Player of the year - halfway point

semibluff

So we're just halfway through the season, who do we fancy for the players of the year in the premiership.

for the purpose of this, hows about naming 10 players, with a final three and eventual winner

could be very interesting to look back upon at the end of the season

My nominess would be -

Cristiano Ronaldo - Man u
Cesc Fabregas - Arsenal
Fernando Torres - Lpool

Richard Dunne - Man City
Micah Richards - Man city (both have been unbelievable so far)
Mikel Arteta - Everton
Wayne Rooney - Man U
Kolo Toure - Arsenal
Stevie G - LPool
Jamie Carragher - LPool

With Cristiano coming first. His strike rate has been unbeliveable so far, hopefully he can continue it in the CL

Fabregas 2nd with Torres 3rd, their teams arent anything like they are without them.

PHB

I can't agree with Carragher in there, thought Arbeloa has been much better. But even then, he has been poor by his own standards this year. Also Rooney hasn't come close to his top standards yet, I think he will be soon.

Ronaldo
Ferdinand
Abedyour
Fabregas
Toure
Gerrard
Torres
Bentley
Keane
Essien

Pepe LeFrits

If you're going to have an Arsenal CB in there, it'd have to be Gallas. Toure has been quality as usual, but Gallas has been a revelation.

Bentley has been very impressive but I'd probably have someone like Young, Petrov, Elano, Dunne etc in there over him.

Adebayor doesn't warrant inclusion in a top 10 for me, and Essien certainly does not.

DSB

Cristiano Ronaldo by a country mile.

AnCapaillMor

As much as i hate to say it, ronaldo will walk it, he can do sfa in a game and yet score 2 goals. He only did 2 things all game against us at the emirates and those were to setup a goal and score one.

ErinGoBrath

DSB wrote: »

Cristiano Ronaldo by a country mile.

As much as it pains me to say it, defo CRon.

As for Toure, he's fantastic but so far this season I'd put Clichy ahead of him. He's been playing out of his socks.

Attractive Nun

Pretty much the entire Arsenal team have been phenomenal - Gallas, Toure, Sagna, Clichy, Flamini, Fabregas, Hleb, Adebayor and Eduardo have all been playing out of their skin. At United, only really Ferdinand, Evra and Ronaldo and maybe Tevez, Anderson and Vidic have played to their standards IMO. Yet United are just a couple of points behind - shows to me that Ronaldo deserves player of the year, so far anyway.

Unearthly

I would probably agree with the Ronaldo, Fabregas and Torres order.

eirebhoy

Ronaldo 19 goals and 3 assists
Fabregas 11 goals and 12 assists

The thing there is Ronaldo can probably be measured purely on his contribution to goals. Fabregas offers much more than that. Ronaldo has been winning match upon match for Man Utd but Fabregas has much more of an influence on his teams performance imo. For me it's certainly Fabregas for poty so far.

~Rebel~

Id go;

Fabregas
Ronaldo
Torres
Gerrard

then a lot of other ones mentioned, along with honourable mentions for Laursen, Santa Cruz, Bentley, Distin, Young and Keane who have all been putting in consistently great performances this year.

Tusky

eirebhoy wrote: »

Ronaldo 19 goals and 3 assists
Fabregas 11 goals and 12 assists

The thing there is Ronaldo can probably be measured purely on his contribution to goals. Fabregas offers much more than that. Ronaldo has been winning match upon match for Man Utd but Fabregas has much more of an influence on his teams performance imo. For me it's certainly Fabregas for poty so far.

If Fabregas is being considered so should Gerrard.

Fabregas 11 goals 12 assists
Gerrard 12 goals 11 assists

Personally, It has to be Ronaldo. I think the original posters list is ok but I wouldn't have Carragher in there.

Ronaldo
Torres
Fabregas
Gerrard
Ferdinand
Abedyour
Toure
Dunne
Keane
Elano

Havent seen enough of Chelsea this season to comment but I imagine one or two of their players would make the list as well. Its kind of odd that nobody seems to be nominating Chelsea players. Liverpool are below Chelsea in the league yet everyone has nominated Torres & Gerrard. What does that tell you ? Chelsea are performing well as a team and everyone is playing to a high standard but no one is standing out ?

Savman

Is it just me who thinks some of the above players haven't exactly set the world alight? The odd flash of brilliance maybe, but nothing too spectacular. Bar maybe Ronaldo, there aren't many candidates that spring to mind this season other than the usual suspects already mentioned.

Attractive Nun

I think people are overlooking Gallas a bit - he's been immense. I'd agree with Ronaldo/Fabregas being the big two, but behind them I'd be looking to the likes of Gallas, Torres, Ferdinand, Gerrard.

PDN

It pains me to admit it - but the obnoxious, diving, prima donna from Portugal is having an excellent season.

Other than that, Fabregas & Hleb.

eirebhoy

Tusky wrote: »

If Fabregas is being considered so should Gerrard.

Fabregas 11 goals 12 assists
Gerrard 12 goals 11 assists

Of course he should. I rate Fabregas as a much more intelligent player than Gerrard though and you can't compare stats for that. There's no stats to show how many of Fabregas' and Gerrards passes were the best possible option if you know what I mean. I think Fabregas is the only player in the premiership with over 1000 passes. In fact Fabregas has completed more passes than Gerrard even attempted. If we were going by stats there's no way of known whether 90% of Fabregas' passes were back to the keeper.

The reason I brought up the stats was because I think it's much easier to measure Ronaldo's influence with stats. If Gerrard or Fabregas scored as many goals as Ronaldo then I think it's a no brainer that they'll have been more influential than Ronaldo over the season, because they offer more than Ronaldo in other aspects of the game.

mayordenis

at liverpool anyway the players i'd rank in order this season are

torres
arbeloa
masch
gerrard

i'm fairly shocked to see gerrard in all these lists he's getting goals lately but i'm still not sure he even looks bothered,
anyway i think ronaldo or fabregas are deserving, i would however give it to fabregas or fabrclass whatever his name is.

homerjay2005

Tusky wrote: »

If Fabregas is being considered so should Gerrard.

Fabregas 11 goals 12 assists
Gerrard 12 goals 11 assists

jaysus man, u serioulsly need to get your facts right about gerrard, this is the 2nd or 3rd time u have put that stat up and its seriously wrong. this is the premiership player of the year so only prem games will count in the shake up. Gerrard has 7 goals, there is a big difference to 12.i would be pretty sure that he does not have 11 assists either, hmm, lets check it out.

yes indeed, gerrard has 7 goals and 7 assists.
Ronaldo has 13 goals and 3 assists.
fabregas has 6 goals and 10 assists.

Ronaldo has been the best player in the premiership by purely on the basis that he has directly won more games than any individual with moments of class.

Fabregas a close second but his goals have dried up compared to what he had at the start of the season.

StickyMcGinty

~Rebel~ wrote: »

Id go;

Fabregas
Ronaldo
Torres
Gerrard

then a lot of other ones mentioned, along with honourable mentions for Laursen, Santa Cruz, Bentley, Distin, Young and Keane who have all been putting in consistently great performances this year.

yep i'd go with that

Richard Dunne for defender of the (half)year imo, its easy to pick Ferdinand, Carragher et al but when you look at the players around them it makes it a little easier for them. Dunne has been exceptional this year in a much improved city side

Mr Alan

homerjay2005 wrote: »

jaysus man, u serioulsly need to get your facts right about gerrard

Actually mate, the stat he was responding to was Fabregas' record in all competitions if i'm not mistaken, therefore it makes sense to use gerrards stats in all comps when addressing this.

How and ever, wouldnt expect ya to miss an opportunity for a bit of Stevie-bashing!

Peyton Manning

Gallas has certainly been fantastic this season, but defenders dont stand out performance wise as much as an attacking player would but that takes nothing away from his performances. Gallas, along with Ferdinand have been the 2 most outstanding centre backs in the league this season.

For player of the season so far, you cant look past Cristiano Ronaldo.

Tusky

homerjay2005 wrote: »

jaysus man, u serioulsly need to get your facts right about gerrard, this is the 2nd or 3rd time u have put that stat up and its seriously wrong. this is the premiership player of the year so only prem games will count in the shake up. Gerrard has 7 goals, there is a big difference to 12.i would be pretty sure that he does not have 11 assists either, hmm, lets check it out.

yes indeed, gerrard has 7 goals and 7 assists.
Ronaldo has 13 goals and 3 assists.
fabregas has 6 goals and 10 assists.

Ronaldo has been the best player in the premiership by purely on the basis that he has directly won more games than any individual with moments of class.

Fabregas a close second but his goals have dried up compared to what he had at the start of the season.

hehe. Funny. Someone posted Fabregas stats in all comps so I replied with Gerrards stats in all comps making a point that they were very similar. Then you come along and point out that I am posting Gerrards stats for all comps and proceed to post up the premiership stats...which paint almost exactly the same picture as the all comps stats.

All comps.
Gerrard 12 goals 11 assists
Fabregas 11 goals 12 assists

or

Premiership.
Gerrard 7 goals 7 assists
Fabregas 6 goals 10 assists

Hardly a massive difference is there ? Whats this about me posting that stat 3 or 4 times and it being totally wrong ? The stat is correct, unless you can point me in the direction of my incorrect stat posting in another thread ?

Savman wrote: »

Is it just me who thinks some of the above players haven't exactly set the world alight? The odd flash of brilliance maybe, but nothing too spectacular. Bar maybe Ronaldo, there aren't many candidates that spring to mind this season other than the usual suspects already mentioned.

Fabregas & Ronaldo have been a joy to watch this season. Torres scoring 16 goals in 20 starts (& 4 sub apperances) in his first season in the premiership is pretty damn impressive as well.

Mr Alan

Archimedes wrote: »

you cant look past Cristiano Ronaldo.

No... You cant.

Gerrard and Fabregas are as deserving imo.

eirebhoy

homerjay2005 wrote: »

Ronaldo has been the best player in the premiership by purely on the basis that he has directly won more games than any individual with moments of class.

That's the thing. Fabregas can be Arsenal's most influential player even if he's not involved in a goal. If you took him out of the team they might not have won quite a few of the matches they did win. The fantasy football have him has one of the top 3 performers on the pitch 13 times this season. It's just as likely that those 13 top performances won his team just as many points as Ronaldo's 13 goals.

btw, who were Ronaldo's 3 assists against? I'm sorry to be petty but it has to be done after your reply to Tusky's valid post.

Tusky

eirebhoy wrote: »

Of course he should. I rate Fabregas as a much more intelligent player than Gerrard though and you can't compare stats for that. There's no stats to show how many of Fabregas' and Gerrards passes were the best possible option if you know what I mean. I think Fabregas is the only player in the premiership with over 1000 passes. In fact Fabregas has completed more passes than Gerrard even attempted. If we were going by stats there's no way of known whether 90% of Fabregas' passes were back to the keeper.

The reason I brought up the stats was because I think it's much easier to measure Ronaldo's influence with stats. If Gerrard or Fabregas scored as many goals as Ronaldo then I think it's a no brainer that they'll have been more influential than Ronaldo over the season, because they offer more than Ronaldo in other aspects of the game.

I'd be inclined to agree with you. I would rate Fabregas above Gerrard this season but I just find it odd that people seem to rate him miles above Gerrard considering they are both attacking midfielders and have similar stats. There hasn't been that much in the difference so far this season.

ziggy

This post has been deleted.

Unearthly

Someone made a point that hardly any Chelsea players are getting a mention, that's very interesting and I never thought of that before, and they are still in the title race just about.

I guess there usual standout players such as Drogba, Terry, Lampard have missed a lot of games but they just seem more of a team than any other.

iloveireland

PHB wrote: »

I can't agree with Carragher in there, thought Arbeloa has been much better. But even then, he has been poor by his own standards this year. Also Rooney hasn't come close to his top standards yet, I think he will be soon.



Essien

Your funny

Mr Alan

Essien took me a little by suprise too!

agree Carragher shouldnt be in the running.

estebancambias

I think Essien has been horrible this season.

The best player so far has been Ronaldo but in the context of the season(I have no idea what context of the season is meant to mean but meh) I would go with Martin Petrov. I have seen him play not so good, but my vote goes to him, or John Obi Mikel.

Xavi6

Archimedes wrote: »

Gallas has certainly been fantastic this season, but defenders dont stand out performance wise as much as an attacking player would but that takes nothing away from his performances. Gallas, along with Ferdinand have been the 2 most outstanding centre backs in the league this season.

Dunne has been far more impressive than either of those. Take your top 2 blinkers off!

Mr Alan

could it be possible you are also wearing blinkers?

Unearthly

Why would a Man Utd fan be biased to an Arsenal player

Theboinkmaster

Mr Alan wrote: »

could it be possible you are also wearing blinkers?

You should know all about that - putting Stevie G in with Fabregas & Ronaldo YEAH RIGHT

It's without doubt between Fabregas & Ronaldo - the former for overall team contribution and the latter for sheer goals and assists, both arguably for winning games (PL)

ziggy

This post has been deleted.

DSB

I actually find Alan to be 1 of the less biased Liverpool fans. Except as regards Rafa hahaha.

Mr Alan

Theboinkmaster wrote: »

You should know all about that - putting Stevie G in with Fabregas & Ronaldo YEAH RIGHT

I agree those two would be favourites, but Gerrard defiantely deserves the number 3 spot and could well overtake the others by the end of the season.

Similar assists and goals to Fabregas and obviously gives more to the whole team that Ronaldo.

HashSlinging

Steve Finnan..

Pepe LeFrits

It can't be Fabregas, big game tonight and as usual he was nowhere to be seen... isn't that right, ntlbell?

PHB

lol

I stand by my Essien decision, that said, I've only seen him in about 3-4 games, but I'm sticking with it

As for Ronaldo, imo he's been quite poor this season. His general play this season has been poor imo. He has added more to his game in terms of end product, but I think his assists show how he hasn't really been on form. I think this is largely due to no defender running behind the defence for him to work with. His best talent is breaking past the lines then sliding it in for a striker, and cause the only striker we really have is Rooney (Saha doesn't exist and Tevez is really an attacking midfielder) Rooney can't really keep up with him, although by god he's trying.
I think if we get another striker in, Ronaldo's game would improve a lot. Still, there's more to come from him this season I think.

genericgoon

Players like Ronaldo always create space if only because they get double teamed every game.

Savman

I just think it'll be Ronaldo simply because there isn't much by way of competition. Fabregas an excellent player, but Torres has been something special to watch this season.
Can't say Gerrard is having the season of his life but still doing his job, likewise with Lampard, neither really turning on the style to be considered player of the year.

My point was that so far this year it seems to be less clear cut than usual, the usual suspects haven't reached their heights as previous years but long way to go yet.

It should probably be a player from one of the surprise packages this season, but it'll never go to a team outside the Top 4. Elano has been mostly brilliant, as have Dunne & Richards. Anelka has scored goals in what's a fairly brutal and uninventive Bolton team, that has to earn extra brownie points. Adeboyor having good season filling in Thierry's boots, also Keane has been very good if you disgregard his Ireland performances. There's also Santa Cruz and McCarthy who have been quite brilliant and Muntari at Pompey has shown some real class.

But it'll prolly be Ronaldo or Cesc depending on who wins the league.

NotWormBoy

From the 'Big 4':
Fabregas on top.
Ronaldo second.
Torres third.
Essien fourth.

Not much between the last three there, but Fabregas really does stand out.

From the rest... Lescott. Dunne, Petrov & Elano have done very well. Benjani.

yahoo_moe

Savman wrote: »

There's also Santa Cruz and McCarthy who have been quite brilliant

Tell me you're joking... McCarthy's been pants compared to last season - or indeed any of the genuine form players this year. Santa Cruz has been good but if you're going the Blackburn route, I can't see how you'd look past David Bentley - he's been at the heart of damn near everything they do, much like Gamst Pedersen was last year.

Juan Pablo

From the 'Top 4' on this seasons form

Ronaldo
Fabregas
Dunne
Essien

Xavi6

Juan Pablo wrote: »

From the 'Top 4' on this seasons form

Ronaldo
Fabregas
Dunne
Essien

Good man!

grames_bond

you have got to admit that altho there have been some stellar performances from certain players so far this season, none ofthem have been consistant so far! gerrard can have a blinder one game then just dissapear in the next! i do think that ronaldo will get it tho, altho like gerrard he isnt THAT consistent, when he is on, theres no stoppin him, also his goal/game ratio is something to be admired!

One Cold Hand

For me it's a toss up between Cesc and C-Ron, for fairly obvious reasons, tho I prefer Cesc as a player.

Other mentions are:
Torres - Adapted very quickly and well to the English game
Dunne - A rock
Elano - excellent for city, at the centre of everything they do
Laursen - Another rock, the reason Villa are 7th. People mention stats, Laursen has scored 5 in the league, only 1 less that Cesc and 2 less than Gerrard.

Seaneh

Cesc for me, easily.

Juan Pablo

One Cold Hand wrote: »

Elano - excellent for city, at the centre of everything they do
.

I wouldn't put Elano in that list yet. He may still make the team of the year but he has not been at his very best in the first 6 months of the season. When he arrived he played brilliantly in fits and starts despite not being 100% fit. Since he returned from the October internationals though he has been knackered and has had quite a few bad games that have totally passed him by. He was rested a bit last month and his performance at Newcastle gives hope that he is returning to form and fitness. He is clearly a very special player and we are lucky to have someone of his calibre at City, but I think we will see an even better Elano in the new year.

If any City midfielder deserves to be in the team of the season so far it has to be Didi Hamman. A lot of what he does goes unnoticed but he has been a revelation this season and the player I have been most surprised with given his form last season (albiet when Psycho decided to play him). He was one I was sure that was destined for the door under Sven, and the way he has consistenly performed this season in front of the back four has been remarkable. If only he was 21 and not 34! (Honourable mentions to Petrov, Corluka and Johnson obv who were also very good in the first half of the year)

One Cold Hand

Well I still think he's been very good. If he get better he may well content for poty.

JimiTime

Fabregas
C-Ronaldo
Martin Petrov
Torres

Honourable mentions:
Dunne
Adebayor
Elano
Essien
And on present form, Berbatov