Here on this very site we recently ran a poll asking visitors to our site to vote for their player of the season- it’s running until the end of the football calender so feel free to give us your choice.
At first it looked as though ocassional somersaulter Nani would walk away with it as the voting seemed to favour him, yet in the past seven days a certain Mexican forward has stormed to the front of the pack.
Of around 2150 votes cast Chicharito currently has about 550 a 26% per cent share of the vote. It’s also worth noting that each IP address can only vote once so it’s not just an Hernandez groupie voting for him constantly.
While these votes only represent a tiny proportion of United fans it was enough to get me wondering whether or not there was a real validity in the voting trend. Has Chicharito genuinely been United’s player of the season? First of all a look at the main contenders wouldn’t go amiss, let’s cast our eye over the players who received over 100 votes.
Edwin Van Der Sar
The Dutch legend’s retirement hangs over Old Trafford like the sword of damocles and is surely the toughest transfer decision Sir Alex Ferguson faces in the Summer. With 13 clean sheets in 30 Premier League games not to mention six clean sheets in eight Champions League games its hard to make a case against VDS being United’s top player.
Other than the home game against West Brom, Liverpool away and the Semi Final at Wembley I’d actually argue that Van Der Sar hasn’t had a bad game all season. Three bad performances in over 40 appearances is quite frankly a joke and almost too good to be true. The only slight detriment to Van Der Sar’s claim to United’s player of the season is the fact that for many of those games, such as the one against Everton yesterday, he had little if not nothing to do. Admittedly not his fault but something that should be considered.
Nemanja Vidic
“He comes from Serbia…..” Yet again United’s skipper has proven himself to be an absolute rock in defence with a series of displays that rightly saw him in the mix for the PFA player of the year. Vidic has been almost as reliable as ever, I say ‘almost’ as for me despite it being a great season for the Serbian I genuinely think his best was two years ago. I’m not saying he hasn’t been impressive, but I’d actually say it’s still Rio Ferdinand who makes the defence practically unbeatable and although Vidic is important, the former England skipper is arguably even more vital particuarly in the big games.
Given a choice of Chris Smalling and Ferdinand or Vidic -for me Rio’s a better bet, only if you had to choose of course. The reason it seems unfair to claim Ferdinand is United’s player of the season, is with only 15 Premier League games- less than half the number Vidic has played- its not really enough to be considered.
Nani
Until recently Mr. Da Cunha seemed a shoo-in to win according to our vote, however people seem to be getting a tad frustrated with the Portuguese star. With nine league goals and an impressive 14 assists it’s not hard to see why many Reds were incredulous at his omission from the PFA player of the season senior list.
Despite his commendable goal and assist record there are more than a few factors which may put people off choosing him as player of the season. 124 shots in the league alone, shows that Nani certainly isn’t short of confidence, but this is an example of where he can sometimes frustrate. How many of those shots have been at the expense of passing to a Red shirt in a better position?
Don’t get me wrong I love Nani and am more than willing to accept his foibles for the sheer talent he as. However the greediness, theatrics and imaginary card waving may just turn off a few United fans enough to look elsewhere for their player of the season.
Nani’s cause hasn’t been helped by a slight dip in form of recent games, altough let’s face facts whenever he goes through one, he usually then embarks on a run that silences even his harshest critics.
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Continued on page two.
He’s been great, but no Vidic has.
Where is the case for Bébé…….
@Red Mick – PMSL
Chich has been the best buy Fergie has made in a long time, and at a bargain price too. If you ask who’s given the best return per ƒ spent, Chich would be streets ahead that poll 🙂
VAN DER SAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!