It's a training purgatory for footballers, where they have to drift about aimlessly on a cold, wet, gray morning while some knob on the PA drones on pointlessly about his shit tactics for no all eternity.
Barton and Tiote in the center would be shades of Souness with both of them running into each other trying to drive the game. I think you have to keep 'em separated.
Someone earlier summed it up with the notion that playing in a much better league for 38 games + cups might be more rewarding than crashing out of Europe after the group stages and playing in a weaker league.