This guy is excellent because he plays with awareness; whenever he gets it he already knows what he wants to do, deftly controls it and quickly moves it on 15 yards to someone in a good position with a neat pass.
It isn't as exciting as huge tackles or long passes or complex dribbles or holding off three men, but it is more effective and thus pleases me greatly.
A bit like Modric because Modric's biggest talent was also awareness, when he got the ball and was surrounded by 2 players he would knock it 6 yards to one side and jink onto it. No matter where those players came from to get him, he could knock the ball somewhere else and jink onto it in a flash. They couldn't tackle him as the ball wasn't there, and they couldn't get the ball as he always put it just out of their reach. It must be hellish to play against someone like that!
Obviously Modric is better than Mason, before you start.
Modric didn't score goals or play loads of incredible passes or make huge tackles, he did all those things perfectly well, very well sometimes, but he generally just got into space and picked out a colleague in a decent position and retained shape and worked hard. Sounds average but was awesome to watch.
