It’s that time of the season when the player of the season awards start being handed out. It’s also the time of the season when us fans argue about who has been the best player in each of the positions. It is unlikely that any two fans would select an identical ‘team of the year’ but for the purposes of debate and ‘friendly’ discussion I thought I’d have a go at putting my ideas on paper.
I have selected a squad of twenty-two from which I will select my final Premier League eleven. I just know that the players I select will be hugely proud to be recognised by me, a man who all the top players listen to. Mmm.
I’m going for a good old fashioned 4-4-2. Not because it is the only way to play but because it makes it easier to put down on paper!
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Goalkeeper
Edwin Van der Sar (Manchester United): Best keeper with the ball at his feet by a mile. Rarely lets United down and his saves against Arsenal may just have won the Premier League.
David James (Portsmouth): Had a great season and has kept his ‘eccentric moments’ to a minimum.
.
Right back
Bacary Sagna (Arsenal): Has looked pretty good all season and his injury may have played more of a part in Arsenal’s decline than most have suggested.
Glen Johnson (Portsmouth): I’ve never rated Johnson to be honest, but in the games I’ve seen him play this season he has looked effective going backwards and forwards.
.
Left back
Patrice Evra (Manchester United): After a dodgy start at United this man has developed into a wonderful player. Defensively he is sound and going forward he provides yet another attacking alternative for the team. For a man so small, he wins an amazing amount of headers.
Gaël Clichy (Arsenal): Has totally replaced Ashley Cole and I’m sure the Arsenal fans have forgotten their old boy already. Clichy has remarkable energy levels and great pace.
.
Centre half
Nemanja Vidic (Manchester United): Solid as a rock. Difficult to remember a mistake. Has been sorely missed in the games he hasn‘t played.
Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United): Not everyone’s favourite player but he has been exceptional this season. With Vidic, he has formed a formidable partnership.
Ricardo Carvalho (Chelsea): A bit of an unsung hero at Stamford Bridge. I think he has been Chelsea’s best defender by a mile this season, and has held the defence together in times of trouble.
Richard Dunne (Manchester City): He may have gone off the boil a little in recent weeks but his early season displays were faultless.
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Midfield
Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United): I don’t think I really need to say too much about this man who has been a phenomenon this season.
Steven Gerrard (Liverpool): Yes, I know I’ve criticised him in the past, but he’s just a very good player. Lots of goals and inspirational for Liverpool.
Cesc Fà bregas (Arsenal): Not so good over the last few weeks but I thought he looked near to his best at Old Trafford. In the first half of the season he was the only player in the country to be anywhere near Ronaldo in terms of performance levels.
Paul Scholes (Manchester United): Quite simply still a wonderful player. He might not get in the box as much as he used to, but he still picks a pass as well as anybody.
Mathieu Flamini (Arsenal): From bit part player to superstar. He has performed well all season and Arsenal will do well to hang onto him.
David Bentley (Blackburn): Not sure about Bentley really, but he has clearly produced the goods this season.
Ashley Young (Aston Villa): A really exciting prospect. He is direct, quick, can score goals and delivers a wonderful cross from open play or a dead ball.
Alexander Hleb (Arsenal): I wondered what all the fuss was about Hleb when he arrived at Arsenal, but this season he has shown what a fine player he is.
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Strikers
Fernando Torres (Liverpool): Wonderful striker. Is there a better centre forward in world football at this time?
Wayne Rooney (Manchester United): His partnership with Ronaldo has been breathtaking at times. He has had to take a bit of a back seat to Ronaldo this season but he remains England’s best player.
Dimitar Berbatov (Tottenham): He might be lazy and grumpy but I love watching him play. I have never seen a striker with a better first touch.
Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal): Blew it a bit at the end of the season but earlier on he was quite simply unplayable at times.
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Players who just missed out:
Petr Cech (Chelsea): Not quite at his exceptional best this season and has given away a couple of crucial goals.
Manuel Almunia (Arsenal): Has done well particularly under the constant glare of the bitter and twisted Lehmann, but just not quite good enough to make the squad.
Pepe Reina (Liverpool): Looks like a world class keeper to me apart from in the really big games when he looks a little shaky. I cannot afford to risk my reputation as a manager on a player who might let me down in the big games!
Wes Brown (Manchester United): Has done a wonderful job for United this season, but I don’t think he is a right back. Not good enough for the squad but should be proud of what he has achieved out of position.
John Terry (Chelsea): Still a great leader and defender but has had a disappointing season by his own high standards.
William Gallas (Arsenal): Gallas has got the lot physically and deserves to be in or near the squad. I just feel his temperament has let him down a little in these last few crucial weeks.
Jamie Carragher (Liverpool): Another fine season for Liverpool, but I just don’t think he is quite as good as the others.
Jolean Lescott (Everton): Great season for Everton but plays as much at left back as he does at centre half. If he gets a regular place in the ‘number 5’ shirt, he could force his way in next season.
Jonathan Woodgate (Middlesbrough / Tottenham): At his best, Woodgate is immaculate. If he’d played the whole season he could have made it.
Ryan Babel (Liverpool): In and out of the Liverpool team and he seems to get mixed reviews. Whenever I have seen him he has looked to be a talented and exciting player.
Michael Essien (Chelsea): Not quite as good as he was last season but still a formidable presence in the midfield.
Javier Mascherano (Liverpool): Has done a wonderful job for Liverpool this season.
Mikel Arteta (Everton): An exceptional player who makes Everton tick. He has played through injury this season but still looks a class act.
Gabby Agbonlahor (Aston Villa): Another exciting Villa prospect. Fast, direct and score goals. He could go far.
Didier Drogba (Chelsea): What a handful this player is. He misses out on my squad because of his propensity to fall over. (Yes I know I’ve selected Ronaldo, but you can’t leave him out, can you?)
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Final team
Edwin Van der Sar
Bacary Sagna
Rio Ferdinand
Nemanja Vidic
Patrice Evra
Cristiano Ronaldo
Cesc Fà bregas
Steve Gerrard
Alexander Hleb
Fernando Torres
Dimitar Berbatov
Let the arguments commence!
Graham Fisher writes at Views of a fan. Article originally written for Soccer News.
anderson should have made the starting XI, when he played against arsenal and liverpool he played much better than fabergas and gerrard
o very funny siralex. brown? i think not. he’s the weak link in your back 4
gk : james
rb : johnson
cb : vidic
cb : lescott
lb : cliche
rm : ronaldo
cm : gerrard
cm : masch
lm : hleb
st: torres
st: rooney
subs; reina, carra(only because hes a more versatile defender than rio), adebayor, fabregas, flamini
you people forget this should be based on season wide performances not a 8 game run of form
GK- Edwin Van Der Sar
RB- Micah Richards
CB- Nemanja Vidic
CB- Rio Ferdinand
LB- Gael Clichy
RM- Cristiano Ronaldo
CM- Cesc Fabregas
CM- Javier Mascherano
LM- Joe Cole
FW- Robbie Keane
FW- Fernando Torres
Bench: David James, Rio Ferdinand, Steven Gerrard, Alexander Hleb, Emmanuel Adebayor
i wouldn’t pick sagna for my team just because of his hair. glen johnson and david james are automatics for the same reason.
lol
i would rather put Rooney and Tevez up front
more teamwork
and Tevez is great!
is EAMON GAVIN for real? lol “MANCS” only world class player is rooney? you seem to be forgetting the best player on the planet! C.RONALDO… And GERRARD world class?? well can i just say that he’s been bullied twice this season off our “SUPERB” midfielder ANDERSON.. (”3-0″Anyone?)haha Need i say more? utd to be Champions Again this season! Long Live the red devils! haha Anyway.. wheres tevez? Carrick? Anderson? lol
heres what i personally think…
D.James
W.Brown
R.Ferdinand
N.Vidic
P.Evra
A.Young
P.Scholes
Anderson
C.Ronaldo
F.Torres
C.Tevez
James
Ferdinand
Vidic
Sagna
Clichy
Gerrard
Fabregas
Ronaldo
Hleb
Torres
Adebayor
Honorable mention (7 subs, as per impending rule change): Van Der Saar, G. Johnson, Carvalho, Flamini, Mascherano, J. Cole, Keane
Obviously not the most effective team, but that’s another debate.
Everyone knows Anderson was good at anfield but everyone also knows he was the worst player at OT
Everyone, needs to remember that these are just opinions….
OK, except when it comes to Brown – if you put Wes Brown in your best XI then you don’t deserve an opinion.
D. James
B. Sagna
N. Vidic
R. Ferdinand
P. Evra
C. Ronaldo
O. Anderson
S. Gerrard
A. Young
F. Torres
W. Rooney
Anderson has completely bossed Gerrard, Mascher and Fabregas out of games, particularly the away games earlier in the season.
Ronaldo and Torres HAVE to be in the team and if you include them you have to include Rooney and Gerrard, their partnerships are a major part of their success.
calm down, guys. we all know that the chelsea XI is the best team of the season. And always will be. =P
Some of the players mentioned are a joke I am a Spurs fan and would not have keane anywhere in the team if you watched him week in week out he would be in the whingers team of the year my team would be as follows
(GK) DAVID JAMES
(RB) MICAH RICHARDS WATCH OUT FOR ALAN HUTTON NEXT SEASON
(CB) JOHN TERRY
(CB) JONATHAN WOODGATE / SLIGHTLY BIAS GREAT SIGNING
(LB) EVRA
(RMF) BENTLEY
(MF) MASCHERANO / SO GLAD HE LEFT THE SPAMMERS
(MF) GERRARD (CAPTAIN)
(LMF) RONALDO
(F) TORRES
(F) ROONEY
(SUBS) REINA/FERDINAND R./ LAMPARD/ VIDIC/ BERBATOV ADEBAYOR
I get fed up with people running Rooney down especially sour scoucers but his work rate this season has been 2nd to none and Torres for his 1st season in the premier has been fantastic & is my player of the year if Benitez had played him in more games would have scored 40+
as for the No.1 whinging team down the road in south London just one thing 1 NIL TO THE TOTTENHAM (TROPHIES THAT IS )
overall a good choice for team of the season…
i dont see how people can say berbatov has 1 good game in 10? he lights up the prem with every game!
and robbie keane is worth a mention..he’s been top class this season along with berbatov…
James
Brown
Ferdinand
Lescott
Clichy
Ronaldo
Gerrard
Fabregas
Barry
Torres
Adebayor
Subs: Howard, Laursen, Young, Bentley, Santa Cruz
i think wesley brown deserve a credit for this season. Barry too. I usually see Young as a striker, so i dont rate him as a midfielder.
Lets see the list of players i feel is the best almost tru out the season:
GKs:
James(Portsmouth)
Howard(Everton)
Friedel(Blackburn)
Def:
Lescott(Everton)
Ferdinand(Man Utd)
Clichy(Arsenal)
Brown(Man Utd)
Laursen(Aston Villa)
Johnsen(Portsmouth)
Evra(Man Utd)
Dunne(Man City)
P.Neville(Everton)
Shorey(Reading)
Sagna(Arsenal)
Gallas(Arsenal)
Mid:
Ronaldo(Man Utd)
Gerrard(Liverpool)
Fabregas(Arsenal)
Barry(Aston Villa)
Bentley(Blackburn)
Lampard(Chelsea)
Petrov(Man City)
Cole(Chelsea)
Flamini(Arsenal)
Hleb(Arsenal)
Arteta(Everton)
Simon Davies(Fulham)
ST:
Torres(Liverpool)
Adebayor(Arsenal)
Santa Cruz(Blackburn)
Young(Aston Villa)
Tevez(Man Utd)
Rooney(Man Utd)
okay this is my shortlist, hope i am not bias to any club or player.
You missed gareth barry. Also yes paul scholes has done really well but he has been injured for most of the season he simply hasnt played enough to be there. You gotta have martin laursen there too..and robert green! I think bentley takes hleb’s place there and arteta should be in the 1st team.
And you totally missed robbie keane out there! and berba hasnt been as good as adebayor and rooney..
some major mistakes in your list man
ok, lets have a go:
……………………james………….
..richards……………rio……………..evra
……..mascherano……………fabregas
………………….gerrard……………………
….ronaldo……………………petrov……………
…………..torres……….keane……………
subs: tevez, hleb, cruz, sagna, reina.
Vidic has not played many matches, nor has scholes 2 be considered.
I have argued that tevez was not a shrewd signing- and i was right. both rooney n tevez should have got 20 goals apiece, insted manutd rely on ronaldo for half of their wins( i’m not criticising just pointing out- i mean, ‘here’ at liverpool, torres has won us well many matches). remember that tevez goal goal vs utd last day of season-how many has he scored this term like that n how many were tapins?
the combination SEEMS 2 be working but really it should be better…. 4 instance, rooney loses half his time running kuyt-like….
I have not been over-impressed by bentley or young actually- they r kinda erratic. n hargreaves-if he was played more- would have walked in that team…
n by the way, van der saar is not that great- his defense is xcellent though…xcept brown-frankly people putting him in bestteam just because of his goal vs us….
“Anderson bossed Gerrard” did he? Might have done but wouldn’t count on it being a regular occurence. Can’t see the dynamism in Anderson’s play that Gerrard displayed in abundance when he burst onto the scene back in 98′. He will be a great player though, no doubt. Don’t forget about Lucas because he looks quite promising, even if he is still more raw than Anderson. Former Brazil Under-20 Captain at the World Youth Championships and Brazil Player of the Year last season, expect him to really shine next season. He needs to be quicker in possession as he spends too long on the ball and inevtably concedes the ball cheaply. Also could do with bulking up quite susbstantially. Hasn’t got the power nor indeed the pace of Anderson but classy nevertheless.
yhyh he did boss gerrard! and i seem to remember that he bullied fabregas out of the f.a cup game at old trafford when we humiliated arsenal… he has quite a future ahead of him… and you are quite right about lucas… i think he is a very good player, but i cant understand why he went to liverpool… he will not get regular 1st team football, ab=nd to develop he will need that… and its the same with ryan babel, i dont understand how he doesnt start most games, he is absolutely brilliant! i am a united fan myself but i think torres has been a revalation this season… but i just hope more than anything else that cristiano ronaldo wins the world player of the year award and signs a new contract with man utd… the premierleague is head and shoulders higher than LA Liga! stay where u belong C.Ronaldo!! haha Anyone Agree??
Lucas wants to develop his game by understand through Gerrard, Alonso and Mascha. Babel still isnt fit enough to play every game and he needs to work on his end product.
WHERE IS LEHMAN? HE IS A GOOD FLOP AT TIMES AND MORESO A VETERAN AT THE PINNACLE OF HIS AGE……UP GONNERS…..UP GONNERS
GK: David James (watched Ronaldo’s freekick and knows the technique)
RB: Ronaldo (has the speed for the overlap)
LB: Ronaldo (two footed; see above)
CB: Ronaldo (good in the air)
CB: Ronaldo (will win plenty of freekicks going down easy under challenge from the striker)
RM: Ronaldo (step over ability will skin all fullbacks*)
CM: Ronaldo (runs all match)
CM: Ronaldo (ability to get into the box from a deep position; see Roma away)
CM: Stevie Gerrard (ability to “win” a penalty is Ronaldo-esqe)
LM: Ronaldo (puts in a good cross)
ST: Ronaldo (strike rate is 2nd to none)
Subs: John O’Shea (goalkeeper), Ryan Giggs (impact player for the last 2 minutes, Glen Little (the messiah of Reading is back; physically similar to Ronaldo; tall for a winger), Alex Ferguson (apparently this striker’s record will not be beaten by Ronaldo so he had to be included), Ronaldo (the Fat injury Inter version)
* big games excluded
VDS
Sagna
Rio
Vidic
Evra
Ronaldo
Fabregas
Mascherano
Helb
Torres
Rooney
What you need to understand is that the team of the season isn’t based on overall quality/ability. It’s based on this year, which is why Essien and Berbatov have no business on this list.
But yeah mine would be like RMJ’s except Gerrard to replace Macherano and Adebayor to replace Rooney.
Yeh essien has been poor this season and Rooney has missed too many games to judge. I think adeybayour is a good striker but my 9 year old sister could have scored most of those goals.
____________________David James_______________
Bacary Sagna __Rio Ferdinand __Ricardo Carvalho__Gael Clichy
Cristiano Ronaldo ____Cesc Fabregas______Joe Cole
___________Alexander Hleb
_______________________Fernando Torres_____________
This would be my 11 but in a different formation…
David James
Rio ferdinand Nemanja Vidic Patrice Evra
C.Ronaldo Carrick Anderson Fabregas Young
Wayne Rooney Carlos Tevez
And then of course, the people who will win it, due to them being bummed by the media:
Almunia
Richards-Carragher-Gallas-Lescott
Gerrard-Lampard-Mascherano-Ronaldo
Torres-Berbatov
I bet this will be closer to the team picked, just because everyone loves Gerrard, FatFrank etc.
Cant u just put the united side?why?Their the best…
How about a team with the most promising players next season?
ive been looking at your choices for the the team of the season and were is darren fletcher ?
roy carrol
gary neville
titus branble
nosworthy
auerllio
darren fletcher (c)
Ok first of all, United on Fire Your team is the worst.
i agree with the publisher but this is my team
David James:Superb keeper
Bakari Sagna:Excellent player
Rio Ferdinand:Cool defender
Nemanja Vidic: he good
Gael Clichy:nice
Gerrard: Great
Flamini: wow
Cesc Fabregas: best ever player my favourite
C. Ronaldo: OK lol
E. Adebayor: So tall and good
f. Torres: Lovely
Subs: Hleb, Tevez, Walcott, van der sar, van persie, lampard
James
Richards
Rio
Carvalho
Clichy
Ronaldo
Gerrard
Fabregas
J.Cole
Torres
Santa Cruz
Subs – Reina, lescott, ballack, Walcott, tevez, adebayor
Phillip how can you say gary neville? he hasn’t been playing all season! this is for team of the season not team of the week.
I’m just going to put a list of people who i think have had a good season.
GK-
James(Portsmouth)
Howard(Everton)
Reina(Liverpool)
Green(West Ham)
DEF-
Richards(Man City)
G.Johnson(Portsmouth)
R.Ferdinand(Man Utd)
Dunne(Man City)
Carvalho(Chelsea)
Lesott(Everton)
Evra(Man Utd)
Clichy(Arsenal)
MID-
Ronaldo(Man Utd)
Bentley(Blackburn)
Fabregas(Arsenal)
Ballack(Chelsea)
Gerrard(Liverpool)
P.Neville(Everton)
Barry(Aston Villa)
A.Young(Aston Villa)
J.Cole(Chelsea)
Nani(Man Utd)
Walcott(Arsenal)
STR-
Torres(Liverpool)
Adebayor(Arsenal)
Tevez(Man Utd)
Keane(Tottenham)
Santa Cruz(Blackburn)
Gk-James
Rb-Sagna
Cb-Ferdinand
Cb-Carvalho
Lb-Evra
Rm-Ronaldo
Cm-Mascherano
Cm-Gerrard
Lm-Young
St-Torres
St-Adebayour
GK:JAMES
RB:SAGNA
CB:FERDINAND
CB:VIDIC
LB:LESCOTT
RMF:RONALDO
CMF:GERRARD
CMF:FABREGAS
LMF:A.YOUNG
CF:TORRES
CF:ADEBAYOR