edited
Where is Chris James? Presumably excluded because he is playing in the back blocks of Scandanavia. But if you look beyond that superficial fact you will find a creative midfielder who can act as a deep lying playmaker. There might be others who are pound for pound better athletes but who else can play that role?
There seems to be too much emphasis on the caliber of the different leagues. I remember an interview earlier in the year when Hudson said he would not consider ASB Prem players for the AWs unless they are U23. That seems arbitrary. What about Luis Corrales? Is he eligible? He seems like exactly the type of player Hudson is looking for.
These creative Barcelona-type players are a bit like goldfish - you don't just get one of them, you need 3 or 4 so they can swarm around together. Imagine James, Corrales, Rojas and Singh all on the field at the same time. It might be a disaster but at least you would be testing Hudson's game plan to its limits. Then if it doesn't work you have exhausted that possibility of a Tiki Taka system and you can move on to something else. At the moment it looks like a bob each way. Many are already calling to abandon the passing/pressing #alignment approach but it would be a shame to do so without having really tested it with the right type of players in the mix.