Even right now, Barca's dominance is not as strong as it was 2 years ago (same with Spain) and that's simply due to the fact that teams are developping better tactics to use against them. Yes every position isn't meant to score, but when you play as a foward or and attacking midfielder, you should score and assist a bit more than Iniesta does. But as a midfielder in the Barca system, i understand that he is not required to assist that much and when it comes to playing the possession style football that Barca plays, i'll always pick Iniesta over any other attacking midfielder. But i'm not sure i'll pick him over a player like Ozil for example in another system that is much more direct and where he has to participate more in goals and assists.
Agree in the sense Iniesta was a very very good AM or CM while Ozil is the "CAM /playmaker" in his particular system (Real and Germany). Iniesta was a bit better in dribbling but Ozil is better in vision and deadly passes
You are wrong once again. Henry was a wide forward at Monaco. And he played a wide forward role for France at WC98 and WC2002. Wide forward was his natural position basically. Only once he went to Arsenal, Wenger converted him to a central forward role. There have been "forwards" rather than "pure strikers" in the past too, before the mid 2000's. In the last decade, club football has become more competitive than international football. Comparing a 6-7 game tournament to a season-long league is like comparing a sprint race to a marathon run. Which is harder to win, a sprint or a marathon? Each has its difficulties. The point is that Spain can get away with a lot more shortcomings to their style of play and lack of goalscorers than Barca can over a season-long league or competition. List the players who have been scoring the goals for Spain in the 3 major tournaments they have won - Euro2008, WC2010 and Euro2012. Then answer can they replace Messi's goals at Barca? I say no they can't. Only one other player comes close to scoring that many and his name is Cristiano Ronaldo. I agree, Xavi and Iniesta are the best when it comes to controlling the match. But that control doesn't necessarily guarantee scoring a lot of goals. The evidence is Spain itself. Look how they are winning without scoring a lot of goals. Messi gives Barca and that similar system another dimension. Simple as that. This is why he is such a key player and a difference-maker. Who knows what Spain would look like if he was playing for them.......
I disagree. There is no difference in vision and deadly passes between Ozil and Iniesta in terms of quality. The only difference is the system under which each player plays. We don't know how Iniesta would do under a more direct system - he may play better than Ozil or he may play worse. Also, we do not know how Ozil would play under Barca's system - he may play worse than Iniesta or he may play better. Actually to be quite honest, Ozil is a pure AM and there is no place for such position in Barca's system.
people seem to forget this, forwards have been around forever. But now people want to call them a trendy false 9.. please.. if a player's main purpose is to score goals, he's a forward. Both are just as hard on it's on way, but club football is not a way to measure competitiveness, especially since you got the same teams either winning or competing for the title every year, with little chance for all the other 16-18 teams in the league. When you are playing in a tournament where 16-18 out of 20 teams have no shot.. how competitive is it? When your team has +70 goal differential if you cut that by 30 goals, you still have +40 goal differential. But you are right on a league that's polarized in 2 teams like La Liga, +40 might not be enough since the other team is also getting +65 goal differential since there's no competition against them. that can also mean that regardless of who they put out front, they will score when playing with Xaviesta. Remember if Messi scores 50 goals, and some other forward scores 30 goals, it's a difference of 20 goals to make up, not 50. Spain is a bad evidence for you to call it to attention since they have won.. everything. While the team that had Messi for the same amount of time, with lots of talent around him (Argentina), have won nothing.