GRAEME SOUNESS: My ultimate Premier League holding midfielder - and why my stats are better

Rodri made it a record 60 consecutive games unbeaten for Manchester City this week and underlined why he is the best holding midfield player in Europe.

He is certainly the best since his predecessor Fernandinho, who was a real class act — one I’d rate as the best we have seen in the Premier League.

Given it was my position you’d expect me to say this, but it was always the most undervalued role. Now, with greater TV scrutiny, people have woken up to its importance.

We always say you need a good spine in your team. Well, Rodri is the spine of the spine.

It’s not a position you play on instinct like a striker, it’s a thinking position. Your first thought is, ‘Where is the danger?’ If we lose possession, ‘Where are we vulnerable?’ You break up the play, whether fairly or unfairly. Fernandinho was a master of that and Rodri has learnt well.

You try never to expose the defenders behind you and take as few touches as possible, so allowing the goalscorers in front of you to have more time and space to win you the game.

In my mind, even though I could pass the ball and be creative, I always thought that my defensive duties were the priority. Rodri seems the same. His role in City’s press is key to how they play.

Pressing isn’t new. We used to call it ‘closing down’ and Ronnie Moran at Liverpool would say the team that ‘closes down’ the best, or more simply ‘works the hardest’, wins the league. In City, Liverpool and Arsenal, we have the teams that work the hardest right now. But pressing isn’t just about hard work and wanting to do it, it’s about playing the game in your head and Rodri does that part better than anyone.

Pressing at its best is when your players move as one, as if they have a rope tied around their waists. One goes,