Arsenal

This should have been the team of the year

by
Football Talk
April 26, 2010

By Football Talk.

The premier league team of the year has been announced and is predictably dominated by Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal players. Wayne Rooney, Patrice Evra, Darren Fletcher and Antonio Valencia make it from Manchester United, Branislav Ivanovic and Didier Drogba from Chelsea and Thomas Vermaelen and Cesc Fabregas from Arsenal.

The official team of the year:

Hart

Ivanovic Dunne Vermaelen Evra

Valencia Fabregas Fletcher Milner

Rooney Drogba

Now I’m not normally one to argue with the experts but for me, Fletcher, Ivanovic and Valencia haven’t done enough to warrant being included in the team of the year. Richard Dunne has been inspirational at Aston Villa, but again i think we could do better.

Valencia took a long time to settle at Manchester United and only really started to find him feet in recent months. He is far from a guaranteed starter either. Darren Fletcher is a much under-rated performer from the heart of Manchester United’s midfield, but again i don’t think he’s done quite enough. Ivanovic’s included because he plays for Chelsea, he has been steady but nothing special. The rest of the team is fine, but i will look at alternatives for these four players.

Firstly, i think the team of the year should be a 4-3-3 formation as there have been so many stand out performers up front this season.

Right Back:

Right back is a weak area in general in the premier league, there have not been that many stand out performers and many of the larger sides have been disrupted in this position throughout the season. Bacary Sagna at Arsenal had a great season last year but has been less consistent this term. Chelsea’s first choice Jose Bosingwa has been out injured for the majority of the season as has Glen Johnson at Liverpool, while Manchester United have had to play several right backs during the course of the campaign. Vedran Corluka has played well for Tottenham, but i think you can’t look any further than Aston Villa’s Carlos Cuellar. Predominantly a centre back, Cuellar has adapted well to the full back position and has played 34 of Aston Villa’s 35 league games this season.

Centre Back:

Again, many of the usual suspects have either been injured or out of forms this year. John Terry has not been his usual self in the second half of the season, Rio Ferdinand and Namanja Vidic have both missed large periods through injury, while Jamie Carragher has been part of a very inconsistent Liverpool side. Richard Dunne is not a terrible shout, but i think Michael Dawson of Tottenham deserves a place in the team. He has been in superb form during the second half of the season and helped push Spurs towards a champions league place, surely Capello can’t overlook him for the World Cup?

Midfield:

Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas and Aston Villa’s James Milner deserve their places, so in my 4-3-3 formation that leaves only one place open and i can’t see how Frank Lampard didn’t make the official line-up. He has scored an amazing 20 league goals from the heart of Chelsea’s midfield, and is one of the most consistent performers around.

Striker:

Arsenal’s Robin Van Persie began the season in fine form and would no doubt have been pushing for a place had he stayed fit. Darren Bent has scored an impressive 25 goals for an average Sunderland side and Fernando Torres has been a constant goal threat but missed large parts of the season through injury. But my third striker would be Carlos Tevez of Manchester City. He has done all he could so show Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson exactly what he’s missing and scored 22 goals in 30 premier league games, Tevez has also chipped in with 8 assists and been a focal point in City’s push for fourth this year.