Are we picking based on current form ? As in to play a match tomorrow ? Xavi hasn't been that great this season tbh.
I'm assuming if we started a season tomorrow, not just a game. Would be odd to pick 25 players for a game tomorrow.
He's not been great as last season but he would still merit a top 5 pick IMO. He's still had some great matches this season in La Liga, like towards the end of 2012. People keep saying "he's not been that great this season" but really, he's just not been as good as he was last season. You can still clearly see his quality in matches. I'd have him in my team to play a match tomorrow. Consistency has been a problem but still love the guy.
If you want to have Xavi as a top 5 pick, you've essentially got to play an entire formation around him and he wouldn't give much flexibility if you don't get the players you're looking for later, hes very much a possession retainer who will thread in some great balls, hes not got anywhere near the dynamic style as I'd want from a top five player personally
He's fine. Any formation with a three man central midfield he can slot into or even a 4-4-2 with a limited/disciplined player besides him. He's hardly the worst player to have to build a side around either
I agree that it's going to be quite difficult creating a team around him with the near perfect chemistry in such a big draft but there will be a lot of teams here that won't have the best team chemistry IRL. I do have a bunch of players I'm looking at that would be quite a good fit but yeah, it would be difficult attaining them. Is this being simmed on FM13?
Really though, I'm just looking to pick a personal dream team so it's going to have it's fair share of bias.