PFA Team of the Year

Al Capwned

Blatter wrote: »

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de Gea

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Zabaleta---Ferdinand----Vertonghen--Baines
Hazard

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Carrick

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Mata

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Bale

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RvP

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Suarez

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This wouldn't be my team of the year, just trying to predict what will be picked.

Hell of a shout tbf.

Nastasic for Vertonghen, and maybe Michu for Hazard would be the only changes i'd make.

Also to those saying de Gea doesn't deserve his recognition - LOL.

Giggsy11

Liverpool's Luis Suarez is booed twice at the PFA awards after his name is read out

Luis Suarez's name was booed twice at the Professional Footballers' Association Player of the Year awards.

The PFA came under fire last week for their refusal withdraw Suarez from its Player of the Year shortlist after he bit Branislav Ivanovic during Liverpool's game against the Blues at Anfield.

In a room full of fellow professionals and other guests at the Grosvenor Hotel in Mayfair, central London, where the awards were handed out, the controversial Uruguayan's name was booed on two separate occasions.

The first time came when he was named in the team of the year, and secondly when his name was read out on the short list for Player of the Year, in which he finished second behind Gareth Bale.

Suarez, who has scored 23 goals in the league this year, received an eight-match ban for racially abusing Manchester United defender Patrice Evra last season.

Suarez was the only Liverpool player named in the team of the year

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/liverpool/10024603/Liverpools-Luis-Suarez-is-booed-twice-at-the-PFA-awards-after-his-name-is-read-out.html

SantryRed

Al Capwned wrote: »

Hell of a shout tbf.

Nastasic for Vertonghen, and maybe Michu for Hazard would be the only changes i'd make.

Also to those saying de Gea doesn't deserve his recognition - LOL.

Why is it such a LOL?

He's had a very good season, but he still isn't 100% at commanding his area and I think Mignolet has had a better season.

PhlegmyMoses

SantryRed wrote: »

Why is it such a LOL?

He's had a very good season, but he still isn't 100% at commanding his area and I think Mignolet has had a better season.

I'd find it hard to make a call on Mignolet. I haven't seen a whole heap of Sunderland games this year, maybe 4 or 5, so I wouldn't be able to make a call regarding any areas that he may not be 100% at in the same way that I can with De Gea. I don't think that there's the same focus on him so we don't really get an accurate perception of him as a result. Maybe a Sunderland fan or somebody who has watched most of his games could give us a rundown of his strengths and weaknesses. We have plenty of people who could do the same for DDG.

Giggsy11

SantryRed wrote: »

Why is it such a LOL?

He's had a very good season, but he still isn't 100% at commanding his area and I think Mignolet has had a better season.

Apart from Neuer there isn't a goal keeper who is 100% at commanding area.

homerjay2005

SantryRed wrote: »

I think Mignolet has had a better season.

your watching too much of the likes of Hansen and Dunphy...maybe watch the games yourself rather than forming the opinion based on others or reading it in the Sun.

De Gea has been the best keeper in the league by some distance this season. this rubbish about him not commanding his box is just a myth, two times this season he was found wanting under a high ball and both of those times it was Vidic that took him out.

Knex*

Morzadec wrote: »

Fair play to Blatter on his spot on prediction - not easy to get all 11 right.

Team looks about right, though I think Cazorla deserves to be there over Hazard and Rafael over Zabaleta maybe.

How long are these imagined 'dream teams' and teams of the year going to continue being put in 4-4-2?

It has been almost 10 years now where a 4-5-1/4-3-3 variant has been used by almost every single top team in world football.

Makes little sense.

Well, you're speaking about a league where the national team's manager is Mr 4-4-2 himself, Roy Hodgson.

I think they do it with very little regard for positions or formations, they just want to have four midfielders, regardless of styles, etc.

I agree with you however.

Gorilla Rising

homerjay2005 wrote: »

your watching too much of the likes of Hansen and Dunphy...maybe watch the games yourself rather than forming the opinion based on others or reading it in the Sun.

De Gea has been the best keeper in the league by some distance this season. this rubbish about him not commanding his box is just a myth, two times this season he was found wanting under a high ball and both of those times it was Vidic that took him out.

This.

Jesus. Do some people on here not even watch football? Hart in the TOTY? Bale at LB? :rolleyes:

SantryRed

homerjay2005 wrote: »

your watching too much of the likes of Hansen and Dunphy...maybe watch the games yourself rather than forming the opinion based on others or reading it in the Sun.

De Gea has been the best keeper in the league by some distance this season. this rubbish about him not commanding his box is just a myth, two times this season he was found wanting under a high ball and both of those times it was Vidic that took him out.

Wow, get a nice sly dig in there why don't you. I never read the Sun and for anyone to form an opinion off Dunphy or Hansen is laughable.

Oh really, it's just a myth? I'd see a decent amount of United games. Actually, come to think of it, the past two games I've watched, I'm nearly sure he's flapped at a cross in each of them.

Being a goalkeeper, I actually do focus on keepers more in games than other players. And Mignolet has been outstanding this season for an absolutely appalling Sunderland team.

SlickRic

homerjay2005 wrote: »

your watching too much of the likes of Hansen and Dunphy...maybe watch the games yourself rather than forming the opinion based on others or reading it in the Sun.

De Gea has been the best keeper in the league by some distance this season

de Gea's been awesome, but you will have comfortably seen more of him than any other keeper. other teams' fans have seen their players more often than others' too of course.

Utd fans say DDG has been outstanding. i would agree he has. ask Sunderland fans, and most will say Mignolet is comfortably the main reason why they weren't in far worse position than they were when MON left. he has also been brilliant.

saying DDG has been the best keeper "by some distance" is just hyperbole.

Al Capwned

SantryRed wrote: »

Why is it such a LOL?

He's had a very good season, but he still isn't 100% at commanding his area and I think Mignolet has had a better season.

Every goalkeeper has strengths and weaknesses. de Gea, Mignolet, Cech, Reina all have parts of their game that they excel at, as well as parts that others may be better at.

I agree that Mignolet has been excellent for Sunderland. Begovic has been good for Stoke, as has Lloris at Tottenham. Hart, while not as good as last season, is one of the best around also tbf.

de Gea is not as good at 'commanding his area' as some, but he is showing huge signs of improvement. But he is infinitely better (arguably the best in the league) with the ball at his feet than most. He's a better shot stopper than most. Distribution is outstanding too.

I could examine strengths and weaknesses of every keeper in the league, and it still would not give a definitive answer as to why I rate de Gea so highly over many others. It's all about opinions but imo, anyone that says that de Gea does not deserve to be on the TOTY is being very unfair. Especially considering the excellent performances under the constant scrutiny and criticism that a Manchester United goalkeeper has to endure.
I wouldn't have any other goalkeeper over him at the minute.

Giggsy11

People still going on about De Gea flapping crosses. The myth that never dies. All goalkeepers are poor at collecting crosses and misses them but none of them make headlines. Like I said there isn't a Goal keeper who is comfortable at collecting crosses and the best we have is Neuer.

Fuzzy_Dunlop

Giggsy11 wrote: »

People still going on about De Gea flapping crosses. The myth that never dies. All goalkeepers are poor at collecting crosses and misses them but none of them make headlines. Like I said there isn't a Goal keeper who is comfortable at collecting crosses and the best we have is Neuer.

Did he not do it once yesterday against Arsenal? Obviously he's not as bad as some people make out but it is still a slight concern.

Giggsy11

Fuzzy_Dunlop wrote: »

Did he not do it once yesterday against Arsenal? Obviously he's not as bad as some people make out but it is still a slight concern.

He did. But like I said there is not a goal keeper who always collects corsses and no one makes headlines as much as De Gea. Forgot which game, in one of the game where he was superb the match report had the line about him kciking the ball out (which went out near the half way). That's how much journalists go on about him.

Fuzzy_Dunlop

Giggsy11 wrote: »

He did. But like I said there is not a goal keeper who always collects corsses and no one makes headlines as much as De Gea. Forgot which game, in one of the game where he was superb the match report had the line about him kciking the ball out (which went out near the half way). That's how much journalists go on about him.

Aye, journalists/pundits tend to be very lazy and get stuck reading from the same hymn sheets the whole time despite what actually happens in games.

If you made a point of watching some of the other highly rated goalkeepers in a game where they try to punch or collect a cross, they tend to make way more than 1 or 2 mistakes per match, either getting nothing but air or not getting enough distance on it. I watch Reina a couple of times and Jesus he was pretty horrific at it. Cech was much better but still make a couple of mistakes per match. Harte has had a pretty bad season himself with major mistakes in general to be honest.

It's simply a very hard thing to do and most keepers struggle with it every game. Just most keepers weren't/aren't under the scrutiny that De Gea was so you don't notice it.

jive

SlickRic wrote: »

de Gea's been awesome, but you will have comfortably seen more of him than any other keeper. other teams' fans have seen their players more often than others' too of course.

Utd fans say DDG has been outstanding. i would agree he has. ask Sunderland fans, and most will say Mignolet is comfortably the main reason why they weren't in far worse position than they were when MON left. he has also been brilliant.

saying DDG has been the best keeper "by some distance" is just hyperbole.

He hasn't even been the best keeper nevermind by some distance (in my opinion, obviously). Football fans are fickle and will forget that Fergie himself dropped him earlier in the season. You'd be hard pushed to find a keeper who was the best over the course of a season yet was dropped for 7 or 8 games due to poor form. He's arguably been the best keeper since January or February but over the course of the season Cech and Mignolet have been far more consistent. CL performances included then IMO he'd be the best since January without doubt but his performances at the start of the season were not good by any stretch of the imagination; he was dropped for a reason.

If you're playing in goal then as far as I'm concerned, barring injury, you should be important enough to play every game. All top keepers will play 34+ games a season in the league without injury. Not sure how you can be the best over the course of a whole season when the manager drops you for poor form for about 20% of the games. I'd say he came into form at the right time in terms of the vote.

jive

Sacramento wrote: »

If you made a point of watching some of the other highly rated goalkeepers in a game where they try to punch or collect a cross, they tend to make way more than 1 or 2 mistakes per match, either getting nothing but air or not getting enough distance on it. I watch Reina a couple of times and Jesus he was pretty horrific at it. Cech was much better but still make a couple of mistakes per match. Harte has had a pretty bad season himself with major mistakes in general to be honest.

It's simply a very hard thing to do and most keepers struggle with it every game. Just most keepers weren't/aren't under the scrutiny that De Gea was so you don't notice it.

Fair point (particularly when considering the keepers such as Mignolet at lower clubs) but De Gea is exceptionally poor under high ball. Cech had a bad season or 2 but this year is back to his best IMO; looks very commanding and has made some important saves. Hart has been calamitous this year. Neuer still looks comfortably the best in the world. United have about 50 good centre backs though and Phil Jones who are all well capable of protecting De Gea so that he doesn't have to try to claim. It's definitely an area he has to improve on though,

de gea is far more scrutinised than every other keeper but it must be said some of the scrutiny is fair; they do like to ignore that he's the best shot stopper going though

Blatter

jive wrote: »

He hasn't even been the best keeper nevermind by some distance (in my opinion, obviously). Football fans are fickle and will forget that Fergie himself dropped him earlier in the season. You'd be hard pushed to find a keeper who was the best over the course of a season yet was dropped for 7 or 8 games due to poor form. He's arguably been the best keeper since January or February but over the course of the season Cech and Mignolet have been far more consistent. CL performances included then IMO he'd be the best since January without doubt but his performances at the start of the season were not good by any stretch of the imagination; he was dropped for a reason.

If you're playing in goal then as far as I'm concerned, barring injury, you should be important enough to play every game. All top keepers will play 34+ games a season in the league without injury. Not sure how you can be the best over the course of a whole season when the manager drops you for poor form for about 20% of the games. I'd say he came into form at the right time in terms of the vote.

If you looked back through the United thread at the time when he was dropped, you'll see the vast majority of people criticising Ferguson for it. It was something a lot of fans couldn't understand as de Gea's form wasn't poor at all, he had was being seemingly dropped for the odd mistake here and there (that every keeper in the world makes every so often)

We're not even sure if Fergie was always dropping him for mistakes, a lot of the time it could have been the case where he didn't want to overplay somebody so young, despite being a keeper. It's hard to know what Fergie is thinking sometimes. Because it really didn't make much sense to drop him due to his performances because they have all been very good for the most part.

De Gea has not only improved hugely this year, he's made saves that I believe no other keeper in the league could make. He's been exceptional and deserves the award fully. The fact that he's won the award and has still seen more criticism than other keepers at top clubs speaks volumes unfortunately and he's only 22!

Ryu Hayabusa

Michu instead of Carrick or Hazard

Ryu Hayabusa

Ryu Hayabusa wrote: »

Michu instead of Carrick or Hazard

Michu has played striker not midfield this year.

Ryu Hayabusa

Sacramento wrote: »

Michu has played striker not midfield this year.

Team doesn't have to 442

Ryu Hayabusa

Ryu Hayabusa wrote: »

Team doesn't have to 442

Good point, there's a good few players unlucky to miss out, Rafael was exceptional, but Zabaleta was amazing. Cazorla, Fellaini and Michu unlucky too.

kryogen

So, Mignolet was pretty **** for that goal.

jive

Blatter wrote: »

If you looked back through the United thread at the time when he was dropped, you'll see the vast majority of people criticising Ferguson for it. It was something a lot of fans couldn't understand as de Gea's form wasn't poor at all, he had was being seemingly dropped for the odd mistake here and there (that every keeper in the world makes every so often)

We're not even sure if Fergie was always dropping him for mistakes, a lot of the time it could have been the case where he didn't want to overplay somebody so young, despite being a keeper. It's hard to know what Fergie is thinking sometimes. Because it really didn't make much sense to drop him due to his performances because they have all been very good for the most part.

He was performing fairly poorly (not necessarily making calamitous errors but errors nonetheless, mostly just flapping at crosses) and was dropped. If he was very good I don't think Fergie would have risked playing Lindegaard just to keep De Gea out of the spotlight; if he was ready he was ready. He's played consistently well since Christmas, aided by United performing better defensively, because he's been largely error-free and put in some great performances in the CL.

Anyway that's my opinion on the matter, I don't want to appear to be anti-de gea so I'll step out now; I think other keepers were more consistent and therefore deserving of the place is all.

hufpc8w3adnk65

Think the arguement for mingolet has gone out the window after tonight!

M5

MrMac84 wrote: »

Think the arguement for mingolet has gone out the window after tonight!

Because De Gea has made 0 mistakes this year?

GLaDOS

Mingolet's reputation going through the shredder tonight

Professional Griefer

M5 wrote: »

Because De Gea has made 0 mistakes this year?

How about we forgot De Gea made mistakes for a while. He has been a brilliant keeper all year, deserved to be in the team really. Mignolet has been poor tonight in fairness, should have saved the last one for sure.

Regardless, I'm delighted for Big Dave. Unbelievable player at such a young age.

M5

Professional Griefer wrote: »

How about we forgot De Gea made mistakes for a while. He has been a brilliant keeper all year, deserved to be in the team really. Mignolet has been poor tonight in fairness, should have saved the last one for sure.

Regardless, I'm delighted for Big Dave. Unbelievable player at such a young age.

I have no problem with De Gea winning it, just pointing out the ridiculousness of the comment.

Personally think there was nothing to choose between them

homerjay2005

M5 wrote: »

Because De Gea has made 0 mistakes this year?

yep pretty much, you will struggle to find a game where he was poor and cost United goals.

eagle eye

homerjay2005 wrote: »

yep pretty much, you will struggle to find a game where he was poor and cost United goals.

I've got to side with M5 here. And its not often you get a Newcastle fan backing up a Sunderland player.

Personally I think this PFA awards thing just shows that players are not really that good at picking a team. I don't see how De Gea can get on that team ahead of Begovic, Cech, Mignolet and the one I always forget Jaaskelainen.

JPA

Not that Bale isn't great but Benteke has a couple less goals than him now in his first season in England. What's the point of winning both awards anyway?!

Sanity_Saviour

homerjay2005 wrote: »

yep pretty much, you will struggle to find a game where he was poor and cost United goals.