Leon Britton – The Perfect Defensive Midfielder

I’m not going to fire a load of statistics at you, but trust me this is true, Leon Britton has one of the highest pass completion rates in the Premiership. If you don’t believe me look it up, it is true. When Leon is playing we seem to control the tempo of the game better because we are controlling the tempo of the game better.

Leon is a great defensive midfielder, not by being a crunching tackler but rather with his positional awareness. He never ventures forward, unless someone else is covering, or the attacking risks are minimal, which in itself gives the defenders the confidence to play more expansive passes themselves.

I am not saying Canas should not play for us, because I rate him highly too, and this doesn’t mean I think we should rotate them every other game as we seem to be at the moment either, as I think both can play allowing the rest of the midfield to express themselves more fully.

Infact I think England (not that I’m a fan, being Welsh) should bring him into their midfield, because with Leon in there doing the unglamorous stuff the likes of Wiltshire and Ravel Morrison would be free to attack a little more. Leon Britton is the sort of unappreciated midfielder England have missed since Owen Hargreaves played for them….at least Swansea haven’t missed such skills, and to think we brought him to the club as a winger!!