Monday 11 May 2009

Team of the Year

As is the style of the times, I'm going with a popular formation, 4-2-3-1

GK - Jussi Jääskeläinen (Bolton) - a choice for consistent excellency. Schwarzer has used the Schwartz at Fulham but I've a soft spot for Jussi.

RB - Glen Johnson (Portsmouth) - surely a move beckons in the summer, Johnson has started to fulfil the promise that originally earned him a move to Chelsea, being as good going forward as in defence.

CB - Nemanja Vidic (MU) - rightly derided for a shocker vs Liverpool, but it was virtually his only bad performance of the season. Excellent.

CB - Phil Jagielka (Everton) - a bargain £4m buy from Sheffield United, the all rounder has established himself as an England international and a quality defender.

LB - Gael Clichy (Arsenal) - I'll resist the many tortuous analogies I'm tempted to put down here. Clichy wins due being the best in the Arsenal defence, by a mile, and because Evra has been inconsistent, and Ashley Cole is disqualified from this list, due to bias.

DM - Michael Essien (Chelsea) - I know, I know, he's hardly played, but he is so far above his contemporaries that he deserves inclusion.

DM - Xabi Alonso (Liverpool) - turns out the threat of being sold last summer was instrumental in turning his Liverpool career around, he edges out Carrick by a) being better, and b) getting tackled horrendously in seemingly every game

AMR - Ronaldo (MU) - OK he wasn't as good as last season, and had a slow start, in part due to injury but 26 goals in 50 games proves his worth.

AMC - Stevie G (Liverpool) - the almost impossible to like player is also almost impossible to stop. His timed runs, link up play and long range shooting ability make him one of the best around.

AML - Ryan Giggs - just joking. This is the hardest position to decide on, I spent a lot of time thinking about this (well, 5 minutes), Van Persie has been injured too much, Malouda is crap, Arshavin has played too little, Modric is in a bad team, & Young has trailed off dramatically. So I'm going to plump for Rooney, who has 20 goals in 45 appearances, and while he's not having a vintage season, beats the competition here.

FC - Fernando Torres - not much to say here, one of the best strikers in the world.

JJ should be around later in the week with his team.

Mark - ODF

13 comments:

JJ said...

Fair fucks to Glenn Johnson for getting out of Chelsea as soon as he could to keep his game in order. He's been excellent this year and what with penchants for spectacular goals and stealing bog seats he's got an all round entertainment value to boot. Hope Pool get him on board this summer though the £16 million quoted by his agent is insane.

At the other end of the footballing spectrum there's Wayne Bridge, the man who stayed on the chelsea gravy train for little reason other than to hang around with a tall guy who likes pissing in cups and parking in handicap spaces. He was shocking yesterday and seems to have been pretty poor since he arirved at city. Who knew sitting on a bench for two and half years would have an adverse effect on his game?

Richs said...

Breda Hangelaand has to be in place of Jagielka, whilst Jagielka has been part of a successful partnership with Lescott, Hangelaand was the main man for the most important aspect of Fulhams success.

Danny Murphy has to go in Midfield in place of Essien - Essiens the best midfielder in the league but Murphy has become captain, scored and led his team all season

I should probably say at this point i am a Spurs fan, so i have very little time for Fulham!

Left back hasnt had a consistent performer, but Baines for Everton could be in with a shout.

Id take Rooney out and put in Lampard just cos he carried Chelsea for those months without Essien, Drogba, etc. and has scored 20 goals AGAIN.

Aside from that id go with you.
Thanks
Richs

Sportsbettingcentre said...

How about selecting a sub? Has to be Macheda methinks.

Unknown said...

lampard would have made it in if Gerrard wasn't so good, it was really close to call. when doing an XI I like to have players in a position they play a lot in, so it would be cheating a bit to put Frank on left wing, whereas Rooney plays there a lot.

Good shout on Baines, but I've seen Clichy more often this season.

Anonymous said...

Solid team selection, in terms of both personnel and sentiment. The only real bone of contention for me is Gael Clichy who's been poor. Sagna's been far better while also carrying the burden of playing behind baby Walcott. Also fantastic shout for barely even mentioning let alone including any Villa players. You have given the people what they deserve!

Anonymous said...

Solid team selection, in terms of both personnel and sentiment. The only real bone of contention for me is Gael Clichy who's been poor. Sagna's been far better while also carrying the burden of playing behind baby Walcott. Also fantastic shout for barely even mentioning let alone including any Villa players. You have given the people what they deserve!

Unknown said...

the 3 hardest positions to decide on were left back where there was no real outstanding performer, centre back alongside Vidic, I was tempted to give Rio a shout, but he is very ropey at times without his pal, haven't seen enough of Hangeland (though I did see United thrash Fulham in FA Cup...), and the aforementioned left sided forward. I suppose I could have done a Shearer and gone for a 3-5-2.

Regarding Villa, I like Laursen but conversely have a general dislike of all things Villa, and they haven't won a game in like, what is it, 15 months or something... :)

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Unknown said...

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FP said...

It so nice to see English premship details on your excellently special site! As you know it extra hard to find anywhere else covered the beautiful game, even when we look at TV, newspapers and internet.
All over the world we all truly love your British soccerball and we all love Glenn Johnson special accent and penchants! With best wishes for your very interesting and rare blogging posts! Please never stop with your special UK dedication!

Unknown said...

Jaysus FP you stopped watchin the MNS repeats to talk to mere mortals.

Mal said...

Great XI selection Mark. MOTD 2 experts Keown and Dixon one was poor tonight. Johnson well deserves his spot with very little competition at right back. Are you being a little hard on Rio? Much and all as I hate him, himself and Vidic won the title for Utd in my eyes.

Unknown said...

yea, i thought about Ferdinand - it's odd, him and vidic seem to have a symbiotic relationship, neither are as good when they are apart. Rio has been very good all season, but Jaggers deserved some love :)