner and Johnny Giles

 

[bosnian_red]

Never felt the same about them since i saw Bastian, Ribery and Martinez render them ineffective.

So we're going to ignore the period between 2009-2012 where that midfield won 2 CL titles, the world cup and the Euros? Because they lost to Bayern after Pep left?

 

[RooneyLegend]

So we're going to ignore the period between 2009-2012 where that midfield won 2 CL titles, the world cup and the Euros? Because they lost to Bayern after Pep left?

Not going to ingnore it, but it took the whole unplayable shine off for me. They didn't just lose to Bayern, they were all rendered ineffective against Bayern. Martinez had Iniesta under lock and key, Xavi went into hiding when the heavy press from Bayern was on and they didn't seem all to bothered about Busquets. It was by far the best midfield they had faced, and it showed.

 

[Raees]

Alonso
Modric Di Maria
​

Not the best but quite underrated - Didn’t play together for long but during that one season it was put together by Carlo it was beautiful to watch.

​

 

[Yagami]

That Ajax one is ridiculous. The mix of guile, power, speed, technique and solidity.

Saying that the Giggs/Scholes/Keane/Beckham combo is hard to beat. I wonder how that would have evolved if they had played more together into the 4-3-3 era. Would Beckham have moved inside and Keane deeper or Beckham pushed up as a right winger? Maybe Scholes forward as 10 and someone else brought in behind Keane and Beckham.

Giggs -- Ruud -- Solskjaer
Scholes --- Beckham
Keane​

I feel like in this era of football, Giggs would've played on the right due to being able to cut in on his left.

So, like @Web of Bissaka 's post, but Giggs on the right instead of Solskjaer, and probably a new signing to play on the left. Someone like a Nedved who we seemed to really want regardless of having Giggs and Beckham already.

 

[Maluco]

I really like the classic 3 man midfields that have come out of the 4-2-3-1 era.

One of my favorites was Valencia’s title winning side with...

Aimar
Albelda - Baraja

They were disciplined and well drilled, but they were also very good footballers being used in roles that matched their strengths.

They had the world class Ayala behind them and two hard working wingers either side, but the whole set-up worked together beautifully and meant they achieved something really special together.

Not as great as the teams listed in this page, but they definitely deserve a mention when talking about modern midfield units. They were undoubtedly one of Europe’s top sides at the time.

 

[Rasendori]

Essien - Ballack - Lampard. Wasn't a combination we got to see often

Simeone, Veron, Nedvěd, Conceição

Motta, Verratti, Matuidi. Title states Motta, but due to the nature of his role you can see PSG's midfield as a collective

 

[Paula]

Not going to ingnore it, but it took the whole unplayable shine off for me. They didn't just lose to Bayern, they were all rendered ineffective against Bayern. Martinez had Iniesta under lock and key, Xavi went into hiding when the heavy press from Bayern was on and they didn't seem all to bothered about Busquets. It was by far the best midfield they had faced, and it showed.

well probalby the 2 best teams in this time frame faced each other at this point. Barca was in restructure and as not 100% on point.
And bayern just peaked with the absolute will and focus to win the CL after the chelsea loss on their own home ground.

Also both midfield combinations were superb!

Ribery - Schweinsteiger- Robben
Martinez


Xavi, Busquets and Iniesta with Messin in front.


Its not just the names, but they also played very efficient and beautiful watch

 

[Fortitude]

Valderrama’s Columbia midfield getting no mention?

 

[Sunny Jim]

Never felt the same about them since i saw Bastian, Ribery and Martinez render them ineffective.

Which game was that mate?

 

[Infordin]

Alonso
Modric Di Maria
​

Not the best but quite underrated - Didn’t play together for long but during that one season it was put together by Carlo it was beautiful to watch.

​

A stonking midfield and one that surprised me by how balanced it was. Alonso was a versatile player who could play both the Kroos and Casemiro role effectively. Di Maria showed great workrate and tactical awareness to move from winger to midfielder after Ozil left and was replaced by Bale. Modric was Modric, the best midfielder of the decade along with Iniesta.

 

[Invictus]

Which game was that mate?

This one from 2013, presumably...

 

[paraguayo]

Fabio-O'Shea-Gibson-Rafael

 

[hasanejaz88]

well probalby the 2 best teams in this time frame faced each other at this point. Barca was in restructure and as not 100% on point.
And bayern just peaked with the absolute will and focus to win the CL after the chelsea loss on their own home ground.

Also both midfield combinations were superb!

Ribery - Schweinsteiger- Robben
Martinez


Xavi, Busquets and Iniesta with Messin in front.


Its not just the names, but they also played very efficient and beautiful watch

Don't now why Muller isn't getting a mention there, and previously, he was at the top of the midfield and was a vital part of Bayerns pressing game during those past stages of the UCL. And also let's not forget his two goals and assist in the 1st leg (and the blatant body check on Alba for Robben's goal )

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

Martinez and Schweinstiger as a pivot in a 4231 was fantastic. First team to destroy Barca.

Anderson and Cleverley for the very short time they had were very entertaining to watch.

Hopefully in a few years time we can add Fred/McTominay, Pogba and Bruno to the list.

 

[arnie_ni]

That Ajax one is ridiculous. The mix of guile, power, speed, technique and solidity.

Saying that the Giggs/Scholes/Keane/Beckham combo is hard to beat. I wonder how that would have evolved if they had played more together into the 4-3-3 era. Would Beckham have moved inside and Keane deeper or Beckham pushed up as a right winger? Maybe Scholes forward as 10 and someone else brought in behind Keane and Beckham.

Becks would slide in midfield with keane and Scholes id have thought with his playmaking abilities

 

[arnie_ni]

Mctominay pogba and bruno