Player of the Season for each team

Here is who I feel is the Player of the Season for each team in the Premier League 2011-12.

Arsenal- Robin Van Persie (38 apps, 30 goals, 13 assists)

Spoiler:

Who else? Robin Van Persie has done everything for Arsenal this year, top of goals and assists for the team he carried them through the year. He scored 40% of his team's goals, and played a part in a massive 58% of the goals. Clearly Van Persie is crucial to Arsenal's success. Towards the latter part of the year his scoring waned a little, but this was most likely due to the improved form of the rest of the side. I don't think anybody can argue that Van Persie isn't the most important player to Arsenal's squad; captain, goal-scorer, goal-provider and the most recognisable member of the squad. Lose him and fans need to be very worried.

Aston Villa- Darren Bent (22 apps, 9 goals, 1 assist)

Spoiler:

While Arsenal's choice was simple and obvious, Aston Villa's was considerably more difficult because nobody really had a good season for the under performing Birmingham-based club. In the end I went for Darren Bent, their record signing, because if it wasn't for his season ending injury he might have been able to break into double figures for goals and a goal-scoring record of one every other game isn't that bad. However, Bent will be disappointed with his season, as will the rest of the side.

Blackburn- Yakubu (30 apps, 17 goals, 2 assists)

Spoiler:

Seen as a desperate signing in the summer, in the end Yakubu's goals were pretty much the only thing that could have kept Blackburn up. Yakubu showed that if he is fed he will indeed score as is sung from the stands. 17 goals is a very good return for a striker in a relegation threatened side. He showed that he can still cut it at the top level and perhaps with better service could still break the 20 goal mark. The only other player who I even thought of picking was Hoilett, but Yakubu's goals were much more important.

Bolton- Martin Petrov (31 apps, 4 goals, 6 assists)

Spoiler:

Again not a lot to choose from for Bolton where almost all the players had poor seasons resulting in their relegation. Martin Petrov was often the only bright spot for Bolton in their matches using his pace and powerful left shot to cause problems, but clearly not often enough. With 4 goals and 6 assists he had an average return for his efforts, but in context probably not that bad.

Chelsea- Ramires (30 apps, 5 goals, 1 assist)

Spoiler:

While his statistics aren't that impressive, it is his tireless running that really makes him Chelsea's player of the season. He also had a habit of grabbing important goals for his side. He grew into the Chelsea side, becoming more and more important to the side as the season drew to the close. While Didier Drogba grabbed the headlines, Ramires' performances in the Champions League run were impressive and it was unfortunate he missed the final. Played all over the pitch for Chelsea he always got on with his job, unlike Sturridge and Mata who both complained about their positioning.

Everton- Nikica Jelavic (13 apps, 9 goals, 1 assist)

Spoiler:

Everton had their seasonal improvement after Christmas, but the key to their change in form this year was Nikica Jelavic who transfer from Rangers in January injected their season with some much-needed goals and took away attention from the now incredibly odd decision to sell Yakubu. Finally Everton have a striker who is strong, fast and knows where the goal is and was a bargain at around £5 million. Everton will be hoping for more for the same from him next year.

Fulham- Clint Dempsey (37 games, 17 goals, 6 assists)

Spoiler:

Incredibly important to Fulham's good season, they will do well to keep hold of the American. Becoming the first player from the US to score a hat-trick in the Premier League ever was just the cherry on top of the 17 goal shaped cake for Dempsey. Playing anywhere across midfield and the front line Dempsey has a lot in his locker and Fulham built their side around him. Excellent year.

Liverpool- Martin Skrtel (34 apps, 2 goals, 1 assist)

Spoiler:

The first defender to get on the list, Liverpool horribly under performed this year, but despite this they still managed to have the third best defensive record in the league and a big part of this has to go to the big Slovakian. He developed an excellent partnership with Daniel Agger, but despite Agger being regarded as the better, it was Skrtel who really stood out defensively. Key headers, tackles and even the odd attacking run as well as being a real threat at corners Skrtel is fitting into Carragher's shoes easily and comfortably so much so that no Liverpool fan is missing Carragher.

Manchester City- Vincent Kompany (31 apps, 3 goals, 1 assist)

Spoiler:

Manchester City's championship winning captain is my choice as City's player of the season. His presence on the pitch was always felt and when he wasn't playing City really suffered in a way they didn't when they were missing Toure, Silva or Aguero. Kompany's presence was crucial to City's success all year around and it was all capped off with perhaps the most important goal of the season (bar the obvious one) when his header bulleted into the back of the net against Manchester United to level the points.

Manchester United- Antonio Valencia (27 apps, 4 goals, 13 assists)

Spoiler:

13 assists is the most important part of that statistics column. While Rooney picked up the plaudits for scoring the goals it was Valencia creating all the chances with real old-fashioned wing play. Straight down the side of the pitch with blistering pace and whipping in fabulous crosses, Valencia did it many times across the season and was key to United's title challenge. It's possibly had Valencia stayed fit for all 38 games, or if Ferguson had picked him for the pinnacle derby, that United would have ended the campaign champions.

Nice thread - couldn't really disagree with most of them, and all choices backed up with stats and nice blurb

be interested to see who you pick for spurs..

i think i know who youll choose

I'd still pick Mata for Chelsea's player of the year. The class he provided was the only reason our misfiring season got as far as it did. Ramires has a phenomenal workrate, but Mata just had that touch of class which proved crucial in so many games.

Looking forward to see who you pick for Norwich!

JDizzle wrote:I'd still pick Mata for Chelsea's player of the year. The class he provided was the only reason our misfiring season got as far as it did. Ramires has a phenomenal workrate, but Mata just had that touch of class which proved crucial in so many games.

Agreed, either him or Luiz's hair. Not Luiz, just his hair

The only thing I'd slightly disagree on but in a way I don't is that for Everton I would give it to Leon Osman. Every season he put's in fantastic performence after fantastic performence. He's one of the few England players with great agility, touch and creativity, I think England have missed a trick with him and I think he'd fit in with any of the top teams in the country.

Jelavic however has been a great buy for Everton and I'm sure they are praying they can now have a striker who can stay fit for a whole season, if he can next season, I think Everton will be knocking on the door of the top 6.

Couldn't argue with the others, nice to see Valencia getting the recognition he deserves after a fantastic season. He swept up the awards at the United after season awards ceremony, he was on fire at the back end of last season also.

Newcastle- Fabricio Coloccini (35 apps, 0 goals, 0 assists)

Spoiler:

While Demba Ba was the star of the first half of the season and Papiss Cisse the star of the second half, it was Coloccini who provided the foundation across the entire year for Newcastle to build their excellent season upon. A man who found it hard to adjust to life in England, he has now developed into the league's best defenders and created a solid defence with whoever he is partnered with.

Norwich- Grant Holt (36 apps, 15 goals, 2 assists)

Spoiler:

Norwich's excellent season was obviously a team effort, and players like Wes Hoolahan, Naughton, Fox, Pilkington, Morison and John Ruddy as well as Paul Lambert deserve praise but their player of the season has to go to their captain, top goalscorer and arguably Norwich's best buy ever; Grant Holt. He has won the official player of the year 3 times in a row now for Norwich, at every level, and if they lose him, they should be worried. He deserves to be player of the season because his goal scoring exploits are extremely impressive.

Queens Park Rangers- Heidar Helguson (16 apps, 8 goals, 2 assists)

Spoiler:

QPR was also a very difficult choice because none of their players steeped themselves in glory. My other potential players of the seasons were Djbril Cisse who managed 6 goals in 8 games at the end of the year, but that was all he played and he did get sent off twice in 8 games as well. Faurlin was another choice, but he was injured fairly early on only managing 20 games and didn't get any goals and just one assist so I went for Helguson whose goals early in the season were crucial for securing safety.

Stoke City- Peter Crouch (33 games, 10 goals, 2 assists)

Spoiler:

Crouch is perfect for Stoke and Stoke are much better side with Crouch in the team, although they may have been slightly disappointed with 14th in the league, Crouch's ten goals was the main reason they performed so well this year. They only scored 36 goals, so Crouch scored nearly a third of his team's goals, look out for both Stoke and Crouch next year as they hope to build on the early success.

Sunderland- Stephane Sessegnon (36 apps, 7 goals, 9 assists)

Spoiler:

Sunderland had a mixed season this year, and so their player of the season didn't have a 10/10 season but a solid 7/10 for Sessegnon this year. Martin O'Neil's appointment gave a lift to the whole squad and Sessegnon became one of the most deadliest attacking players in the league. Quick feet, not afraid to shoot and excellent vision led Sessegnon to 7 goals and 9 assists which isn't a bad return.

Swansea- Danny Graham (36 apps, 12 goals, 3 assists)

Spoiler:

Like Norwich Swansea's season was a real team effort and it was all based on passing football, made possible by players like Allen, Britton, Sinclair, Dyer, Williams and an excellent keeper in Vorm but it's no good passing the football around if you don't have somebody to put it in the back of the net. After an initial struggle Graham was that guy for Swansea, people doubted whether he could make the jump from Championship to Premier League but he did it with ease and scored some very important goals for Swansea over the year. If Britton is Swansea's Xavi, Allen their Iniesta, does that make Graham...Messi?

Tottenham Hotspur- Brad Friedel (38 apps, 14 Clean Sheets)

Spoiler:

Tottenham had a season of ups and downs, but one thing that stayed consistent was the performances of the 41 year old American in goal. This must have been so refreshing for Spurs' fans who had to put up with the shambles of Gomes in goal for years. It's a shame Friedel has only been signed now, at the end of his career, because the defence can be a lot more confident with Friedel in goal.

West Brom- James Morrison (30 games, 5 goals, 5 assists)

Spoiler:

West Brom had an excellent season and I believe their player of the season was James Morrison whose goals and assists from midfield were invaluable. Clearly West Brom's best midfielder, Morrison performed well from start to finish in the league this year scoring some excellent goals and being a good creative outlet for the side.

Wigan- Mohamed Diame (26 games, 3 goals, 0 assists)

Spoiler:

It's not often you see a defensive midfielder win the player of the season award, especially in a team that conceded 62 goals, but I think Diame offered more than just a shield to the back for. He was Wigan's version of Yaya Toure, making powerful runs through the middle of the park, getting the ball to his more creative team mates and also making good tackles. His contract has run out now and I think Wigan will miss Diame a lot.

Wolverhampton Wanderers- Steven Fletcher (32 games, 12 goals, 2 assists)

Spoiler:

It shows how poor Wolves' defence was that their striker can get 12 goals in 32 games, a good return, and still finish bottom of the table. In a season of disappointments, Fletcher can be reasonably happy that he managed to score a good amount of goals and has probably earned himself a transfer to a bigger side and not have to play in the Championship.

See I know Holt won player of the season and I can understand why you think that. But for me over the course of the whole season it has to be John Ruddy. He has been consistently our best performer, making some unbelievable saves and keeping us in games at some points. Also Holt didn't make a great start to the season. But either way Holt or Ruddy, I personally would say Ruddy

The big problem with giving Ruddy the player of the season is that he only kept 3 clean sheets across the whole year which isn't really that good.

Crimey wrote:The big problem with giving Ruddy the player of the season is that he only kept 3 clean sheets across the whole year which isn't really that good.

Yeah but that isn't really his fault mainly. It's just the way we play, we are a very open side who like to attack meaning we leave ourselves exposed a lot at the back. Plus some of our defending at points this season really has been schoolboy stuff! Hell we had Elliott Ward playing centre back for half the season

I'd also have chosen Vorm or Allen ahead of Graham for the Swans - I think the strength of Swansea is their passing which comes from midfield - last season Sinclair in particular but this season Allen, but their great defence has made them hard to beat and Vorm has to take credit for some great saves and being very very consistent.

For Wigan either Rodallega or Moses were better over the season IMO

completely disagree with your spurs choice. while at 41 you can say brad had a great season, he also made a few errors which cost us goals

kyle walker and aaron lennon had better seasons imo

but choice for player of the season for me, was adebayor. his goals, assists and work rate were absolutely unreal

Gregers wrote:For Wigan either Rodallega or Moses were better over the season IMO

Rodallega was awful this year! That's why he was dropped. He only scored 2 goals. Martinez has been telling him to look at Torres and find inspiration from his 'turn-around', that's how poor he has been this year, he's admiring Torres.

I did consider Moses, but he only really came good towards the end of the year and struggled for most of it.

JamesLincs wrote:completely disagree with your spurs choice. while at 41 you can say brad had a great season, he also made a few errors which cost us goals

kyle walker and aaron lennon had better seasons imo

but choice for player of the season for me, was adebayor. his goals, assists and work rate were absolutely unreal

I think Spurs reliance on Adebayor was one of the reasons that their season started to go downhill because when he stopped really playing well, which seems to happen at every club he's at, the team suffered. I don't think Adebayor was key, Spurs' strength is midfield and you have a half-decent striker up front they should be able to score goals.

I'm not convinced by Walker who I think is horrible overrated, he's got a lot of potential, but is far from the finished article. He reminds me of a younger Glen Johnson, he clearly wants to attack more than defend. I didn't want to pick Lennon for Spurs because he only played 23 games, and while I picked players for other teams at a similar number of games that was due to a lack of options.

For Wigan I would say Al Habsi, he actually kept them in most of the games towards the end of the season, whilst I agree with Moses, really only came good at the end of the season but it was his performences along with Maloney's as to why they stayed up in the end. Also a mention for Gary Caldwell he was superb, although cost them the game against Chelsea.

I agree with Holt I think although Ruddy has been excellent without Holt I don't know where the goals would come from, Morrison had a poor second half of the season.

I think another goalkeeper for me in Vorm as Swansea's player of the season. If we're looking at the whole season he has been magnificent. No one could have thought he would have been this good. When De Vries left I thought finding another goalkeeper would have been a bit of a struggle, but Vorm has been incredible this season, and as good as Allen has been along with Graham and Ashley Williams, Vorm was the outstanding performer all season long.

For Spurs its a tough one. I agree Freidel has cost them some games this season whilst Lennon was actually injured for a large part. There was no real stand out performer for Spurs which is probably why they tailed away towards the back end of the season. I think Van Der Vaart get's over looked, he has been a steal at 8m for Spurs, a really quality player who in that no.10 role has been fantastic. I would choose him as player of the season personally. 11 goals and 7 assists is a very good season.

I think Ali Al Habsi is a good shout actually, he's managed to stop making as many mistakes as he used to.

nice thread though crimey, excellent idea, get some good discussion going

Crimey this is a top thread

Smirnoffpriest wrote:I'd also have chosen Vorm or Allen ahead of Graham for the Swans - I think the strength of Swansea is their passing which comes from midfield - last season Sinclair in particular but this season Allen, but their great defence has made them hard to beat and Vorm has to take credit for some great saves and being very very consistent.

Allen for me.

As a diehard Wigan fan, Diame is a poor choice, before the African Nations, he was our player of the season, yet on his return he was a jaded shadow of the player we watched only weeks beforehand, barely even seeing any time on the pitch at all when we were on our outstanding run at the seasons end.
Moses is consistently frustrating, he's as naturally gifted a player as any we've seen in a Latics shirt, but he's also a little too greedy, positionally naive and disappears too often, with another year or twos experience, he may become the top winger/forward he clearly has the potential to become, but by then he'll be at a big club and probably won't have a guaranteed starting spot, or the wholesale support of the fans and management, he wasn't our player of the season.
Maloney was as important in the latter half of the season as Diame was in the first half, but half a seasons brilliance isn't quite enough to be a player of the season.
So it's a toss up between Al Habsi and Caldwell, for all his faults, Caldwell marshalled our defence, made numerous important challenges and was a true leader on the pitch, Al Habsi is one of the best shot stoppers in the world and saved us from shipping another 20+ goals, but too often his saves rebound to opponents, Caldwell won our fans player of the season, but he only beat Al Habsi (last seasons winner) by a few votes, either would be a fair choice IMO.