I totally agree Ian.
In every midfield, you must have degree of passing and defensive ability, and ideally you want midfielders who can do both job perfectly, but such players dont exist and if they do they are rare and in demand. As a result, there is a trade-off and it is often best to combine players who have specialist ability. And I agree that Xavi-Davids, Viera-Edu are valid examples of this even if partnerships do differ to a degree. Another example is Claude and Zizou for Real couple of years back, as the latter often played deep to start attack, and Makele often looked to pass to Zidane as soon as he won the ball in the midfield.
At the end of day I think the midfield partnership will depend on the formation that we play - in 4-4-2 formation I would probably prefer Maresca - Emerson combo but under 3-5-2 formation, the more likely one IMO, I can see Capello prefering to use Blasi and Emerson, given the imperative of winning midfield battle in that system.
At the end of day I think the midfield partnership will depend on the formation that we play - in 4-4-2 formation I would probably prefer Maresca - Emerson combo but under 3-5-2 formation, the more likely one IMO, I can see Capello prefering to use Blasi and Emerson, given the imperative of winning midfield battle in that system.
