Lets Talk Football

Undoubtedly a great player, but Suarez has been much better than Toure this season, and I think Gerrard probably has too. It's not all about great goals.

You know there's this one guy who isn't doing so bad winning thse kind of awards, and he isn't European either. He's called Messi. Before that, there was Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, and Rivaldo, who weren't European and also have the 'wrong colour'.

And there speaks a Liverpool fan. Said the United fan.

I know it's not about great goals, but he's been superb this season. Better than Gerrard by far, IMO. I'm not sure if I'd go with Toure or Suarez for player of the year, though I'd also put David Silva up, too. However, I think the other two have been more consistent.

True. I can't argue with that. But I didn't say that he'd have a better chance if he was or wasn't S.American, I was saying he'd have more of a chance if he was European. Neither did I say he was good enough, nor that he was better than any of those players. Attackers have the best chance of winning these awards. Toure would have a much better chance of winning than, say, a defender (I can only think of Cannavaro and Beckenbauer) and you and I have only slightly less chance of winning than a goalkeeper. That's just the way it is. However, IMO, were Toure European (or S.American) he'd have a better chance of winning than he currently does. As he would if he played as he is for Real or Barca than playing for City.

Toure said he felt that African players were undervalued by everyone but the fans and, with the very top players, I'd say that was true. With Messi and Ronaldo playing the way they have been, no one else deserves to've won it for the last 6-7 years.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

I have watched every Liverpool game this season and I think people that don't underestimate how good Gerrard has actually been and think that it's all penalties. His passing this season has been some of the best of his career, like the pass to Sturridge against Palace and the outside of the foot assist against Fulham I think it was, he has the most assists in the league and he is playing as a defensive midfielder, he has done a terrific job in adapting to a more deep lying playmaker type role like Pirlo. Defensively he has been much better than Touré who has been suspect at times when it comes to defensive positioning and tracking back. Half of Tourés goals have also been set pieces, with six penalties and four free kicks, so 10 open play goals compared to a much smaller amount for Gerrard is no surprise for his far more advanced position and style of play.

My top ten players this season would be:

1. SUAREZ
2. GERRARD
3. TOURÉ
4. HAZARD
5. SILVA
6. AGUERO
7. RAMSEY
8. JEDINAK (Been absolutely brilliant for Palace every time I have seen him, shouldn't get overlooked for playing for a weaker side and being a DM)
9. STURRIDGE
10. ROONEY

Raheem Sterling would be pushing for a place in my top ten too, especially on his second half of season form where he has been better than Sturridge.

Most of these awards also factor in success, and Man City haven't been great in the Champions League so far. This season Yaya Toure wasn't that good for them in the CL and has poor statistics in the competition too. If he proves himself on that stage, like Suarez also has the chance to next year, then he will be in with a shout for major awards.

As manager of the year I'd give it to Two Ton Tony Pulis.

Palace were dead when he took over and he transformed them pretty quickly into a decent outfit. Poyet's done fantastically as well but Pulis had a lot less to work with.

The fanny merchants might even begin to forgive him his previous job, unless he moulds Palace into Next Gen Stoke. Stoke HD.

EDIT - I was forgetting about Steve Bruce. Like Pulis, he's taken a squad full of championship standard players to safety without too much bother. I guess that shows the standard in the lower half of the Prem is complete drek but kudos nonetheless.

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"Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how the Tatty 100 is done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves." - Brendan Behan

I'd give it to Tony Pulis too, then Brendan Rodgers second, Gus Poyet third.

Pulis has always been a great manager, especially tactician but he did overspend at Stoke and his transfer policy when he has lots of money isn't the best, signs a lot and doesn't really sell many players. One of these guys whose better worker with a tight budget than having lots of money to throw around (like Martin O'Neill, Sam Allardyce etc.)

I think Bruce has done pretty good although like you say if you have an organised team with good teamwork and passion, it's not hard to stay up with some of the dreadful teams this season (Cardiff, Fulham and Norwich have been awful). He did spend about Ł14m on Shane Long and Nickica Jelavic in January though, so safety was definitely expected.

I've not seen Liverpool games, so I'll certainly bow to your knowledge on that one. From what I have seen, though, I'd still plump for Toure, though maybe that's because he's my style of player. This is going to look a bit off now, seeing as Mourinho brought it up yesterday, however, if I could have any player from City at United, after Toure it'd be Dzeko. Now, for the team, there are plenty of other players at City that'd be better for United (Silva, Kompany, Kolarov, Zabaleta, Agüero , Fernandinho and, let's face it, there's another 4 or 5 that could walk into United's midfield), but Dzeko fits into the way I like to see it played. Same reason I've always liked Stam and Vidic and never really warmed to Ferdinand. He's not ''my type of player' and, with the exception of '06-'08 I think he's been vastly overrated his entire career.

As for manager of the season, I think I'd have to go with Rodgers. I think what Pulis has done is remarkable, more so than Rodgers, however, if Pulis had been at Palace all year and finished 8th, which isn't far off from where they are now, would people put him above Rodgers? I don't think they would. Liverpool have been there all season, granted it's not been a strong league this year, but that applies to Palace as well and, on the last day of the season, still have a chance to win the league. From 7th last year. Yes they've been lucky, it's Liverpool, what's new there? And, no, they've not had midweek European games, which allows them not only to rest but also to concentrate all week on the next league game. This has also helped with the lack of injuries to the key Liverpool players (please understand this isn't the same as saying Liverpool haven't had any injuries) and, as everyone said from the start of the season, this is the season for someone to do something different and break into the top 4/make a title challenge, etc because of the amount of change at United, City and Chelsea. Despite all this, I still think taking that Liverpool team, playing and winning as they have been all season deserves the Manager Of The Year award more than taking a team from the bottom of the league to 11th in half a season.

Of course, I think there might be a strong shout from Liverpool and City fans for David Moyes. Sadly, from their pov, I couldn't argue against that.

Here's an article that might interest you HK, things have changed a little bit in terms of ratings with the last 2/3 games, but it's very interesting.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/...sliga-best-11s

Club of the year is easily Athletico Madrid. Years on end, R. Madrid and Barcelona dominate the competition, putting every other team to shame and this year, Athletico is probably going to win the championship and might win the CL. That would be even more amazing than Leverkusen's 2002 season.

Yeah, can't wait for the Barca v Atletico title deciding match and Reall v Atletico Champions league final, should be two great matches, Simeone has done wonders.

I saw an interesting bit of gossip, probably just paper talk though, linking Martinez with Spurs.

Would Evertonians welcome Moyes back with open arms? Would he want to return? Would Phil Neville go with him?

Giggs for Everton!

For the historical feats alone Bruce has to be one of the front runners.

Hull is my home town city so I know just how great his achievements this season have been, first time in the clubs 110 year history that they've reached an FA Cup final, first time in the clubs history they've qualified to play European football and kept the team in the league when at the beginning of the season they were the favourites to go down. He achieved his objectives and even surpassed them in a big way.

This is probably the only time I'm ever going to say this - Poor Cashley.

Even at 33 and not a club regular any more he'd not only have been in my squad, but in my first XI.

Tough decision for Hodgson though. He clearly wants Baines to be his left back but wants Shaw there for the experience. Bye Bye then Cashley, who's handled the omission with the class and maturity I thought beyond him.

England's greatest left back.

He was very gracious.
Glad Baines is going too

Cole is not good enough any more in reality. Mats Moller Daehli proved that in the last game of the season, although he is quite a talent himself.

Martinez won't be going anywhere anytime soon, and certainly not to Spurs.

Would is have Moyes back. Not a chance.

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"After 12 fantastic years, I have decided the time is right for me to move on,"

Good job, Rio - They're not offering you a contract so you'd kinda be squatting otherwise.

Watch out America (or ... Turkey?), you're about to get merked. God help you.

Belgium's world cup selection. You look at the teams those guys are playing at, and think about their potential, it's not hard to think of them making it very far.


Goalkeepers: Thibaut Courtois (Chelsea), Simon Mignolet (Liverpool), Koen Casteels (Hoffenheim), Silvio Proto (Anderlecht)


Defenders: Toby Alderweireld (Atletico Madrid), Lauren Ciman (Standard Liege), Vincent Kompany (Manchester City), Nicolas Lombaerts (Zenit St Petersburg), Daniel Van Buyten (Bayern Munich), Anthony Vanden Borre (Anderlecht), Thomas Vermaelen (Arsenal), Jan Vertonghen (Tottenham Hotspur)


Midfielders: Nacer Chadli (Tottenham Hotspur), Kevin De Bruyne (VfL Wolfsburg), Steven Defour (Porto), Mousa Dembele (Tottenham Hotspur), Marouane Fellaini (Manchester United), Axel Witsel (Zenit St Petersburg)


Forwards: Eden Hazard (Chelsea), Adnan Januzaj (Manchester United), Romelu Lukaku (Everton), Dries Mertens (Napoli), Kevin Mirallas (Everton), Divock Origi (Lille)

Good grief, Arsenal don't make things easy do they?

I watched the match with a morose Man Utd fan (about to head off to Brazil for the World Cup, jammy sod) who kept saying "Even Bruce would have been better than Moyes" for 120 sodding minutes.

Has Steve Bruce eaten Danny Graham?