LB - Leighton Baines - As per usual Everton decided to start playing after Christmas, Baines expert delivery from corners, free-kicks as well as firing home 4 penalties earned him regular call ups to the England side, He was also instrumental in the defence that kept 7 clean sheets post January.
CB - Nemanja Vidic - One of the best centre backs in the world, clean sheets and goals from set pieces helped Man Utd lift the title once more. Was the ever present defensive rock for Alex Ferguson's side after injuries to Ferdinand and Smalling.
CB - Christopher Samba - The Blackburn captain performed a U-turn on wanting to leave the club and helped them to another season of mid-table safety. On the radar for a number of PL clubs.
RB - Robert Huth - He played mostly as centre back I know but the versatile defender was a rock at the back for Stoke as they reached the FA Cup final earned a Europa league spot. His 9 goals helped to make up for a lack of a top quality striker as they managed only 46 goals all season (15th highest in the PL).
LM - David Silva - Not always first choice for Mancini (remarkably), but by the end of the season the Spanish wizard was the first name on the team sheet. Attributed 9 assists and 4 goals in 35 premier league appearances, a number of which were from the bench, his successful season somehow slipped under the radar.
CM - Charlie Adam - Plucked from the Rangers subs bench for a club record £500k by Ian Holloway last season, he's turned out to be the best buy of Holloway's career. If there ever was a case of a one man team it was certainly Blackpool. Instrumental in almost every goal they scored he finished the year with 12 goals and 9 assists. A wanted man.
CM - Scott Parker - Football Writer's player of the year is all you need to know about the West Ham captain, his fighting spirit and determination was sorely missed during the 8 games he was injured for. Who knows what the Hammer's fate would have been had he stayed fit.
RM - Luis Nani - Despite his (seemingly) poor attitude and questionable on field antics he led the league in assists with 18. Add to that 9 goals also in his 33 appearances it's a wonder how he fell out of favour with Sir Alex by the end of the year.
ST - Robin Van Persie - Injury kept him out for the team for the first 3 months of the season but since returning to the side his form has been sensational. 18 goals and 7 assists in 25 appearances confirmed his reputation as a world class marksman. A good tip for top scorer next year.
ST - Carlos Tevez - Made club captain by Mancini this season, the inspirational Argentinian finished as (joint) top scorer in the league with 21 goals in only 19 Premier League appearances. The ability to create something out of nothing and single handedly win games earned Man City a Champions League spot.
Manager - Either Stoke City's Tony Pulis for helping his side become established in the Premier League and with an FA Cup runner's up medal and Europa League place to boot or Roy Hodgson's unexpected turn around of the sinking ship at West Brom.
Subs
Cheick Tiote - Bargain of the season at £3.5m, his defensive midfield performances earned him praise form Sir Alex Ferguson and was voted Newcastle's player of the year.
Luka Modric - With Van Der Vaart and Bale taking all the plaudits many critics wondered how Modric didn't get look in. More consistency than the two aforementioned players give him a place on the bench.
Antinio Valenica - One of the reasons why Nani was considered surplus to requirements by the end of the season, he didn't play enough games to merit a place in the starting line-up.
Rob Green - Put the World Cup behind him and single handedly kept West Ham in games.
Dirk Kuyt - Expected to be sidelined after the arrival of Carroll and Suarez, it was actually Kuyt who stole all the headlines with 8 goals in his last 7 matches from midfield as Liverpool sprung to life.
No comments:
Post a Comment