I play 4back, 2 MC, 1AMC, 2wingers and a lone striker. Thus the MC's must be able to defend while dictating the play of the game and being good passers.
I am absolutely thrilled with my 2 first choice MC's. They are:
Lucas-
http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/7663/lucaslb8.jpg
An absolutely brilliant player. He is good at everything as his stats show on screenshot. Top-class defending skills with awesome technique, creativity, passing, determination, physique etc etc... This guy for me is the perfect MC as he can do everything... Having said that, that is why he is my key CM and he is expensive, not many players are this good.
Ever Banega
http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/1...rbanegabv0.jpg
My first choice to partner Lucas. His defensive skills are quite respectable (15+ average), teamwork, workrate, physique are quite good. Major good points are: Top class technique , dribbling, first touch all 18 so he can hold onto and navigate in a tight midfield. On top of that, passing of 20, creativity 19, decisions 19 and flair 18 allow him to spray passes all over the pitch with deadly outcomes. His passing accuracy for 08/09 was 85% for the year, currently in 09/10 after 32 games, a massive 91% accuracy. Lucas is similar with 88% passing after 34 games.
Both players are not dominant in the air but I havent had a problem nor am i concerned with that...
Both are not great finishers but that is not important as they usually dont advance too much because there are 2 wingers (AM line with barrow to forward line), an AMC and a lone striker in front of them. I have the MC provide lots of throughballs, and with their high passing and creativity its pretty devestating. Due to my formation, I dont care too much about long shots either although they both have 15s. Same goes for free kicks, corners etc.... An AMC player usually has high dead ball abilities and long shots, and they are in a better position tactically to utilise it.
In a nutshell, important stats are mental, first touch, passing, creativity, decisions, teamwork and defensive (tackling, positioning, marking).