My Premier League Players of the Year

    The 2011 calendar year is over and football pundits will be deciding on who they feel is the player of the year. It’s a very tough decision; I mean do they pick an outstanding goalkeeper, a brick-wall defender, a midfield maestro or a prolific goal scoring striker. It’s a very difficult decision to make and I’m going to do the same, however to make my life easier I’m going to be picking a goalkeeper, defender, midfielder and striker of the year. Also to add a little humour to the report, at the end I will be picking the most entertaining player of the year for 2011. Enjoy and I hope you agree with my views.

Courtesy of Google Images

Goalkeeper of the Year

  
  I think this is the easiest decision to make as he has been fantastic throughout the year, not only for his club but his national team. My ‘goalie’ of the year has to go to Manchester City’s Joe Hart. 2011 has been a superb year for Hart as he managed to win the FA Cup and is helping his team stay top of the Premier League. He is one of England’s top talents and is probably the best goalkeeper England will ever see play for the national side. His shot stopping and athleticism is fantastic and I think this was proved on many occasions not only this year but previous years. His most noticeable performance was the first match of the 2010/11 season against Tottenham where he made some brilliant saves to earn Manchester City a 0-0 draw. Currently this season he is having trouble keeping clean sheets but his contributions are irreplaceable, if it weren’t for his fantastic saves at Anfield when they were down to 10 men, City’s rivals Manchester United would have been top of the Premier League going into the Boxing Day fixtures. If Manchester City were to win the title this year, I would put it down to Hart’s performance at Anfield. For England, Joe Hart has been absolutely fantastic as his current record shows in the last 15 games when he has played, England have never lost. That is something if you can stop England from losing; he has overshadowed previous goalkeepers, for example Robert Green and David James because of how he has emerged throughout the past two/three years. His loan spell at Birmingham also helped his development. Let’s say that Manchester City need to keep hold of him for as long as they can. To end, Hart is going to be one of the best goalkeepers in the world in the next couple of years and I will leave you with two videos which show his greatest ever save and his performance at White Hart Lane last year.

  

Defender of the Year

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   This is a really tough decision to make, so many defenders to choose from who have had a great year, however despite this difficulty I have managed to pick my defender of the year. In my opinion the award has to go to Liverpool’s Jose Enrique. For Newcastle he was as good as an attacking left full back can get and it’s very rare we see an attacking full back that can actually defend. Enrique for Newcastle was very consistent, rarely made a mistake and was a fantastic back five which was made up of Krul, Simpson, Coloccini, Stephen Taylor and Enrique. As left back is a position where decent players are hard to find Newcastle found that from Enrique’s performances weren’t going un-noticed, he was attracting big clubs and in the end was sold to Liverpool for £6million. This price is a bargain as I’d price him at the £12million mark because he is that good. To be honest I thought Liverpool would be a too bigger club for Enrique and that he’d be a flop just like Andy Carroll – no offence Liverpool fans but it is true.  However he proved me wrong as he has made some awe-inspiring performances, where he has made brilliant attacking runs and match saving last ditch tackles. From his time at Liverpool I would say his price tag has risen quite considerably. Liverpool have had a massive problem at left back, previous players that didn’t live up to the left back position were Emiliano Insua, Fabio Aurelio and Andrea Dossena but now by buying Enrique they have solved their problems. I wouldn’t go as far as saying he’s the best left back Liverpool have had post Premier League because John Arne Riise was a superb defender, great attacker and the left foot ‘belters’ he could do where unstoppable at times, it even broke Alan Smith’s leg – ouch! I think over time Enrique will continue up the growth curve and become an outstanding full back for Liverpool and may also be a regular for the first team for Spain.

Midfielder of the Year
 

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    Another tough decision to make this one is as there are so many influential midfielders in the Premier League. Despite this problem I narrowed down the choices to find my winner. To me the midfielder of the year has to go to Gareth Bale. Once a left back, but now turned into an outstanding left midfielder who has all the credentials to play for any top team in the world. His pace is unbelievable and his dribbling skills are top notch. He first started at Southampton before he moved to Tottenham and has now established into a regular in the Spurs starting eleven. His defensive duties in the past were superb but liked to go on marauding runs to help out his team mates. From this Harry Redknapp has decided to place him in the left midfield role where he plays an important role in creating and scoring goals. Throughout 2011 Bale has been an influential player for Spurs as he has provided for others to help the team progress up the table. What summed up the talents this lad has got was at the San Siro on October 10th 2010 against Inter Milan. Tottenham were down to ten men and were losing 4-0 however nobody would predict what would happen next. This young lad went on to score a hat-trick – scoring from literally the same place every time – however despite this epic performance it wasn’t enough to save them from defeat. This performance alone proved to me the talents this lad has got and rumours spread quickly about him being sold to top teams for around £40million, a price tag a bit over the top but to get the best players you have to spend big. Mid 2011 for Bale was haunted by injury which was caused by Charlie Adam at White Hart Lane during a league match. Yet from this injury Bale has been spurred on – no pun intended – and is growing into a fabulous, talented footballer. Bale wins this award just ahead of players like David Silva because of how he has progressed through the year and the fact he is a prominent part of the Spurs team. He can not only score goals, but he can create them and has the ability to defend well due to his past while playing at left back often throughout the 2010 calendar year.  Below is a video of - in my eyes - the greatest goal he has scored, the superb volley against Stoke City.

Striker of the Year

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    There can only be one winner of this award because of how prolific this player has been. There is no better forward that was is in better form in 2011 than any other player, this striker is Arsenal’s Robin Van Persie. The Dutchman has played a typical captain’s role for Arsenal and is their main source of goals. In 2011 he has managed to score 35 goals. The only problem with Van Persie is that he is plagued by injuries every now and again which can prove costly for Arsenal’s performances. Van Persie is the spearhead for Arsenal and the team is heavily reliant on him hence why he has got 35 goals in 2011. If Van Persie were to get injured in the coming weeks or months I honestly don’t know how Arsenal would survive. What the club needs to do is spend big on an excellent striker in the January window to pair up with Van Persie, because this January Arsenal are going to lose their other two forwards, Gervinho and Chamakh due to the African Cup of Nations taking place. Without another buy Arsenal literally have no strikers left in the squad and this could see them drop dramatically down the table as they don’t have the players that can live up to Van Persie’s reputation. Van Persie has been so brilliant this year it has come about that Manchester City are rumoured to be monitoring him and could offer £41m in the summer transfer window to bolster their attacking options. Van Persie thoroughly deserves this award because of how prolific he has been this year. Unfortunately the year couldn’t be a record breaking one as Van Persie could only manage to get 1 goal against QPR leaving his total goals for the season on 35, 1 behind Alan Shearer’s record of 36. To finish this section Van Persie topped his Arsenal career with an outstanding goal against Everton on Arsenal’s 50th birthday which just showed what a clinical finisher Van Persie is. Below are videos of 2 great goals he has scored that in my opinion are the best he has ever scored, one is his airborne volley against Charlton back in 2006 and his more recent goal against Everton on Arsenal’s 50th birthday.

Most Entertaining Player of the Year

    This award has to go to Mario Balotelli. What a year Balotelli has had, he is always in the national media yet on the field he performs well and scores goals, however his on the field antics are also unbelievable. Off the field Mario Balotelli has set fireworks off in his house, wore a glove on his head, pretends to sword fight with rolling pins and had many late night outs which have resulted in him getting a telling off. On the field however Balotelli couldn’t put on a bib, scored a goal with his shoulder, scored a penalty and folding his arms, getting subbed for showing off in a friendly over in America, not celebrating when scoring and revealing a shirt which says “Why always me?” All these antics just show why I have picked him as the most entertaining player of the year. Yes he is a naughty lad but he is a fantastic player and could be a potential great for Manchester City if he manages to sort out his temperament. Below are some videos of his crazy moments.

    Well that is the end of this long report but I hope you have enjoyed reading and watching the videos, also I hope you agree with my own opinions of who deserves the award for each section. Plenty of research was put into this and I hope I haven't disappointed anyone who has read this article.