Smith will only play in the defensive midfield role. Barton should only play as a playmaker as his tackling is atrocious. I can't see how one can play instead of the other, it'll be Barton and Tiote with Smith as a stand in.
bartons tackling can be attrocious but he reads the game better than smith so intercepts rather than tackles. smith often turns 70-30 (in his favour) into thundering 50-50's that end up as 50-50's 10 yds further away.
Yep. Steven Taylor is also bad for doing that, but he's a defender, so he has an excuse.