As before, a place to record some of the awards, teams of the season etc across Europe. Starting with Phil Foden being named FWA player of the year, ahead of Declan Rice, Rodri, Martin Odegaard, Ollie Watkins and Cole Palmer: https://footballwriters.co.uk/edito...y-shaw-win-fwa-footballer-of-the-year-awards/
Some interesting alternative awards for the season in the PL: https://www.cbssports.com/soccer/ne...ic-solanke-plus-teams-of-the-season-and-more/ Player of the year: Declan Rice Young player of the year: Destiny Udogie Rookie of the year: Cole Palmer Defensive player of the year: Gabriel Most improved player: Dominic Solanke Bench player of the year: Scott McTominay All PL First XI: Alisson; Kyle Walker, William Saliba, Gabriel, Destiny Udogie; Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, Rodri, Phil Foden; Erling Haaland, Ollie Watkins All PL Second XI: Emiliano Martinez; Ben White, Ruben Dias, Virgil van Dijk, Antonee Robinson; Cole Palmer, Martin Odegaard, Alexis Mac Allister, Heung-min Son; Dominic Solanke, Alexander Isak All PL Third XI: David Raya; Pedro Porro, Jarrad Branthwaite, Joachim Andersen, Josko Gvardiol; Bernardo Silva, Pascal Gross, Bruno Fernandes, Anthony Gordon; Jarrod Bowen, Kai Havertz
It has been an off year for Haaland. When he doesnt score what he should be scoring, he provides almost nothing to his team.
Except he IS scoring. Come on he's Premier League top scorer. City don't need more players doing the other things. There are already enough players for that. City need someone who is in the right place and time to finish the millions of chances they create every game and Haaland is one of not the best itw at this. Not to mention that there are always several defenders marking Haaland, so there is always space for someone like Foden or Bernardo Silva to score. City scores more with Haaland than without him. Even in games where he doesn't score!
I know it's always been like that, but they should wait until the end of the competition to choose the best. Even more so as the race for the PL title is open
Regardless of who wins the title, I don't think there is anyone at Arsenal who can come close to Rodri and Foden
I disagree, I think Saka and Ødegaard have good arguments. Saka has the same G+A as Foden (25) and Ødegaard has the most key passes among the title contenders
Is he scoring tho? For example, he has 19 NPG in 29 games this season... for a player for whom 85+% of contribution to the team comes from scoring goals and is playing for CITY, that is unimpressive. First of all, he missed 7 games (in which btw City has 6 wins and 1 draw - 20 goals scored) which is important because in part, such awards are about a quantity of goods produced in a season and it is unfortunate that he was absent, but this doesnt go in his favor. Despite missing 7 games he leads the league with 33 big chances missed per sofascore for example. More than one big chance missed every game. He is significantly less efficient finisher than last season and has played a handful of less games. That is a big difference to last season. PLUS, from the eye test, these 19 NPG are so inconsistently spread out and usually of no decisive value and impact on scoreline unlike the last season when he was actually decisive at times. Transfermarkt says he has scored 2 goals against top 6 this season. And even when he scores, it feels like it is not an important goal or just a complete tap in. The logic that City doesnt need more than a goalscorer is irrelevant. If a player has a very small role in a team, and he does that role perfectly, you cant name him amongst the best players because he didnt do enough to be in there. His role didnt allow him to have a great contribution. It is very indicative that Guardiola is limiting his role to that of a goalscorer in penalty box and is not giving him more freedom and responsibility on the pitch. That is not a positive thing, that is a big negative. All of these make his season unremarkable. Scoring 19 NPG playing for City as a penalty box goalscorer with those goals being usually unremarkable is unimpressive overall. This is not the "he scored 19 npg and had some great playmaking performances, runs, etc." This is Haaland, if he doesnt score, he probably had 3 or 4 good plays in a game and that is literally it.
Very rough translation is: He is missing chances that he shouldnt be missing and scoring chances he shouldnt be scoring. He has been inconsistent this season moreso than last.
Not to take this thread off on a tangent but Kane last season was more consistent in that he scored in more games than Haaland. Haaland scored lots of goals, many of them in a few games against weaker opposition.
Haaland's last season is not even amongst top 20 ever in epl imo. This season is a big step bellow that one. A normal season. Not extraordinary in any significant way.
Haaland 22/23 vs top 3 defenses of Premier League: Newcastle: 1 goal, 1 assist Man Utd: 3 goals, 2 assists Arsenal: 2 goals, 2 assists 6 games, 6 goals, 5 assists Kane 22/23 vs the same opposition Newcastle: 2 goals Man Utd: 1 assist Arsenal: 1 goal 6 games, 3 goals, 1 assist (Not counting Man City to be fair with both Kane and Haaland)
Yes, but the simple fact is that Kane scored in more games in the PL. Haaland scored hat tricks against Palace, Forest, Wolves and doubles against Leicester, Southampton, Leeds, Brighton and West Ham. That's the end of it. This is about 2023-24.
Last night the UNFP gave out their awards for the French Ligue 1. Team of the Season Donnarumma: Hakimi, Marquinhos, Yoro, Locko; Vitinha, Lees-Melou, Zaire-Emery; Dembele, Aubameyang, Mbappe Player of the Year: Mbappe. Noms: Aubameyang, Dembele, Lees-Melou, Zhegrova Young player: Zaire-Emery. Noms: Ben Seghir; Cherki, Doue, Yoro Goalkeeper: Donnarumma. Noms: Bizot, Bulka, Chevalier, Samba
A European Team of the Season (excluding PL) from Ranks: 🚨 NEW RANKS FC PODCAST 🚨After picking our PL Team of the Season last week, we cast our eyes to the Continent to pick a European Team of the Season! @jackjcollins | @DeanJonesSoccer https://t.co/aksxUWMcVc— Ranks FC Football Podcast 🎧 (@RankSquad) May 8, 2024 Sommer (Inter); Frimpong (Leverkusen), Rudiger (Real Madrid), Blind (Girona), Grimaldo (Leverkusen); Calhanoglu (Inter); Bellingham (Real Madrid), Koopmeiners (Atalanta); Wirtz (Leverkusen); Kane (Bayern Munich), Gyokeres (Sporting CP) Honourable mentions: GK: Kobel (Dortmund), Hradecky (Leverkusen), Bulka (Nice), Benitez (PSV) RB: Couto (Girona), Hakimi (PSG) LB: Locko (Brest), Dimarco (Inter), Gutierrez (Girona) CB: Acerbi (Inter), Tah (Leverkusen), Bremer (Juventus), Anton (Stuttgart), Singo (Monaco), Buongiorno (Torino), Calafiori (Bologna), Antonio Silva (Benfica), Coates (Sporting CP) DM: Tchouameni (Real Madrid), Zubimendi (Real Sociedad), Wieffer (Feyenoord), Joao Neves (Benfica), Hjulmand (Sporting CP) CM: Xhaka (Leverkusen), Aleix Garcia (Girona), Lees-Melou (Brest), Vitinha (PSG), Barella (Inter), Ferguson (Bologna), Veerman (PSV) AM: Isco (Real Betis), Griezmann (Atletico Madrid), Musiala (Bayern Munich), Simons (RB Leipzig), Gudmundsson (Genoa) ST: Dovbyk (Girona), Guirassy (Stuttgart), David (Lille), Undav (Stuttgart), Openda (RB Leipzig), Inaki Williams (Athletic Bilbao), Zirkzee (Bologna), De Jong (PSV), Lautaro Martinez (Inter
Premier League team of the season from Jamie Carragher: Pickford; Saliba, Van Dijk, Gabriel; Rodri, Rice; Palmer, De Bruyne, Odegaard, Foden; Watkins From Gary Neville: Martinez; White,Saliba, Gabriel, Udogie; Odegaard, Rodri, Rice; Palmer, Haaland, Foden
The fact is: Haaland failed to score or assist in 8 games of the Premier League Kane failed to score or assist in 10 games of the Premier League So Haaland were more consistent anyway Not counting Kane didn't score any hat trick and only scored doubles against minnows also And Haaland scored a hat trick again the team with the most clean sheets of the season
Ranks Premier League team of the year: Pickford (Everton); White (Arsenal), Gabriel (Arsenal), Saliba (Arsenal), Robinson (Fulham) ; Rice (Arsenal), Rodri (Manchester City), Odegaard (Arsenal); Palmer (Chelsea), Watkins (Aston Villa), Foden (Manchester City) Other names mentioned: GK: Martinez (Aston Villa), Vicario (Spurs), Raya (Arsenal), Alisson (Liverpool) RB: Walker (Manchester City), Trent (Liverpool) LB: Udogie (Spurs), Gvardiol (Manchester City), Ait Nouri (Wolves) CB: Van Dijk (Liverpool), Schar (Newcastle), Anderson (Crystal Palace), Pau Torres (Aston Villa), Romero (Spurs), Van de Ven (Spurs), Dias (Manchester City), Akanji (Manchester City) CM: Douglas Luiz (Aston Villa), Palhinha (Fulham), Mac Allister (Liverpool), Lemina (Wolves) WG: Saka (Arsenal), Gordon (Newcastle), Salah (Liverpool), Bernardo (Manchester City), Son (Spurs), Bowen (West Ham) ST: Isak (Newcastle), Haaland (Manchester City), Havertz (Arsenal)
I dont think it is a bold statement. Quick analysis leads to that conclusion. Haaland had 29 NPG the last season. There are players who have had similar or even better campaigns than him in terms of (non-penalty) goals alone. Given Haalands contribution outside goals is very limited, especially compared to likes of players who score 29 NPG in epl season, it indicates that Haaland was worse than all players of similar output in terms of goals. That is already a bunch of players like Suarez, Salah, Drogba, Ronaldo, Henry, etc. Firthermlre, goals are not everything in football and there are extraordinary campaigns by non-goalscorers that superceeds Haalands 2023 campaign so ultimately, from the top of my head, there has to be at least 20 seasons by great players better than him.