PFA player of the year 2014/15

paulie21

Nominees have been announced:

Diego Costa
Phiilppe Coutinho
David De Gea
Eden Hazard
Harry Kane
Alexis Sanchez


Young Player:

Thibaut Courtois
Phillippe Coutinho
David De Gea
Eden Hazard
Harry Kane
Raheem Sterling

Mr.H

Hazard and Sterling

Alfred Borden

Hazard and Kane but not sure which one they will give to each of them.

Insane Rambling

Mr.H wrote: »

Hazard and Sterling

Why Sterling? If Hazard wins POTY why not young player too?

SureYWouldntYa

Hazard

Kane

SM01

Player of the year: Coutinho
Young player: Sterling

Disclosure: I'm... er... a Man U supporter :-)

Seriously though. Hazard and Kane

Mr.H

Insane Rambling wrote: »

Why Sterling? If Hazard wins POTY why not young player too?

Because they never do

I dont agree with it either. If Hazard is nominated for the POTY then he shouldn't be eligible for the young player

Alfred Borden

Its never been as hard to call though. Hazard, Costa, Sanchez, Kane and De Gea are all equally as deserving.

jimmii

Seems weird that one may well end up being player of the year and not being young player of the year you would think they would win it by default. I wonder if we might see Hazard added to Gray, Ronaldo & Bale.

Insane Rambling

Mr.H wrote: »

Because they never do

I dont agree with it either. If Hazard is nominated for the POTY then he shouldn't be eligible for the young player

Why should he not be eligible? If he is the best player in the league surely he is the best player 23 and under?

If anything they should bring the age down to 21 imo

brevity

The categories are ****ed really. If you are in the young player category you shouldn't be in the general player category. It makes no sense.

jimmii

Mr.H wrote: »

Because they never do

I dont agree with it either. If Hazard is nominated for the POTY then he shouldn't be eligible for the young player

They have given both to one player twice in the last 10 years could well happen again. Kane being English and that bit younger could well swing the younger player his way though. With PP Hazard is 1/4 for POY and Kane 1/9 for YPOY so guess its pretty much sorted!

Mr.H

Insane Rambling wrote: »

Why should he not be eligible? If he is the best player in the league surely he is the best player 23 and under?

If anything they should bring the age down to 21 imo

I was only talking about this the other night down the pub. I always thought they should have:

Player of the year (as already is)
Rookie of the year (this could be just a young player with loose guidelines but aimed at players under 20 for example)
Breakthrough player of the year (any age player that has just come into the league and had a great first season in the league)

jimmii

brevity wrote: »

The categories are ****ed really. If you are in the young player category you shouldn't be in the general player category. It makes no sense.

Why couldn't the best young player that year also be the best player overall that year?

Giggsy11

Hazard for POTY and Harry Kane for YPOTY.

5starpool

Before Christmas Fabregas was seen as nearly a shoe in, and he isn't even nominated now. There are no real stand outs this year, but I think it'll be Hazard and Kane, which is fair enough.

Giggsy11

Mr.H wrote: »

Hazard and Sterling

I'm surprised you didn't pick Coutinho and Sterling.

spock.

Hazard and De Gea

Alfred Borden

Terry, Matic, Fabregas, Schneiderlin, Rooney, Aguero, Giroud and Cazorla will all feel aggrieved to be left out.

GLaDOS

Surprised to see Coutinho there for the main award. He had a run of good form and scored a few crackers, but over the whole season he hasn't done nearly as well as the other names up there.

Having him ahead of Aguero (currently joint top scorer in the league) makes no sense to me.

Anyway my choices would be Hazard (main) and Kane (Young player).

5starpool

ScienceNerd wrote: »

Surprised to see Coutinho there for the main award. He had a run of good form and scored a few crackers, but over the whole season he hasn't done nearly as well as the other names up there.

Having him ahead of Aguero (currently joint top scorer in the league) makes no sense to me.

Anyway my choices would be Hazard (main) and Kane (Young player).

It just goes to show what bias is introduced by having a spell of good games around the time of voting. Before Christmas he was anonymous largely, as were most of the team, since then he has had a mix of great and poor performancees, but much improved on before Christmas. He won't win, but it's an example of the short term memory bias that is prevalent in football.

CSF

Coutinho does not belong in here. At all. The notion that he's had a better season than Matic, Silva, Terry, Fabregas, Clyne, Bertrand. Probably others.

It's just wrong. He's had some good games, with a particularly good spell around the turn of the new year, but he's been anonymous in plenty of games this year, and generally never reaches the same level as the best players in his position.

I saw Terry's selection choice that he posted on Instagram, and immediately got the impression there's a lot of tactical voting going on. If Terry can't vote for Hazard to win it, then he'd better not vote for someone like Kane or De Gea who might win it instead. Honestly, if you're a professional footballer, and you've voted that Coutinho was the best player in the Premier League this year, your motives have to be questioned.

CSF

Holy ****, hadnt noticed Aguero wasn't even in there. Makes the above all the more obvious.

Alfred Borden

Im not joking but I think Fellaini deserved to be in it more than Coutinho.

RasTa

2 keepers in the YPOTY, doubt that's happened before.

Caovyn Lineah

De Gea and Kane, anything else is ridiculous.

Iused2likebusts

Raf32 wrote: »

Terry, Matic, Fabregas, Schneiderlin, Rooney, Aguero, Giroud and Cazorla will all feel aggrieved to be left out.

I'd have Charlie austin ahead of all of them bar maybe Terry and cazorla.

CSF

RasTa wrote: »

2 keepers in the YPOTY, doubt that's happened before.

Probably not. Hard to think of a young keeper who was so good so young as either of them. Hart might be a valid shout, but I don't think so myself.

Soups123

paulie21 wrote: »

Nominees have been announced:

Diego Costa
Phiilppe Coutinho
David De Gea
Eden Hazard
Harry Kane
Alexis Sanchez


Young Player:

Thibaut Courtois
Phillippe Coutinho
David De Gea
Eden Hazard
Harry Kane
Raheem Sterling

I think everyone in bold has a good shout. Coutinho in it is strange.

I think it will be Hazard and Kane

Turtwig

De Gea, he's been brilliant this season. Large part of why Utd are positioned where they currently are. If things were inverted and he was a goal scorer he'd have got much more buzz and fan fare

Hazard, then Kane. Or Kane hazard can't decide.

CSF

I find it difficult to pick between Hazard and Kane for both awards. Therefore I hope they win one each, despite how illogical that is in theory.

TheDoc

Hazard will win POTY
Kane will win YPOTY

In all honesty being a bad year for individual talent with no one really standing out. Personally, I think De Gea deserves one of the other, for what has been a sensational season for him. I don't want Chelsea much, but when I've been free to catch a game I do in the hope of seeing Hazard playing well, and he always seem to be meh. So I'm going on second hand information that he is the best player operating in the league at present.

*Coutinho in there shows how absolute garbage these can be. He has had a sporadic run of a few games since January playing well, scoring two belters. To say he was the best in the league is laughable.

Will I Amnt

Hazard/De Gea for POTY and Kane for YPOTY.
Has a keeper ever won it? Thinking Hazard will edge it due to the lack of recognition keepers get but you couldn't begrudge either.

CSF

Seems a controversial opinion in here but I don't think De Gea should win.

He's made some great game saving saves this year, and belongs in the top 6 I think, but not the top 1.

An all-rounder goalkeeper he is not. Courtois has many things in spades that De Gea does not possess. Much of a muchness between him and Courtois but obviously De Gea's good performances have been more pronounced because United have required them more than Chelsea.

Mr.Nice Guy

The verdict tends to be to go with the British guy unless there is a major standout player (which is not the case this year). I'm predicting an English double of Kane and Sterling.

CSF

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

The verdict tends to be to go with the British guy unless there is a major standout player (which is not the case this year). I'm predicting an English double of Kane and Sterling.

Kane for YPOTY seems the ultimate certainty.

bad2dabone

De gea would be a worthy winner, but it'll probably be hazard and Kane. Not taking anything away from hazard who has been great, but de gea kept united in the points so much this season when they were awful and allowed his teammates to eventually find form. Not unlike sanchez, although he's had a dip.

Achtung Maybe

Hazard POTY
Coutinho YPOTY

gosplan

Terry a good shout too

CSF

gosplan wrote: »

Terry a good shout too

Has been immense.

Hulk Hands

An average year for standout talent. Kane should win both for me. I love De Gea, but the difference in contribution between an average striker and a brilliant one, is larger than the same in goalkeeping. Hazard has been class at times but don't think his contribution has been as significant to his team as Kanes. Coutinhos inclusion is farcical and takes away from the award imo

Will I Amnt

CSF wrote: »

Seems a controversial opinion in here but I don't think De Gea should win.

He's made some great game saving saves this year, and belongs in the top 6 I think, but not the top 1.

An all-rounder goalkeeper he is not. Courtois has many things in spades that De Gea does not possess. Much of a muchness between him and Courtois but obviously De Gea's good performances have been more pronounced because United have required them more than Chelsea.

But it's not who's the best player, it's who has performed better over the season. Courtois doesn't come close to De Gea on that front, whether it's because he has less to do or not.

monkey9

Hazard and Kane are the obvious winners.

CSF

Will I Amnt wrote: »

But it's not who's the best player, it's who has performed better over the season. Courtois doesn't come close to De Gea on that front, whether it's because he has less to do or not.

I'd agree, but only slightly. Courtois does the less spectacular things every week much better than De Gea, but there have been enough games where De Gea made some game changing saves to give him the nod over Courtois. But not over Hazard or Kane. Hes still not an all-rounder.

SlickRic

It's funny, if the voting was this week, Glenn Murray and Yannick Bolasie would probably win.

Liam O

SlickRic wrote: »

It's funny, if the voting was this week, Glenn Murray and Yannick Bolasie would probably win.

Poor Charlie Austin, done well all season but had a quiet enough few weeks and a half season player like Coutinho gets in over him.

SlickRic

Liam O wrote: »

Poor Charlie Austin, done well all season but had a quiet enough few weeks and a half season player like Coutinho gets in over him.

Good call on Austin.

Caovyn Lineah

Well I asked a question on Facebook a few weeks ago, who would United fans hate now that Gerrard is leaving and Suarez is obviously gone. Coutinho seems to be the man to take the mantle judging by this thread, I hope he is around to be the focus of their hate for years.

Liam O

Fwiw I'd have Costa out too even though I rate him very highly. He started off fantastic and his dip is probably down to fitness but didn't do enough in the 2nd half of the season to be in the top 6 players imo. I think Fabregas would deserve to be in more and I'd have similar complaints about him.

Caovyn Lineah

Let's be honest, this award lost all credibility when this happened anyway.

CSF

Liam O wrote: »

Fwiw I'd have Costa out too even though I rate him very highly. He started off fantastic and his dip is probably down to fitness but didn't do enough in the 2nd half of the season to be in the top 6 players imo. I think Fabregas would deserve to be in more and I'd have similar complaints about him.

On the flipside, if you look at the 3 high performing goalscorers really in the discussion, him, Aguero and Kane, which one offers the most outside of goals?

For me, its Costa every time. Has been integral to the way Chelsea play and they look much weaker without him.