Afternoon lads
Thought I'd create an article on who should win the PFA Player of the Year.
The Contenders:
Kevin De Bruyne
Sadio Mane
Jordan Henderson
Virgil Van Dijk
Trent Alexander Arnold
Mo Salah
Jamie Vardy
The only place to start is contribution to the season. Who has been consistently good week in, week out and what have they done for their respective teams?
Kevin De Bruyne - Undoubtedly the most talented player in the league. At his very peak, Kevin has been untouchable in the Premier League this year. But my issue with Kevin is that contrary to popular belief, he hasn't been the most consistent of players this year. City have failed to win 11 of their 34 matches this season. That's a third of their games.
Other than perhaps the game against Spurs early in the season, I don't think City can really begrudge their dropped points and the cold hard fact is that City were deservedly beaten 9 times this season with key figures not turning up. On top of that, some defensive frailties but the point remains - City's key men haven't delivered often enough.
Sadio Mane - he may not have the goals that Salah has, nor the assists but the Senegalese forward has terrorised defences all year. Has Sadio had a lull all campaign ? Certainly not off the top of my head. Awesome.
Henderson - Such a remarkable story. Taking the armband after Gerrard was always a huge burden and Jordan no doubt took a lot of flak down the years but under Klopp, the renaissance has been remarkable. Enduring defeat in the CL final and missing out on the title by one point would make many sporting sides crumble but not Liverpool - and under Jordan's leadership, the team have proved beyond any doubt that there are no bigger mentality monsters.
But he misses out for me - I think Jordan should win the Football writers award for his remarkable journey from forgotten man to PL Winner.
Virgil Van Dijk - what more can be said? Exemplary every single week. In fact, he's so good that I've noticed reporters marking him down if an attacker happens to beat him to a single header (rare occurence).
Trent - Young Player of the Year
Mo Salah - The guy's numbers are better than anyone's in the league. Just as with Virgil, the guy is a victim of his own success. Another great year for Mo.
Vardy - I feel sorry for Vardy. The guys numbers this year are superb but he doesn't seem to be in the conversation. I think his better performances were pre Christmas and has almost been forgotten.
My choice - Virgil Van Dijk
Another colossal year for the imperious Dutchman. If players are marked out of 10 for every game they've played, I've no doubt that Big Virg's would be averaging over 9 this season.
2nd Mane
3rd KDB
Player of the Year
posted on 9/7/20
comment by gunnersaurus rex (U21846)
posted 29 minutes ago
How is the voting done? Is it not one vote per player?
Liverpool players will possibly split their votes so unless the format has changed KDB is nailed on to get it and deservedly anyway as he has been the best player in the league.
Team Results aren’t the only deciding criteria. When was the last time POTY came from the actual league champions?
Can’t see Henderson win it, the only Liverpool players With a chance are Mane or Trent
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Yeah but I don't think you are allowed to vote for people in your own team.
posted on 9/7/20
comment by Edinspur (U1109)
posted 1 hour, 1 minute ago
comment by gratedbean (U4885)
posted 7 minutes ago
As for getting beat due to key men not turning up each time - we had as more attempts against Southampton than Leicester did when they scored 9! I just don’t think you can read into the number of losses this year as Liverpool had the league sewn up so early, in the same way I doubt many Liverpool fans read into the defeat at the Etihad the other week very much.
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Yes if you watched both Spurs performances vs Liverpool and Man City up until every shot was taken - but not the outcome. You would put money on Liverpool being the side we beat/drew against. The 2-2 especially, i haven’t seen us dominated so badly since AVB era. City’s finishing/handball rule was disgraceful.
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I wonder if they will look at that handball rule. It doesn’t seem to make much sense to me to be honest. Same with players being offside by a fingernail.
posted on 9/7/20
comment by gratedbean (U4885)
posted 29 minutes ago
comment by Edinspur (U1109)
posted 1 hour, 1 minute ago
comment by gratedbean (U4885)
posted 7 minutes ago
As for getting beat due to key men not turning up each time - we had as more attempts against Southampton than Leicester did when they scored 9! I just don’t think you can read into the number of losses this year as Liverpool had the league sewn up so early, in the same way I doubt many Liverpool fans read into the defeat at the Etihad the other week very much.
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Yes if you watched both Spurs performances vs Liverpool and Man City up until every shot was taken - but not the outcome. You would put money on Liverpool being the side we beat/drew against. The 2-2 especially, i haven’t seen us dominated so badly since AVB era. City’s finishing/handball rule was disgraceful.
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I wonder if they will look at that handball rule. It doesn’t seem to make much sense to me to be honest. Same with players being offside by a fingernail.
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it's changing for next season. It was never going to last after the state of the goals they disallowed.
posted on 9/7/20
Is it? Have you just seen Bournemouth’s? Disallowed but looked like he was nudged into the way of the ball to me
posted on 9/7/20
Think it has to be KDB really. In a similar fashion to when salah won it 2 years ago, he won that as he beat the goals record for a 38 game season. He got the award despite the fact city romped the league and got 100 points.
If KDB breaks the assist record, which he will, then it deserves to be acknowledged.
Henderson will get the football writers award and rightfully so.
posted on 9/7/20
comment by Edinspur (U1109)
posted 4 hours, 8 minutes ago
KDB really hasn’t struggled for consistency what nonsense. 3 of the 9 losses he didn’t start (2 he didn’t play) and he scored or assisted in another two disproving that remark. He is on course for a PL record for assists. It isn’t even a debate.
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I’ve just checked the games in question.
He featured in 7 of the 9 defeats. Not playing in the other two doesn’t help the conversation because it still amounts to 9 fixtures where he either played and couldn’t stop his team from losing or didn’t feature at all.
That’s an awful lot of games to consider when assessing the player of the year.
Compare that to Van Dijk who hasn’t missed a game (I think and has pretty much been perfect now for 2 and a half years.
I’ve no doubt that whilst KDB is the best player in the league, Van Dijk has performed at a higher level and more regularly.
posted on 9/7/20
“I’ve no doubt that whilst KDB is the best player in the league, Van Dijk has performed at a higher level and more regularly.”
I think you’d have to watch both play every week to be able to make a stake on that tbh
posted on 9/7/20
comment by Metro.⚽️ (U6770)
posted 31 minutes ago
comment by Edinspur (U1109)
posted 4 hours, 8 minutes ago
KDB really hasn’t struggled for consistency what nonsense. 3 of the 9 losses he didn’t start (2 he didn’t play) and he scored or assisted in another two disproving that remark. He is on course for a PL record for assists. It isn’t even a debate.
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I’ve just checked the games in question.
He featured in 7 of the 9 defeats. Not playing in the other two doesn’t help the conversation because it still amounts to 9 fixtures where he either played and couldn’t stop his team from losing or didn’t feature at all.
That’s an awful lot of games to consider when assessing the player of the year.
Compare that to Van Dijk who hasn’t missed a game (I think and has pretty much been perfect now for 2 and a half years.
I’ve no doubt that whilst KDB is the best player in the league, Van Dijk has performed at a higher level and more regularly.
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Would have saved more time if you wrote ‘I didn’t read your post’
posted on 9/7/20
comment by gratedbean (U4885)
posted 2 hours, 47 minutes ago
Is it? Have you just seen Bournemouth’s? Disallowed but looked like he was nudged into the way of the ball to me
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Yeah. You can literally kick the ball against your opponents hand and if a goal results it's handball. Ridiculous.
posted on 9/7/20
comment by Edinspur (U1109)
posted 1 hour, 46 minutes ago
comment by Metro.⚽️ (U6770)
posted 31 minutes ago
comment by Edinspur (U1109)
posted 4 hours, 8 minutes ago
KDB really hasn’t struggled for consistency what nonsense. 3 of the 9 losses he didn’t start (2 he didn’t play) and he scored or assisted in another two disproving that remark. He is on course for a PL record for assists. It isn’t even a debate.
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I’ve just checked the games in question.
He featured in 7 of the 9 defeats. Not playing in the other two doesn’t help the conversation because it still amounts to 9 fixtures where he either played and couldn’t stop his team from losing or didn’t feature at all.
That’s an awful lot of games to consider when assessing the player of the year.
Compare that to Van Dijk who hasn’t missed a game (I think and has pretty much been perfect now for 2 and a half years.
I’ve no doubt that whilst KDB is the best player in the league, Van Dijk has performed at a higher level and more regularly.
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Would have saved more time if you wrote ‘I didn’t read your post’
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If your logic is ‘he scored in a defeat therefore’ then I don’t think that’s the best rebuttal.