Most effective midfielders in England and Spain

http://www.imscouting.com/global-news-article/Arsenals-Cesc-Fabregas-and-Real-Madrids-Cristiano-Ronaldo-most-effective-playmakers-in-England-and-Spain/11605/

This article was published before this weekend's round of fixtures. Make of that what you will. I'd imagine Ronaldo will be top now. Some suprise inclusions in there though

Yes, especially with Arshavin. But these ratios will be more meaningful after 20 or 30 games. Some of the players were injured so played less. This also shows are important Fabregas is to our team, he assists and scores a lot.

Alive and Kicking wrote:Yes, especially with Arshavin. But these ratios will be more meaningful after 20 or 30 games. Some of the players were injured so played less. This also shows are important Fabregas is to our team, he assists and scores a lot.

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Point and a half there. Couldn't believe the Arshavin stats

Yeah I think these stats are wrong, I've checked on http://www.premierleague.com/page/Statistics/0,,12306,00.html and here is the table of assists which has been updated today

1 Luis Nani Man Utd 8
2 Chris Brunt WBA 6
3 Didier Drogba Chelsea 6
4 Peter Crouch Tottenham 5
5 Matthew Etherington Stoke City 5
6 Andrey Arshavin Arsenal 4
7 Andrew Carroll Newcastle 4
8 Fernando Torres Liverpool 4
9 Luke Varney Blackpool 4
10 Charlie Adam Blackpool 3
11 Marc Albrighton Aston Villa 3
12 Shola Ameobi Newcastle 3
13 Ashley Cole Chelsea 3
14 Franco Di Santo Wigan Athletic 3
15 Jonas Gutierrez Newcastle 3
16 Sebastian Larsson Birmingham 3
17 James Milner Manchester City 3
18 Wayne Rooney Man Utd 3
19 Paul Scholes Man Utd 3
20 Jerome Thomas WBA 3
21 Nicolas Anelka Chelsea 2
22 Leighton Baines Everton 2
23 Joey Barton Newcastle 2
24 Dimitar Berbatov Man Utd 2
25 Marouane Chamakh Arsenal 2
26 Kevin Davies Bolton 2
27 Moussa Dembele Fulham 2
28 El-Hadji Diouf Blackburn 2
29 Kevin Doyle Wolves 2
30 Johan Elmander Bolton 2
31 Michael Essien Chelsea 2
32 Francesc Fabregas Arsenal 2
33 Paulo Ferreira Chelsea 2
34 Steven Gerrard Liverpool 2
35 Ryan Giggs Man Utd 2
36 Jordan Henderson Sunderland 2
37 Robert Huth Stoke City 2
38 Cameron Jerome Birmingham 2
39 Dirk Kuyt Liverpool 2
40 Chung-Yong Lee Bolton 2

But where the fuck is Nasri.

How has Nani managed to assist 8 goals? That's amazing in only 10 games!!

Nani takes most of their setpieces. Lots of their goals have come from setpieces this season. Case in point at weekend - Nani corner, Vidic header.

It's interesting that it's wingers and big strikers who dominate the top of the list rather than attacking central midfielders like Fabregas, Gerrard, Scholes - suggests that going wide and getting in crosses is still the dominant source of goals (often via flick-ons from your Drogba/Crouch/Carroll type).

Quite a few midfielfers in the top scorers rank as well:

1 Florent Malouda Chelsea 7
2 Kevin Nolan Newcastle 7
3 Carlos Tevez Manchester City 7
4 Darren Bent Sunderland 6
5 Dimitar Berbatov Man Utd 6
6 Didier Drogba Chelsea 6
7 Andrew Carroll Newcastle 5
8 Johan Elmander Bolton 5
9 Salomon Kalou Chelsea 5
10 Tim Cahill Everton 4
11 Clinton Dempsey Fulham 4
12 Luis Nani Man Utd 4
13 Samir Nasri Arsenal 4
14 Rafael Van der Vaart Tottenham 4
15 Theo Walcott Arsenal 4 Winger
16 Shola Ameobi Newcastle 3
17 Nicolas Anelka Chelsea 3
18 Marouane Chamakh Arsenal 3
19 Stewart Downing Aston Villa 3
20 Craig Gardner Birmingham 3
21 Steven Gerrard Liverpool 3
22 Marlon Harewood Blackpool 3
23 Javier Hernandez Man Utd 3
24 Kenwyne Jones Stoke City 3
25 Peter Odemwingie WBA 3
26 Hugo Rodallega Wigan Athletic 3
27 Alex Song Arsenal 3
28 Charlie Adam Blackpool 2
29 Andrey Arshavin Arsenal 2
30 Mikel Arteta Everton 2
31 Gareth Bale Tottenham 2
32 Kevin Davies Bolton 2
33 Moussa Dembele Fulham 2
34 Sylvan Ebanks-Blake Wolves 2
35 Michael Essien Chelsea 2
36 Steven Fletcher Wolves 2
37 Darren Fletcher Man Utd 2
38 Matthew Jarvis Wolves 2
39 Nikola Kalinic Blackburn 2
40 Sotirios Kyrgiakos Liverpool 2

I always noticed how much Arshavin contributes to Arsenal's style of play but I never thought Nasri is very effective, I still dont think too highly of him he never stood out for me.

Cheb Hamouda wrote:I always noticed how much Arshavin contributes to Arsenal's style of play but I never thought Nasri is very effective, I still dont think too highly of him he never stood out for me.

This season its been the complete opposite.

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing as well.... I followed him when he was playing for Marseille and did some great things but he didn't shoot enough or wasn't dangerous enough in the box. Last year, I was criticizing him because of lack of goals but this year I am more than happy with his game. It's good he's taking risks.
As for Archavine, each time I saw him play he did fuk all and only missed chances... I must have missed something.

Cheb Hamouda wrote:I always noticed how much Arshavin contributes to Arsenal's style of play but I never thought Nasri is very effective, I still dont think too highly of him he never stood out for me.

Nasri is a lot better and has a bigger influence on a game than Arshavin does.