Best holding midfielder player within the Premiership?

I mean holding midfielder that is a tough tackler and not a wimp (carrick)

Carrick isn't a holding midfielder. He's a weaker (and more expensive) Cesc Fabregas. Would count as a creative/dentral midfielder. He can't defend like Makelele and can't tackle.

For me in no particular order:

1. Makelele
2. Mascherano
3. Sissoko
4. Diaby
5. Gilberto
6. Mikel
7. Parker
8. Essien

 

carrick has been instrumental in uniteds league winning team, sissoko, diaby, gilberto, well theyve been instrumental, in ahem, mediocrity.

my guess is you havent seen carrick at all this season, he puts in far more tackles than you would have guessed.

but i answer to the holding midfielder there are only one answer and that is essien. sissoko? he's nothing, all he does is break up the play w/out adding anything.

 

They are all class midfielders Dan, Nice to see a bit of none biased around here

 

Carrick is a decent player but he ISN'T A TOUGH TACKLING HOLDING MIDFIELDER. I believe Fabregas is better than him though. Carrick is not bad.

Sissoko and Diaby are second choices but they ARE STRONG TACKLERS. Gilberto has been sensational this year. Maybe you just don't see how important he is. Essien is just fabulous in midfield and Makelele really started this role in Premiership football.

Not really sure about Barton. All i know is that he's an aggressive tackler. Bouba Diop is a BEAST (no offense to Baptista. He's a lamp compared to Diop)

<div class="quote_poster">.67Lion Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">They are all class midfielders Dan, Nice to see a bit of none biased around here </div>Doing my best to spark some heated debates

 

a holding midfielder must bring something else to the table other than hard tackling. fabregas was really poor in the second half of the season, but i agree he is better than carrick.

my idea of a holding midfielder is someone who can tackle AND essentially distribute the ball, vieira, makelele and keane did this to the best i can remember. souness obv, and robson.

i dont rate sissoko, he just breaks up play, which is needed, although he seems to foul more often than taking the ball. i think gilberto is good but pales in comparison to makelele and essien. its gotta be essien, ferguson says 27m is alot, but he's considerably better than hargreaves at 20m.