Well we called it, not ones to harp on about how we actually predicted the player of the year, Kante!, but we did. It’s been one of those seasons in which picking the PFA Team of the Year would be a selector’s nightmare. In the end several outstanding players have missed out on this year’s team but you can vouch for all of the players who were selected apart from two. Gary Cahill and David De Gea.
Let’s kick off by saying that the team selected has immense qualities across the board and includes some of this season’s brilliant performers.
Dele Alli has fought off the crowd of critics who suggested he was a one-season wonder with his thrilling style of play. Sixteen goals and five assists in the Premier League make him the most prolific midfielder of the season. He has also scored more goals at the age of 21 than Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard or Paul Scholes had at that age. Despite the occasional moment of madness when he has lashed out, it is fair to say he has been Tottenham’s stand-out player this campaign alongside Harry Kane, who also made the Team of The Year.
The second player I would immediately pick out who has been terrific this season is Sadio Mane. The Liverpool man proved he could step up to the challenge of playing for a big club after his time at Southampton. The statistics suggest that without him Liverpool would currently be 13th in the table. The Senegalese international has given the Reds a turn of pace in the final third that they have lacked for a number of years. Producing 13 goals and five assists in 23 league appearances this season, Mane would be my second choice of a player to head straight into the team.
There are two players who wouldn’t have made my Team of the Year, starting with Chelsea’s error-prone centre back Gary Cahill. Among centre backs in this season’s top six teams the England defender has the third-worst tally of individual defensive errors and the fourth-worst pass accuracy. Luckily for him he has been well protected by N’Golo Kante this season, just as Nemanja Matic provided security for John Terry in Chelsea’s last title victory. The following season Terry was exposed and quickly dropped from the team by Jose Mourinho. I expect a similar fate for Cahill next season when the PL figures out a way around Kante. Michael Keane’s performances for overachievers Burnley would have slotted him into my team although a move to a bigger club next campaign might be what he requires to receive the recognition he deserves.
The heavily overhyped David De Gea would also not be in my team. De Gea often makes simple saves that are lauded as if they are game-saving efforts. None of the hype is the Spaniard’s fault but his development from a skinny and heavily-criticised goalkeeper to a muscular macho man has somehow given him the title of “best goalkeeper in England”. That is why Tottenham’s Hugo Lloris missed out on the Team of the Year.
The good news for Hugo is that De Gea will be at Real Madrid next season, clearing the way for him to win the crown he deserves.
by Nubaid Haroon YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCtMg-fWm7awR41vM1GhVOkA Twitter: twitter.com/rambofyi
The post Football: PFA Team Of The Year Gets Two Wrong appeared first on Felix Magazine.
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