Weary Ronaldo holding off Adebayor for Player of the Year
All bets were off two weeks ago but since returning from Portugal’s friendly defeat to Italy Cristiano Ronaldo has looked a pale shadow of the world-beating uber-confident star that lit up the Premiership’s last six months. After a frustrating Manchester derby and an insipid display in Lyon (he missed the 4-0 Arsenal wrecking) – could randy Ron be overtaken in the sprint finish for the personal accolades this season ?
Contenders……..ready!
Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
The 2007 Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year is having another incredible season and is leading his club’s assault on the major trophies. The Portuguese winker’s rehabilitation from Premiership pariah to icon is virtually complete after a relatively controversy-free campaign.
Accusations of diving for penalties and free-kicks which dogged him last season (think Middlesbrough – twice) have now virtually dissolved and he was wronged himself at Portsmouth after Richard Hughes got him sent off for an apparent headbutt that made no contact. He has also dazzled with a new-found ability to wallop free-kicks in at odd angles. After a slow start, he won January’s FA Premier League Player of the Month award and his 19 Premiership goals make him joint-top scorer. The fact that he is credited with only two Premiership assists (the same number as John O’Shea) belies the selfish streak which still occasionally frustrates his team-mates.
Has gone from bit-part player and goalscoring substitute last year to first-choice striker and leader of the line in the post-Thierry Henry era. His impact on the club has been such that Robin van Persie’s injury problems have hardly been felt and his club top the table by five points going into March.
The variety of the Togo striker’s 19 Premiership goals have also demonstrated how his presence alone has brought an extra dimension to Arsenal’s play. The Gunners actually attempt to score from crosses into the box now. He has also become a massive dressing-room presence in a young team and clearly exerts a big influence over others (Nicklas Bendtner excepted) to the point where he has become the talisman of the team and a new terrace favourite. A new prototype striker, he does everything that a lone front man in a 4-5-1 must do.
Arguably it hasn’t been a great season for Liverpool and Gerrard, but he makes the list again by being fundamentally the best midfield player in Europe when he wears the red shirt. Eight Premiership goals and seven assists are modest totals by his standards, but Gerrard has carried Liverpool and you wonder where they would be without him. Fully-fit, he is one of the few true-box-to-box midfielders left in the game.
Richard Dunne (Manchester City)
Has been the most consistent defender in the Premiership for the last two years and would have earned recognition earlier had he been paired with Micah Richards regularly last season. Now they form the most physically-intimidating centre-back partnership in the top flight and have built the platform for City’s challenge for European football. Dunne gets in ahead of Richards because of his quiet leadership and organisational abilities and his much better positional sense.
David James (Portsmouth)
Would be a popular choice among the players and now finally seems to have ironed out the creases in his game that prevented him from being the undisputed England number one for the last six years. Barring one obvious blunder in the 7-4 win over Reading, it’s hard to recall any major malfunctions from the veteran. Still a penalty-saving king and now catching 95% of crosses – he instils confidence in his back four now.
Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United)
Tough call between the two Old Trafford centre-backs for the final slot in the list, but Ferdinand edges Vidic out on his performances in the big games. Man of the match at Anfield earlier this season, Ferdinand has also become an occasional goalscorer for his club and country with four strikes this term. An on-field leader and big dressing room influence, the one blot in his copybook this season was his part in organising the infamous Christmas party.
Francesc Fabregas (Arsenal)
The goals have dried up for the Spaniard since he emphatically began the campaign with seven goals in his first nine appearances. A runaway winner of the FA Premier League Player of the Month (August) award, Fabregas continues to contribute to Arsenal’s build-up play and his tally of 12 assists puts him second on the official list.
PFA Premiership Team (possible)
James
Sagna, Dunne, Ferdinand, Evra
Ronaldo, Mascherano, Gerrard, Petrov
Adebayor, Anelka
Written by Simon Barlow, a professional sports writer who blogs about football betting at Betfair.
Who are your picks for Player of the Year and Team of the Year?
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Discussion - 25 Responses
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how did fabregas not make it to the team of the year?
mascherano n gerrard ahead of fabregas?
How can Mascherano be ahead of Mat flamini he is not half the player he is cmon think about it!!!
Looks like a pretty fair team to me. I’d just make a couple of changes, Torres for Anelka and Fabrigas for Mascherano.
Cech, Flamini, Essien and Vidic would all have to be close as well.
I’d quite fancy that team to do well in Europe!
Not to toot Arsenal’s horn here but i feel that Clichy has been consistently underrated for no reason at all. I think he’s far & away the best Left Back in the League so far.
Also i’d like to say that Alex Hleb & Flamini deserve better mentions.
Hi 20Legend yeah I know I made a controversial selection there by putting Mascherano over Fabregas even though I didn’t include hi in the seven contenders. But I wanted to choose a genuine anchor midfielder to partner Gerrard. I am sure Cesc will get into the genuine PFA team in April. It will be interesting to compare.
PS Clichy is in my Young (under-23) team of the season.
PPS Torres has done OK but has only really performed in one big game this season (scoring v Chelsea), his miss against Inter was also fresh in my mind.
Yes, I think Ronaldo is a dead cert - surely nothing can stop him now.
But Anelka in team of the year? I’m not sure about that one - he has hardly been a consistent performer this year. I know I’m biased but I’d stick Rooney up there.
Gerrard has carried Liverpool and you wonder where they would be without him
Wasn’t he on the bench for the 6-0 win over Derby? I can’t bear this out with stats or anything, but it often seems to me like they’d be a better team if they sacrificed his goal-scoring and occasional excellent passes in order to instill more discipline and organization in their playing.
Anyway, I’d put in Kolo Toure instead of Ferdinand and Agbonlahor instead of Anelka (despite being a Bolton fan). I’d also replace Gerrard and Mascherano with Fabregas and Arteta, though I’m still hoping Elano will make a late case for his inclusion.
Hmm… I want to put Ashley Young and Agbonlahor in but it’s hard to argue with Petrov’s place.
I second Spiral’s Clichy comment. My opinion is that on current form Clichy is by far and away the best defensive left-back in the Premiership, and is bettered by few in the world (unfortunately for him, Abidal is also amazing). Evra is a better offensive option, but he has been roasted by the likes of Lennon, whereas Clichy has won every one-to-one battle this season.
Ok apparently only Arsenal fans are reading this particular post. I guess I will add my Arsenal 2 cents too.
Sagna and Clichy are the two best wing backs in the game. Evra is great but he is deficient defending. Arsenal have a really hard time getting either end of their game going without those two in the line up. They both defend well and cross over well.
I do think that if he keeps up his pace that Ronaldo should edge Ade for POY. Ade has been a revelation but I think that Ronaldo has a slight advantage on pure impact in a match.
Derby - you’re using the Derby win as evidence?
I think Tevez should be considered, he’s been extremely good this season.
This team has to be a joke?
You stick 2 City players in there. It’s as if you want to convince us you have seen something, the rest of us haven’t. I could find at least 5 central defenders more worthy than Dunne. Yes, he’s been great, but so have so many others. Vidic would be an obvious choice for that.
Because, it’s not like you are afraid to stick 2 players from the same team together as a pair. No, you’ve done that in the central midfield, where you’ve picked the 2 from Liverpool. Liverpool are currently 5th in the league, and I find it hard to believe that their midfield pairing should be the strongest. Gerrard gets picked everytime for these teams, but fact is that he hasn’t really been that great for quite some time now. I agree that he’s played better this season than last, where he was almost average. What about finding a Chelsea player in the central midfield, which is obviously their strongest assett. They are 3rd and haven’t got a single player on the team (Anelka was hardly picked for his efforts for Chelsea).
And what’s the deal with Petrov? You coudn’t find a player that has done better than the left wing on a team currently placed 7th? He’s scored 4 goals.
And last, Anelka? I know he’s been quite good, but what about Benjani or Keane? They’ve both scored more goals. My pick would be Keane.
The rest of the team seems fair, even though I find it really hard to believe that James has been the best keeper. I’d probably take Cech, VDS and Reina over him.
adebayor is the best and he is going to be the best player in the premiership league
……………reina…………………
…..vidic…..toure…….evra……..
……………..mascherano…………….
….ronaldo………………….j.cole……….
…………gerrard……fabregas…………….
………….adebayor………torres…………
sub: james, essein,dunne,flamini,anelka
Its more based on form……. but naturally a pfa has 2 be 4-4-2 because most of the jurees don’t understand football.
with such a midfield the defence can slot back n remain static.no xtra attacking width needed. 3 top scorers. gerrard n ronaldo combinig together……. what possibilities….
Torres has now scored 15 goals in 20 premier league appearances (I think) which is fantastic for a foreign striker in his first season. Overall, he has scored 21 goals in 31 appearances for all competition. I’d have him on the list for player of the year, but I doubt he would win it given the form of Ronaldo and Adebayor.
Tomas - your comments on the City players paint you as a blinkered buffoon. Yes, Petrov has only 4 goals. He also has 10 assists. Let’s conveniently leave out that stat. The only better left winger in the Premiership this season has been Ashley Young, who has more assists but 1 less goal. Now clearly you have something against Manchester City, but try to think objectively now won’t you? Mmkay? The rest of your remarks (re: Gerrard/Mascherano - yuck, where is Fabregas? and Anelka - Tevez or Torres for me) are quite reasonable indeed.
What about Essien? His last minute contributions and energy should be given more note as compared to Mascherano. Gerrard with all his skill and strength, has not been as inspiring as compared to Fabregas or even Anderson. And Anelka for Rooney, a player that must play to ensure his team does not lose?
“He plays on the left
He plays on the righhhht
That boy Ronaldo makes England look shitee”
As well as Adabeyor has done, Ronaldo is essentially a midfielder. With more oil than sense I proudly present to you your player of the year 07/08.
What has Gerrard done this season, in any of the big or important matches? Im astonished that he keeps getting in these lists again and again based purely on reputation. Simon, where do you think Liverpool would be without him as opposed to flounering in fifth?
What!! Mascherano is easily the best player in the world i cant believe you people??!!
Gerrard? What the fuck has gerrard done?anderson should be there 100 percent or even flamini.My team VDS,sagna,vidic,ferdinand,evra,ronaldo,fabregas,anderson,hleb,adebayor,torres.This is the best team! Bench-tevez,almunia,toure,nani,essien. Dont pick dunne and james and petrov for the sake of variety.Pick the best.
haha i love this football fan obsession with Gerrard
james,sagna,dunne,ferdinand,clichy,ronaldo,fabregas,flamini,petrov,adebayor,torres.
i dont get how anyone can say any different at the moment although i was not really sure in deciding between flamini and anderson.
Clichy - that’s two defensive errors in the last month for him that have led to goals. The one against Man City where he tried to let it run and had his poxcket picked and then that on Saturday against Birmingham. Evra is the best!
Fabregas did nothing again on Sat, his form has gone completely.
I love the way people slate Gerrard about reputation getting him everywhere.
Look at John Terry and Frank Lampard…