Goalkeeper
Tough
decision to make but I think Newcastle’s Tim Krul edges this one over
Manchester City’s Joe Hart and Swansea’s Michel Vorm. Tim Krul has been a
massive inspiration for Newcastle and has been an integral part of their huge
success. The young Dutch goalkeeper signed for Newcastle in 2005 but didn’t
make the first team until the start of last season. Before this he was sent out
on loan to various clubs to gain experience and improve his potential. Then
came his chance and hasn’t he proved his worth especially during this season.
He has made some inspirational saves and has very rarely made a mistake, yes he
conceded heavily against Fulham and Tottenham but overall his season has been
sensational. He also has a Dutch nickname called “Bakkers Handen” which
translates as “Bakers Hands.” He gained this nickname due to how safe the ball
is in his hands and this season he has lived up to that nickname. Due to his
emphatic season transfer rumours are now spreading fast and could possible on
his way out of Newcastle if the offer is right but I’m positive that Newcastle
would want to keep hold of their precious possession.
Right Back
In my
opinion there has been a few stand out right backs but to stop this team from
being filled with the big names I feel that Kyle Walker deserves his place at
right back in the ‘Premier League Team of the Season’. Walker who was signed
from Sheffield United wasn’t really in the 1st team at Spurs so he was sent out
on loan for a couple of seasons to help improve his game. It wasn’t until he
was loaned out to Aston Villa in the 2010/11 season that he was soon recognised
to be one of the best young right back England has got. Walker has excellent
pace on the ground and with the ball, he can provide width when attacking which
has really helped Spurs this season. Walker plays more in Right Wing Back than
at Right Back because of how he loves to bomb forward and help with attacks.
There’s still area for improvement but I’m sure that these niggles will iron
out in the future. Walker has been called up for the national side and rightly
so as he is more than capable of being an England regular despite the
competition from other good Right Backs such as Glen Johnson (Liverpool) and
Micah Richards (Man City). Will Walker be going to the Euros? Who knows? If I
was the manager though I would take him because he can provide that spark on
the right wing when attacking and as his crossing has massively improved he can
provide the service to the strikers.
Right Centre Back
Without a
shadow of a doubt this has to go to Vincent Kompany of Manchester City. Since
joining Man City he has constantly improved his game and has become one of the
world’s top young defenders. The Belgian centre-half has helped Manchester City
massively this season to make them fight for the title, his strength, his
ability to hold off attackers and his tackling have made Man City’s defence a
brick wall. He also has the goal scoring capabilities as he is an aerial threat
from set pieces so he is a prime target to aim at. This season he has had a few
suspensions which has sort of made City suffer while he has been out, yet after
these suspensions he has constantly been consistent throughout this season. His
partnership with Lescott is thriving and this is improving both of the player’s
abilities. The solid defence has been one of the toughest to break down this
season and with Kompany’s tactical awareness Man City have been able to claim
some valuable points. Kompany thoroughly deserves his place in this ‘Team of
the Season’ and I’m sure he will only get better and better in the near future.
Left Centre Back
I feel that
the centre back who deserves to play here is Swansea’s Ashley Williams. A
surprise selection to some but in my opinion he has been the rock at the centre
of that tight Swansea defence. He doesn’t offer much of an attacking threat
apart from when going up for corners. However in defence he has showed all the qualities
of a world class defender. He is strong
and a fabulous tackler and he has proved this on countless occasions. Williams
has helped Swansea progress through their first ever Premier League season and
without him I feel that the defence would concede goals left, right and centre.
Despite a poor away record, Swansea have made their home a fortress only losing
to both Manchester United and Newcastle. With Williams providing a brick wall
for opposing teams to break down, Swansea have been fantastic in terms of
defending. They have kept numerous clean sheets this season due to how they
defend and this is why I feel that Ashley Williams deserves a place in the ‘Premier
League Team of the Season’.
Left Back
This has to
go to Leighton Baines, he has been a revelation at left back for Everton since
joining from Wigan back in 2007 for £5 including £1m in add-ons and boy has he
been a good signing - I bet Liverpool regret letting him go from their youth
academy. Baines has been very consistent for Everton and hasn’t really let his
team down since arriving. Baines marauds that left side and quite often is
classified as a left wing back despite naturally being a left back. Baines
plays a crucial part for Everton not only in defence but also in attack. If I
was to liken Baines to someone it would be the still going strong Ian Harte
(currently at Reading). Both have the same playing style, they both love to get
forward and play a critical role in assisting with the teams goals. Baines
takes nearly all of the free kicks, takes the corners and even takes penalties
all with supreme technique. Without Baines’ assists it is a possibility that
Everton wouldn’t score as many goals as they do. He’s thoroughly deserved to be
in the England Euro team as he can provide something more than what Chelsea’s
Ashley Cole does therefore if I was the England manager I’d put Baines over
A.Cole in the starting XI.
Centre Midfield
I know he
plays majorly as a central attacking midfielder but he can also play centre
midfield so this is why I have chosen Newcastle’s Yohan Cabaye to be in this
position. The French midfielder signed from Lille has been a shrewd one from
Alan Pardew and has also been a revelation. The young midfielder acts as the
playmaker in the midfield for Newcastle, seeing passes that no others could do
and also provide goals for his team. As a playmaker he has lived up to all the
expectations, he can play the ball along the ground, can pass arrow straight
long balls and also has good dribbling skills, all of which make him a superb
young midfielder. Cabaye has created plenty of goals for the strikers and has
also managed to grab a few goals himself, most notably the 30 yard free kick he
scored in the 3-0 demolition of Manchester United at home. Other teams are
probably now watching him and waiting to pounce once his contract runs out.
Considering it’s his first season in the Premier League he has massively
improved his game and rightly deserves his place in the centre of midfield in
the ‘Premier League Team of the Season’.
Right Central Attacking Midfield
I think that
Clint Dempsey deserves this over many of the other top class midfielders in the
Premier League. Since joining from Fulham he has continued to get better and
also where he plays has changed, he often played in the central role just
behind the striker to help create and score goals, however this season Martin
Jol has turned into the central figure up front to supply the goals. Clint
Dempsey has scored plenty of goals this season including a couple of hat-tricks
along the way and has now become Fulham’s prized asset. Dempsey, possibly one
of the greatest American players is now becoming a really world class player
who is on many of the top teams’ books but with the services Dempsey has to
offer, he will probably stay at Fulham. Dempsey can not only score with his
feet but he has great heading ability making him an aerial threat at set pieces
and he also has great technical ability which has made him into one of the most
exciting midfielders this season. So that’s why Dempsey deserves his place in
this team.
Left Central Attacking Midfield
This
inevitably has to go to the little Spaniard David Silva who plays for
Manchester City. For his second season in the Premier League it has been
brilliant viewing to watch him for many reasons. At the start of the season
plenty was expected of the talented stars at Man City, especially Silva and
surely he delivered. The little creator has fantastic balance and agility to
help escape from tight situations; he also is the playmaker in the team and has
assisted goals for his team-mates on countless occasions making him probably
the best midfielder of the year in the Premier League. One thing that is
disappointing of Silva is the fact he hasn’t been able to score as many goals
as he would’ve liked to but I’m sure he’ll be happy with the assists he has
given. In my opinion his best performance of the year was at Old Trafford where
Man City showed their local rivals what Man City can do in a 6-1 drubbing.
Silva made some inspiring assists especially the left footed volley to put
through Dzeko who scored the 6th goal for City in the derby. Silva also managed
to grab a goal after sliding the ball under De Gea’s legs. His performances
continued to get better throughout the season but he has had the pace of the
Premier League catch up with him and has quite often been substituted in the
last couple of games after 60 minutes due to fatigue, however, now, he looks
like he’s getting back into the groove of things.
I feel that
this has to go to Sergio ‘Kun’ Aguero as he has been one of the signings of the
season and has been superb for Manchester City throughout this season. The
little Argentine signed from Atletico Madrid in the summer was massively
welcomed by the fans due to his excellent goal scoring record and technical
ability. Aguero soon enough gave the City fans something to get excited over as
on his debut Aguero managed to score a brace and grab an assist in the 4-0 win
over Swansea. From here Aguero continued to perform and it wasn’t until midway
through the season the stresses of the Premier League were catching up with
him, lack of goals and early substitutions soon occurred and Man City were soon
not the force they was during the first 10 weeks of the season. However despite
this hard time Aguero managed to pull through and in the game against Wigan he
almost grabbed what would have been ‘Goal of the Season’ because he weaved in
and out of 5 Wigan defenders before Dzeko got in the way and ruined the chance.
Aguero has been very influential up front and with the return of Carlos Tevez
the Argentinian strike partnership is beginning to blossom, this was proved in
the Norwich game where both strikers linked up well with Aguero grabbing a
brace and Tevez getting a hat-trick. Aguero deserves his place in the ‘Team of
the Season’ and for his first season in the Premiership he has been one of the
best players this season.
Centre Forward
There’s only
one striker who deserves this place and his name is Robin Van Persie. He has
been the most consistent for Arsenal and is currently leading the ‘Top Goal Scorer’
list in the Premier League. Van Persie
has had his best season yet at Arsenal and with his contract running down many
clubs are after this talented Dutchman. He has been scoring goals left, right
and centre but narrowly missed out on the record for goals scored in one year
by just the one goal to the legend that is Alan Shearer. However this hasn’t
really had much of an impact on Van Persie and he has constantly helped his
team and with his goals he has propelled a underperforming Arsenal into the
Champions League places and above their biggest rivals Tottenham Hotspurs. Van
Persie has scored some crackers this season; some of these include his volleys
against Everton and Liverpool, the equalising goal in the game at the Emirates
against Spurs and a cheeky little chipped penalty against Wolves – which caused
major controversy. Van Persie has grown into one of the world’s elite strikers yet
there are some errors in his ways. For example his attitude can be a bit of a
problem at times, for example against Wigan he refused to shake Gary Caldwell’s
hand properly and also he had a complication with Newcastle goalkeeper Tim Krul
but despite this arrogance he thoroughly deserves his place in the ‘Team of the
Season’. Also with the definite signing of Lukas Podolski from Cologne maybe
Van Persie will sign that contract that will keep him at Arsenal for the next
couple of seasons.
Left Striker
Finally, the
last footballer to be put in this ‘Team of the Season’ has to be Newcastle’s
Senegalese clinical finisher Demba Ba. The African has been superb for
Newcastle this season and has made Newcastle one of the big names in English
football again. In my opinion he is the complete forward, he has strength, he
can finish and he has some pace to get past defenders. His goals have been very
important for Newcastle and when he left for International duty Newcastle was
wondering how they were going to get their goals. However to Newcastle’s relief
Senegal was knocked out in the group stages meaning Ba could return early. After
coming back from the ‘Africa cup of Nations’, Newcastle had snapped up his
international strike partner Papiss Demba Cisse from German Bundesliga team
Freiburg. Cisse was a renowned goal scorer in the Bundesliga and everyone was
getting excited of the partnership these two Senegalese strikers could have.
Since the signing Demba Ba’s goals have dried up as he has been played more as
a left winger recently with Papiss Cisse playing as the central figure. Even
though this has happened Ba has continued his magnificent form for Newcastle
and has probably helped them gain the prestigious European tournament place for
next season. Newcastle fans must be looking forward to next season with Ba and
Cisse up front and hopefully Newcastle can now move on upwards and become that
strong force they once used to be. 
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